10 ms·

An Offer to Sony from 2600

354 points by jamesbrewer 12y ago

ibejoeb 12y ago
That was a thoughtful offer from the folks over at 2600. I had this little internal dialog beginning, "what a conundrum would Sony find itself in had it it instead been a threat?" I thought it was a silly thought, but then, I really started to wonder what the Sony response would be. It would have a group threatening them--supposedly--if they do release the film, and another threatening the same consequence if they don't. To whom do you yield, Sony?
runn1ng 12y ago
Not sure what is this trying to say. "if you want to put it online, you can put it on our website full of anti-governmental rants" Ummm... All right. If Sony wants to put it online, they will find other ways.
zaroth 12y ago
Sony CEO Michael Lynton says Sony still wants The Interview to be seen and is considering their options. Those include DVD and Blu-ray home video, YouTube, VOD, and other digital platforms but “there has not been one major VOD distributor, one major e-commerce site that has stepped forward and said they are willing to distribute this movie for us.” [1] Hackers to Sony: We'll stand down if you never release the movie.... "Now we want you never let the movie released, distributed or leaked in any form of, for instance, DVD or piracy. And we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately." [They] warn the studio executives that, "we still have your private and sensitive data" and claims that they will "ensure the security of your data unless you make additional trouble." [2] Imagine Sony putting it on BitTorrent with a pre-roll asking viewers to donate money to a charity of their choice through a micro-site they setup to track how much has been given. Or something.... This is actually a moment in history where Sony could truly shine. But back in reality, whatever is in those held-back stolen docs, they probably need time to prepare for the fallout. If they can stall the remaining doc release by stalling the movie release, they can buy themselves some time. In the meantime, the audience for the film is growing daily, but I think will peak and fall if they wait too long. [1] - http://deadline.com/2014/12/sony-president-obama-the-interview-response-1201330799/ http://deadline.com/2014/12/sony-president-obama-the-intervi... [2] - http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/19/media/insde-sony-hack-interview/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/19/media/insde-sony-hack-interv...
- s_q_b 12y ago
  I heard a Sony executive on NPR today say "If and when this movie is released... Let me stop, when this movie is released..." Sony Pictures clearly intends for the film to be seen, but they need a distribution partner.
  - organsnyder 12y ago
    I'd interpret that exactly to the opposite: They're not sure if they're going to release it, but they want to put on a brave face and say that they will. In reality, they're probably all scared shitless. If all of their employees' personal info has been compromised as reported, I can understand that they'd be worried about the possibility of someone getting hurt. Even a minor, harmless event could lead to bad press. Of course, no one believes that NK actually has the ability to inflict physical harm outside of their own country, but I can understand the Sony executives' hesitance to put that to the test.
    - berdario 12y ago
      > Of course, no one believes that NK actually has the ability to inflict physical harm outside of their own country I wish. They're definitely capable of inflicting physical harm outside of NK. Just the first link that comes to my mind that has already been shared here: http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201306/kim-jong-il-sushi-chef-kenji-fujimoto-adam-johnson http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201306/kim-jong-i... It's not so unusual for a Korean to be in Japan, and NK can surely provide falsified documents to "prove" their agent is actually from SK (NK and SK, aside from minor differencies, even speak the same language, so how would you tell them apart?) Granted, their ability to move in the US might be severely smaller than their ability to move inside Japan. But you only need a person or two with an handgun to scare the living hell out of the media/country/people who worry about such things
      - s_q_b 12y ago
        North Korean and South Korean dialects are very different, but you are correct in that they are adept at sneaking agents into Japan. But they threatened "9/11 style" attacks on movie theaters, of which they are certainly not capable, especially if the movie goes straight to VOD. I think there's an argument going on between Sony Pictures and Sony Japan over the release, and that right now everyone is sitting on their hands waiting to see how the U.S. government responds. But since there's already screener copies out there, I would put money on the movie seeing the light of day.
Rapzid 12y ago
If Sony can't find a distributor they should start taking Visa on their site and offer direct downloads, watch the dollars start rolling in, and get their first exposure to a business model they should have been pioneering 10 years ago.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- agnsaft 12y ago
  Who in their right mind would give their VISA to Sony at this point?
  - zaroth 12y ago
    I know I'll get downvotes, but seriously, I'm crying I'm laughing so hard right now. So true.
  - hrktb 12y ago
    And then you think about these people: http://sonybank.net http://sonybank.net
- Rapzid 12y ago
  ROTFL! Okay, so yeah about giving Sony your credit card info ATM. Maybe they can take paypal ;)
jgwest 12y ago
Too much condescending tone in this "proposal"... I think people just want to see the film. I certainly want to see the film. It might have a crappy plot or a second-rate screenplay or subpar acting, but with this sort of publicity none of that matters. Just watching it will be an event, perhaps an even bigger event than watching The Last Temptation of Christ was way-back-when... Anyway, Sony seems to be in a defiant stance. It doesn't seem like Sony is going to yield; it seems like they are going to just find an alternative distribution path: "No thanks, 2600. We got this. After all, this is the sort of hype that we'd... uhh... kill for.... uh..."
- unclebucknasty 12y ago
  >Just watching it will be an event That brings up a good point. Perhaps Sony should even consider using the controversy in its marketing, then later make claims about how much more successful the film was than projected, thanks to the added publicity (which will almost certainly be true). Not only would it show defiance, it would underscore the paradoxical effect of trying to stifle free speech in this manner. And, that might provide the biggest disincentive of all for future prevention: demonstration of ineffectivness.
  - srj 12y ago
    What has lead you to believe that free speech is any consideration in Sony's dealings? This is the company that has (and still does) push for SOPA and CISPA-like abilities to take down websites with the most minor effort! It's unclear why the release was canceled. Maybe Sony wants to just put this whole thing behind them. Maybe they want to curtail any further leaks that they feel may be worse. Perhaps the executives feel that being a victim of a foreign nation absolves them of any culpability and they're playing that card to the greatest extent they can. But I highly doubt they're going to make any about face on a policy issue and are still very much against free speech as far as the internet is concerned. If anything this incident will be used to bolster their arguments and to that end maybe it has worked out better for them than "The Interview" ever could.
    - unclebucknasty 12y ago
nyolfen 12y ago
wow, a bunch of tangentially relevant people telling a major corporation to do some shit theyll never do so that maybe they'll link a piratebay mirror that might spring up in the next week or whatever, this is some seriously relevant shit hits a massive bowl of cum
coding4all 12y ago
I still have a hard time believing NK did this without any definitive evidence. Wasn't it last December that NK was sending fax messages to communicate with SK? Now they can download Terabytes from Sony without anyone noticing?
- spb 12y ago
  My guess is that it was somebody in Tunisia: https://www.reddit.com/r/MarkMyWords/comments/2pv2rk/mmw_if_found_the_mouthpiece_behind_the_sony_gop/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MarkMyWords/comments/2pv2rk/mmw_if_...
- jrockway 12y ago
  I also feel that it would be super-easy to just nullroute North Korea and be done with this "state sponsored terrorism" in about three seconds.
  - Robadob 12y ago
    Early evidence suggested that one of the data dumps was carried out from a hotel in Thailand, so cutting off NK's internet wouldn't help protect from that much.
  - briandear 12y ago
    Many NK attacks also originate in China.. Many Chinese hacks also originate in China come to think of it..
- chrischen 12y ago
  They can use money to hire hackers. In fact, most of the world operates this way.
- yourad_io 12y ago
  This. Not only for the technical capabilities (they could have hired someone else, yada yada), but especially for the chronology of the Interview/NK link. The first communications from the hackers addressed Sony execs while referring to "their demands", without naming them. The NK/Interview link came out of nowhere and the group seemed to just go along with it. If this isn't Media Hyping, I don't know what is. Sony hacked for the nth time - barely newsworthy by now. Sony cyberattacked by cyberterrorists and your real-world-kids possibly in very grave danger from a cyberbomb in a theater - NewsGold(tm). Can everyone stop using the NK link as a fact in this case? Thanks. PS: In case you missed it, NK denied involvement in this early on. Usually this wouldn't mean much (a state's denials? please) but remember who we're talking about here! When has NK passed up an opportunity to display their superiority?
rakesh-hocrox 12y ago
This is one of the black say in Sony life.
q2 12y ago
Let us relook the issue here. Is it hackers attack on Sony or Sony making a movie on North Korean ruler(as I understand) or both? Every human/culture has likes,dislikes ...etc and every one expect others not crossing those lines for peaceful co-existence. In democracy, no doubt, there is freedom of expression but if that expression is uncomfortable to other, then there is responsibility to control/prevent that expression rather than brazenly going ahead ignoring sensitivities of others. If the story line as I understand from mass media is, assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and if North Korea protested it, then Sony should have understand and accommodated the sensitivities of North Korea and stopped making this movie. It is not censorship as President Obama noted. People on HN voiced concern on NSA surveillance ...etc, since many felt privacy/anonymity is violated...etc. Just like you have sensitivities, North Korea too has sensitivities and it is natural to expect, others to understand them. Whether it is, dictatorship or democracy and their relative merits/demerits is different point of discussion. I am neither supporting hacker's attack on Sony nor North Korea but Sony in first place, should have considered the sensitivities of other cultures, even if they are alien to your culture and act accordingly, given the story line. Arts should further enable the stability or peace on earth and you may not achieve peace by hurting sentiments of others.
- riffraff 12y ago
  a few years back we had Team America[0] in which kim jong il is painted as a crazy terrorist and in the end dies after the american world police gets to him, and is revealed to be an alien cockroach when he gets impaled on a tube. Apparently, that movie was ok, so why shouldn't this have been? There is always people whose sensitivity gets hurt by movies and books, but this should not automatically lead to stopping publishing. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_America:_World_Police http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_America:_World_Police
  - q2 12y ago
    All things happened in the past may not be good for example financial crises, wars, tsunami's ...etc. So past is not reference to present or future. >>> There is always people whose sensitivity gets hurt by movies and books, but this should not automatically lead to stopping publishing. There are "defamation laws" in many countries. Many people/companies use them if they feel offended/hurt, even if they are not noble. This incident may be the same for NK.
k-mcgrady 12y ago
Very little content here. Seems more like self-promotion and a silly offer that Sony would be stupid to take. Why let someone distribute the movie for free when they spent over $40m making it and can (worst case scenario) put it on a website they build and charge $10 to everyone that wants to watch it?
- tehansen 12y ago
  im still hoping its a very genius marketing campaign...but either way, setting the movie free (not as in beer) would send a powerfull message. cant think of a better xmas gift to humanity right now...
  - k-mcgrady 12y ago
    >> "cant think of a better xmas gift to humanity right now..." Saving people who want to see a movie $10 is the best gift to humanity you can think of? (jk) It would definitely send a message but considering the loses they've already made from this + the hack they need to exploit the situation and make as much money as possible.
  - yourad_io 12y ago
    Sony is a major player in anti-piracy. If they did this, their position would be weakened when they next take a few John Schmoes to court for bittorrenting.
chrischen 12y ago
The threat called for retribution even if it is leaked.
chintan39 12y ago
Finally, real hacker news :)
briandear 12y ago
Funny how the U.S. government goes nuts over an offensive YouTube video or Koran burning video, but suddenly Obama's administration calls out Sony for "making a mistake" for caving to (allegedly) North Korea? Does anyone else find this to be a double standard? We can "offend" North Korea, but if we "offend" Islam, then somehow that's different? I say let's offend everyone. That's what free speech means.
- zaroth 12y ago
  I think Terry Jones burning a Koran is starting to get into the "you're putting peoples lives in danger just to prove what a ridiculously pompous ass you are" camp. There is a fairly well defined limit to free speech, e.g. yelling "fire!" in a theater. Burning a Koran, just to fuck with people, is probably in "yelling fire" territory. But as far as Obama's quip against Sony goes... I was really surprised to read that. I think it's tone-deaf for Obama to call out Sony. First of all, it was the theaters not Sony who refused to show it. Second of all, it was the FBI who told the theaters they couldn't guarantee they weren't going to get hit by terrorists on Christmas. What?! Yes, the capitulation is absolutely shocking and terrible. That's what Obama should be saying. But victim blaming? It's like blaming the kidnapping victim for doing what they're told so they don't get hurt. Sony still has a gun to their head, they are still being actively extorted! Edit: @icebraining set me straight.
  - icebraining 12y ago
    Burning a Koran, just to fuck with people, is probably in "yelling fire" territory. No, no it's not. It's an insensitive, assholish and petty action, but it does not constitute an incitation to immediate violation of the law, including but not exclusively because it was announced beforehand.
    - zaroth 12y ago
      Incitement to crime -- speech that spurs another to commit a crime -- is just one of 6 categories of speech which are not protected. The other five main exceptions to free speech protection include; Defamation, Obscenity, Sedition, and... Fighting words: As defined by the Supreme Court, fighting words are "those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace." Causing panic: The classic example of speech causing panic is someone yelling "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater. Speech may be suppressed where a reasonable person would know that his speech is likely to cause panic and/or harm to others. The government also has the right to restrict speech in order to promote a "compelling government interest," such as national security. This standard is extraordinarily strict and hard to prove, making it a rather narrow exception to free speech. [1] - https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/free-speech-primer-what-can-you-say https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/free-speech-primer-what-c... I thought that the courts would look at it under this 6-part framework and they might possibly decide, under the facts and circumstances of Terry Jones for example, that it falls under "fighting words" or maybe some kind of hate speech. But now I've read up more on Terry Jones and what actually happened, and, you're right, the consensus was it was protected speech. Pulling an Obama quote from Wikipedia; President Barack Obama was asked on September 9, 2010, on ABC's "Good Morning America" about the Quran burning controversy. He said, "You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities." He said, "I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq, who are in Afghanistan. We're already seeing protests against Americans just by the mere threat that he's making." "I just hope he understands that what he is proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans, that this country has been built on the notions of religious freedom and religious tolerance," Obama said. "He says he's someone who is motivated by his faith ... I hope he listens to those better angels and understands that this is a destructive act that he's engaging in.” Asked if the event could be stopped, Obama replied, "My understanding is that he can be cited for public burning … but that's the extent of the laws that we have available to us."[42]
nomercy400 12y ago
So, the threat is to expose private and sensitive data retrieved in the hack when The Interview is leaked? Who says The Interview wasn't obtained during the hack, and will be leaked by the same party issuing the threat?
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  The goal, which is working so far, is to prevent the release of the movie. The movie should be released because fuck whoever did this. Sony may be hated for good reason but not releasing only encourages this type of thing.
__m 12y ago
If Sony wanted to release the movie they probably wouldn't miss the chance of making money with it so this proposal sounds rather stupid. There is no differentiation between Hacker and Cracker in public media. Get over it.
tehansen 12y ago
I pledge to pay Sony 1 BTC if they let this happen. https://twitter.com/hansent/status/546273749163466753 https://twitter.com/hansent/status/546273749163466753
- yourad_io 12y ago
  That's a noble sentiment, but unfortunately the GoP also took sony_wallet.dat I kid, but this hack was pretty damn deep.
tehansen 12y ago
how much money have they spent on this movie? If people pitch in world wide...how much money does HN think it would take for Sony to "sell" this movie to the public.
kyledrake 12y ago
The last time people got this crazy about a hack, Kevin Mitnick was thrown in solitary confinement for months because they thought he could "whistle nuclear launch codes into prison telephones". 2600 made the documentary about it, Freedom Downtime, and I strongly recommend watching it if you never have. So what if North Korea did it (of course I'm skeptical of this, anyone with a computer can conduct the same activities, with the motivator of trolling the entire world for fun). It's not a big deal, it's not something that requires US presidential intervention. It's not even remotely as big of a deal as the CIA torture report that just came out. The CIA report threatens our legitimacy as a world power. The Sony hack just costs a corporation some money, maybe (free publicity FTW). Big. Deal. If this is the worst a hacker can do, I'd love to see all future wars replaced with hacking. I'll take that over agent orange and torture any day. This sad, sick notion that hackers are terrorist enemy #1 and this is the most important thing governments should be working on is, like this movie will probably be, shitty fiction, a self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuated by Hollywood in movies like War Games that make it look like we're all going to be nuked thousands of times if we don't stop the Hacker menace. Help me change the media's perception of hacking before we start throwing more whistleblowers and e-graffiti artists in prison. TLDR: Sony got hacked, too bad, learn a lesson and fix your computer security, let's not start WW3 over it shall we?
- yourad_io 12y ago
  > e-graffiti artists That's brilliant. (I assume this refers to defacement s/kiddies)
  - Fogest 12y ago
    I don't think script kiddies could do this size of a hack, especially considering the amount of data involved and stay under the radar this long. If this is what a script kiddie is capable of... then what is a real hacker capable of?
    - yourad_io 12y ago
      That isnt what I or parent was saying.
junto 12y ago
I guess a movie about two brave maverick North Korean TV stars heading to Washington to assassinate Obama, the evil emperor of the United States could also be a 'funny' comedy movie to watch. Seriously though, while the plot of the film is both purile and offensive to the North Korean dictator personally, should NK be behind the attack on Sony (im still not convinced) then it is definitely an ulterly inappropriate response. Problem is, and this is a genuine question, how should they have responded? Is the western media, specifically the US media going to publish a written complaint from NK? Probably not right. I'm not justifying their response in any way, but would be curious to know if they have any way at all to complain. I'm playing devil's advocate here before anyone starts assuming I'm some NK sympathiser. I too would like to see the NK people freed from the tyranny and death camps they currently live under the constant threat of.
- icegreentea 12y ago
  Well, there are a few ways to parse 'should', and they really all boil down to what the hell NK even wants to do. If they want to stop as many people from seeing the film as possible, then they should have done nothing. If they wanted to send a message that NK has the technical abilities to fuck up American (/Western) businesses, then they did the 'right' thing. If they wanted to score a less aggressive propaganda win, then they probably should have incorporated it into their next round of talks or something.
- dantillberg 12y ago
  > Is the western media, specifically the US media going to publish a written complaint from NK? I imagine that many major US newspapers would love to publish an op-ed by Kim Jong-un. The New York Times, for example, published this op-ed by Vladimir Putin last year: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-cau....
- jerednel 12y ago
  I mean, Zoolander's plot was using male models to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia and nobody had a problem with that.
- 12y ago
FabianBeiner 12y ago
Paulo Coelho, world famous novelist, also made a neat offer: https://twitter.com/paulocoelho/status/545465796202606592 https://twitter.com/paulocoelho/status/545465796202606592
- jordigh 12y ago
  Not too surprising, since he advocates "piracy": http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/01/paulo-coelho-readers-pirate-books http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/01/paulo-coelho-re...
connie_lingus 12y ago
The CIA report threatens our legitimacy as a world power. no it does not...almost everyone in the world understand that under certain conditions, torture to get potentially life-saving information is just the way of things. let me put it this way...if your immediate family was going to be blown up in two hours, wouldn't you say go ahead and torture that guy who you KNOW has information on how to diffuse the bomb?
- xtrumanx 12y ago
  I'm not sure I would. It's scary me that you're sure that you would.
  - connie_lingus 12y ago
    you would allow your parents and children to be blown up rather than make a horrid criminal be very uncomfortable for a few minutes???? and i'm the nutty one?
    - ObviousScience 12y ago
      Except a) that torture in the report didn't last for a few minutes and b) that it's less effective than other methods and more likely to obtain false information. So if I only had a couple hours and actually wanted to save my family, I'd probably try to do something that would actually make a difference.
    - rblatz 12y ago
      The world doesn't work like the television show 24.
      - connie_lingus 12y ago
        i don't watch tv so i don't know what you are talking about.
        jobposter1234 12y ago
geophile 12y ago
Isn't this two not really related events being conflated? 1) Sony gets hacked. A big hack, but just a hack. 2) Sony pulls a movie because it offends a nasty dictator identified by name. Why are these connected? It's not as if they learned about the movie from the hack? I've seen the ad for that movie a few times, and I'm pretty sure that the spymasters in North Korea can watch the same Seinfeld reruns that I do. Why is the ridiculousness over Sony pulling the picture (PR stunt or not) at all related to the hack?
- joeguilmette 12y ago
  What don't you get? Sony got hacked, the hackers said if you halt release of the film we'll stop releasing your private data. The release was cancelled, the hackers stop releasing private data. It doesn't take a data scientist to put those two together.
  - geophile 12y ago
    But the movie was pulled over concerns about terrorism, not embarrassing revelations: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/sony-north-korea-the-interview-113655.html http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/sony-north-korea-the-i... Sony left the decision up to the theater chains, and those chains were reported to back away from the movie because of the legal liability if there were a terrorist incident.
  - peeters 12y ago
    The hackers also threatened terrorist attacks on movie theatres that showed the film. Which may or may not have influenced Sony's decision.
atmosx 12y ago
I don't get it. Doesn't sonny have the money to hire people like Spender, D. Hartmeier, etc. To secure their network?! To they need a hacker community to secure their network?! I mean it's obvious that they don't care about security or that they do care but they value flexibility more, than tight security. Either way I don't understand the nature of the offer, maybe it's pure irony and I missed it.
websitescenes 12y ago
This would be awesome but so very unlikely. I Suspect that Sony exaggerated the threat and cancelled the film as a publicity stunt. Was it a real attack? Sure. Is the film cancelled forever? Highly doubtful. Sony is way too profit oriented to let this opportunity pass and they certainly are not going to hand the film over to the hacker community and loose out. That said, I think that 2600 releasing the film would be AWESOME!!
jorgecastillo 12y ago
I won't be adding much to the conversation but I really feel I need to say this. If Sony doesn't release this film I am not buying a Sony product ever again.

354 points by jamesbrewer 12y ago

That was a thoughtful offer from the folks over at 2600. I had this little internal dialog beginning, "what a conundrum would Sony find itself in had it it instead been a threat?" I thought it was a silly thought, but then, I really started to wonder what the Sony response would be. It would have a group threatening them--supposedly--if they do release the film, and another threatening the same consequence if they don't. To whom do you yield, Sony?

runn1ng 12y ago

Not sure what is this trying to say. "if you want to put it online, you can put it on our website full of anti-governmental rants" Ummm... All right. If Sony wants to put it online, they will find other ways.

zaroth 12y ago

Sony CEO Michael Lynton says Sony still wants The Interview to be seen and is considering their options. Those include DVD and Blu-ray home video, YouTube, VOD, and other digital platforms but “there has not been one major VOD distributor, one major e-commerce site that has stepped forward and said they are willing to distribute this movie for us.” [1] Hackers to Sony: We'll stand down if you never release the movie.... "Now we want you never let the movie released, distributed or leaked in any form of, for instance, DVD or piracy. And we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately." [They] warn the studio executives that, "we still have your private and sensitive data" and claims that they will "ensure the security of your data unless you make additional trouble." [2] Imagine Sony putting it on BitTorrent with a pre-roll asking viewers to donate money to a charity of their choice through a micro-site they setup to track how much has been given. Or something.... This is actually a moment in history where Sony could truly shine. But back in reality, whatever is in those held-back stolen docs, they probably need time to prepare for the fallout. If they can stall the remaining doc release by stalling the movie release, they can buy themselves some time. In the meantime, the audience for the film is growing daily, but I think will peak and fall if they wait too long. [1] - http://deadline.com/2014/12/sony-president-obama-the-interview-response-1201330799/ http://deadline.com/2014/12/sony-president-obama-the-intervi... [2] - http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/19/media/insde-sony-hack-interview/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/19/media/insde-sony-hack-interv...

s_q_b 12y ago
I heard a Sony executive on NPR today say "If and when this movie is released... Let me stop, when this movie is released..." Sony Pictures clearly intends for the film to be seen, but they need a distribution partner.
- organsnyder 12y ago
  I'd interpret that exactly to the opposite: They're not sure if they're going to release it, but they want to put on a brave face and say that they will. In reality, they're probably all scared shitless. If all of their employees' personal info has been compromised as reported, I can understand that they'd be worried about the possibility of someone getting hurt. Even a minor, harmless event could lead to bad press. Of course, no one believes that NK actually has the ability to inflict physical harm outside of their own country, but I can understand the Sony executives' hesitance to put that to the test.
  - berdario 12y ago
    > Of course, no one believes that NK actually has the ability to inflict physical harm outside of their own country I wish. They're definitely capable of inflicting physical harm outside of NK. Just the first link that comes to my mind that has already been shared here: http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201306/kim-jong-il-sushi-chef-kenji-fujimoto-adam-johnson http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201306/kim-jong-i... It's not so unusual for a Korean to be in Japan, and NK can surely provide falsified documents to "prove" their agent is actually from SK (NK and SK, aside from minor differencies, even speak the same language, so how would you tell them apart?) Granted, their ability to move in the US might be severely smaller than their ability to move inside Japan. But you only need a person or two with an handgun to scare the living hell out of the media/country/people who worry about such things
    - s_q_b 12y ago
      North Korean and South Korean dialects are very different, but you are correct in that they are adept at sneaking agents into Japan. But they threatened "9/11 style" attacks on movie theaters, of which they are certainly not capable, especially if the movie goes straight to VOD. I think there's an argument going on between Sony Pictures and Sony Japan over the release, and that right now everyone is sitting on their hands waiting to see how the U.S. government responds. But since there's already screener copies out there, I would put money on the movie seeing the light of day.

Rapzid 12y ago

If Sony can't find a distributor they should start taking Visa on their site and offer direct downloads, watch the dollars start rolling in, and get their first exposure to a business model they should have been pioneering 10 years ago.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
agnsaft 12y ago
Who in their right mind would give their VISA to Sony at this point?
- zaroth 12y ago
  I know I'll get downvotes, but seriously, I'm crying I'm laughing so hard right now. So true.
- hrktb 12y ago
  And then you think about these people: http://sonybank.net http://sonybank.net
Rapzid 12y ago
ROTFL! Okay, so yeah about giving Sony your credit card info ATM. Maybe they can take paypal ;)

jgwest 12y ago

Too much condescending tone in this "proposal"... I think people just want to see the film. I certainly want to see the film. It might have a crappy plot or a second-rate screenplay or subpar acting, but with this sort of publicity none of that matters. Just watching it will be an event, perhaps an even bigger event than watching The Last Temptation of Christ was way-back-when... Anyway, Sony seems to be in a defiant stance. It doesn't seem like Sony is going to yield; it seems like they are going to just find an alternative distribution path: "No thanks, 2600. We got this. After all, this is the sort of hype that we'd... uhh... kill for.... uh..."

unclebucknasty 12y ago
>Just watching it will be an event That brings up a good point. Perhaps Sony should even consider using the controversy in its marketing, then later make claims about how much more successful the film was than projected, thanks to the added publicity (which will almost certainly be true). Not only would it show defiance, it would underscore the paradoxical effect of trying to stifle free speech in this manner. And, that might provide the biggest disincentive of all for future prevention: demonstration of ineffectivness.
- srj 12y ago
  What has lead you to believe that free speech is any consideration in Sony's dealings? This is the company that has (and still does) push for SOPA and CISPA-like abilities to take down websites with the most minor effort! It's unclear why the release was canceled. Maybe Sony wants to just put this whole thing behind them. Maybe they want to curtail any further leaks that they feel may be worse. Perhaps the executives feel that being a victim of a foreign nation absolves them of any culpability and they're playing that card to the greatest extent they can. But I highly doubt they're going to make any about face on a policy issue and are still very much against free speech as far as the internet is concerned. If anything this incident will be used to bolster their arguments and to that end maybe it has worked out better for them than "The Interview" ever could.
  - unclebucknasty 12y ago

nyolfen 12y ago

wow, a bunch of tangentially relevant people telling a major corporation to do some shit theyll never do so that maybe they'll link a piratebay mirror that might spring up in the next week or whatever, this is some seriously relevant shit hits a massive bowl of cum

coding4all 12y ago

I still have a hard time believing NK did this without any definitive evidence. Wasn't it last December that NK was sending fax messages to communicate with SK? Now they can download Terabytes from Sony without anyone noticing?

spb 12y ago
My guess is that it was somebody in Tunisia: https://www.reddit.com/r/MarkMyWords/comments/2pv2rk/mmw_if_found_the_mouthpiece_behind_the_sony_gop/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MarkMyWords/comments/2pv2rk/mmw_if_...
jrockway 12y ago
I also feel that it would be super-easy to just nullroute North Korea and be done with this "state sponsored terrorism" in about three seconds.
- Robadob 12y ago
  Early evidence suggested that one of the data dumps was carried out from a hotel in Thailand, so cutting off NK's internet wouldn't help protect from that much.
- briandear 12y ago
  Many NK attacks also originate in China.. Many Chinese hacks also originate in China come to think of it..
chrischen 12y ago
They can use money to hire hackers. In fact, most of the world operates this way.
yourad_io 12y ago
This. Not only for the technical capabilities (they could have hired someone else, yada yada), but especially for the chronology of the Interview/NK link. The first communications from the hackers addressed Sony execs while referring to "their demands", without naming them. The NK/Interview link came out of nowhere and the group seemed to just go along with it. If this isn't Media Hyping, I don't know what is. Sony hacked for the nth time - barely newsworthy by now. Sony cyberattacked by cyberterrorists and your real-world-kids possibly in very grave danger from a cyberbomb in a theater - NewsGold(tm). Can everyone stop using the NK link as a fact in this case? Thanks. PS: In case you missed it, NK denied involvement in this early on. Usually this wouldn't mean much (a state's denials? please) but remember who we're talking about here! When has NK passed up an opportunity to display their superiority?

rakesh-hocrox 12y ago

This is one of the black say in Sony life.

q2 12y ago

Let us relook the issue here. Is it hackers attack on Sony or Sony making a movie on North Korean ruler(as I understand) or both? Every human/culture has likes,dislikes ...etc and every one expect others not crossing those lines for peaceful co-existence. In democracy, no doubt, there is freedom of expression but if that expression is uncomfortable to other, then there is responsibility to control/prevent that expression rather than brazenly going ahead ignoring sensitivities of others. If the story line as I understand from mass media is, assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and if North Korea protested it, then Sony should have understand and accommodated the sensitivities of North Korea and stopped making this movie. It is not censorship as President Obama noted. People on HN voiced concern on NSA surveillance ...etc, since many felt privacy/anonymity is violated...etc. Just like you have sensitivities, North Korea too has sensitivities and it is natural to expect, others to understand them. Whether it is, dictatorship or democracy and their relative merits/demerits is different point of discussion. I am neither supporting hacker's attack on Sony nor North Korea but Sony in first place, should have considered the sensitivities of other cultures, even if they are alien to your culture and act accordingly, given the story line. Arts should further enable the stability or peace on earth and you may not achieve peace by hurting sentiments of others.

riffraff 12y ago
a few years back we had Team America[0] in which kim jong il is painted as a crazy terrorist and in the end dies after the american world police gets to him, and is revealed to be an alien cockroach when he gets impaled on a tube. Apparently, that movie was ok, so why shouldn't this have been? There is always people whose sensitivity gets hurt by movies and books, but this should not automatically lead to stopping publishing. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_America:_World_Police http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_America:_World_Police
- q2 12y ago
  All things happened in the past may not be good for example financial crises, wars, tsunami's ...etc. So past is not reference to present or future. >>> There is always people whose sensitivity gets hurt by movies and books, but this should not automatically lead to stopping publishing. There are "defamation laws" in many countries. Many people/companies use them if they feel offended/hurt, even if they are not noble. This incident may be the same for NK.

k-mcgrady 12y ago

Very little content here. Seems more like self-promotion and a silly offer that Sony would be stupid to take. Why let someone distribute the movie for free when they spent over $40m making it and can (worst case scenario) put it on a website they build and charge $10 to everyone that wants to watch it?

tehansen 12y ago
im still hoping its a very genius marketing campaign...but either way, setting the movie free (not as in beer) would send a powerfull message. cant think of a better xmas gift to humanity right now...
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "cant think of a better xmas gift to humanity right now..." Saving people who want to see a movie $10 is the best gift to humanity you can think of? (jk) It would definitely send a message but considering the loses they've already made from this + the hack they need to exploit the situation and make as much money as possible.
- yourad_io 12y ago
  Sony is a major player in anti-piracy. If they did this, their position would be weakened when they next take a few John Schmoes to court for bittorrenting.

chrischen 12y ago

The threat called for retribution even if it is leaked.

chintan39 12y ago

Finally, real hacker news :)

briandear 12y ago

Funny how the U.S. government goes nuts over an offensive YouTube video or Koran burning video, but suddenly Obama's administration calls out Sony for "making a mistake" for caving to (allegedly) North Korea? Does anyone else find this to be a double standard? We can "offend" North Korea, but if we "offend" Islam, then somehow that's different? I say let's offend everyone. That's what free speech means.

zaroth 12y ago
I think Terry Jones burning a Koran is starting to get into the "you're putting peoples lives in danger just to prove what a ridiculously pompous ass you are" camp. There is a fairly well defined limit to free speech, e.g. yelling "fire!" in a theater. Burning a Koran, just to fuck with people, is probably in "yelling fire" territory. But as far as Obama's quip against Sony goes... I was really surprised to read that. I think it's tone-deaf for Obama to call out Sony. First of all, it was the theaters not Sony who refused to show it. Second of all, it was the FBI who told the theaters they couldn't guarantee they weren't going to get hit by terrorists on Christmas. What?! Yes, the capitulation is absolutely shocking and terrible. That's what Obama should be saying. But victim blaming? It's like blaming the kidnapping victim for doing what they're told so they don't get hurt. Sony still has a gun to their head, they are still being actively extorted! Edit: @icebraining set me straight.
- icebraining 12y ago
  Burning a Koran, just to fuck with people, is probably in "yelling fire" territory. No, no it's not. It's an insensitive, assholish and petty action, but it does not constitute an incitation to immediate violation of the law, including but not exclusively because it was announced beforehand.
  - zaroth 12y ago
    Incitement to crime -- speech that spurs another to commit a crime -- is just one of 6 categories of speech which are not protected. The other five main exceptions to free speech protection include; Defamation, Obscenity, Sedition, and... Fighting words: As defined by the Supreme Court, fighting words are "those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace." Causing panic: The classic example of speech causing panic is someone yelling "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater. Speech may be suppressed where a reasonable person would know that his speech is likely to cause panic and/or harm to others. The government also has the right to restrict speech in order to promote a "compelling government interest," such as national security. This standard is extraordinarily strict and hard to prove, making it a rather narrow exception to free speech. [1] - https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/free-speech-primer-what-can-you-say https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/free-speech-primer-what-c... I thought that the courts would look at it under this 6-part framework and they might possibly decide, under the facts and circumstances of Terry Jones for example, that it falls under "fighting words" or maybe some kind of hate speech. But now I've read up more on Terry Jones and what actually happened, and, you're right, the consensus was it was protected speech. Pulling an Obama quote from Wikipedia; President Barack Obama was asked on September 9, 2010, on ABC's "Good Morning America" about the Quran burning controversy. He said, "You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities." He said, "I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq, who are in Afghanistan. We're already seeing protests against Americans just by the mere threat that he's making." "I just hope he understands that what he is proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans, that this country has been built on the notions of religious freedom and religious tolerance," Obama said. "He says he's someone who is motivated by his faith ... I hope he listens to those better angels and understands that this is a destructive act that he's engaging in.” Asked if the event could be stopped, Obama replied, "My understanding is that he can be cited for public burning … but that's the extent of the laws that we have available to us."[42]

nomercy400 12y ago

So, the threat is to expose private and sensitive data retrieved in the hack when The Interview is leaked? Who says The Interview wasn't obtained during the hack, and will be leaked by the same party issuing the threat?

happyscrappy 12y ago
The goal, which is working so far, is to prevent the release of the movie. The movie should be released because fuck whoever did this. Sony may be hated for good reason but not releasing only encourages this type of thing.

__m 12y ago

If Sony wanted to release the movie they probably wouldn't miss the chance of making money with it so this proposal sounds rather stupid. There is no differentiation between Hacker and Cracker in public media. Get over it.

tehansen 12y ago

I pledge to pay Sony 1 BTC if they let this happen. https://twitter.com/hansent/status/546273749163466753 https://twitter.com/hansent/status/546273749163466753

yourad_io 12y ago
That's a noble sentiment, but unfortunately the GoP also took sony_wallet.dat I kid, but this hack was pretty damn deep.

tehansen 12y ago

how much money have they spent on this movie? If people pitch in world wide...how much money does HN think it would take for Sony to "sell" this movie to the public.

kyledrake 12y ago

The last time people got this crazy about a hack, Kevin Mitnick was thrown in solitary confinement for months because they thought he could "whistle nuclear launch codes into prison telephones". 2600 made the documentary about it, Freedom Downtime, and I strongly recommend watching it if you never have. So what if North Korea did it (of course I'm skeptical of this, anyone with a computer can conduct the same activities, with the motivator of trolling the entire world for fun). It's not a big deal, it's not something that requires US presidential intervention. It's not even remotely as big of a deal as the CIA torture report that just came out. The CIA report threatens our legitimacy as a world power. The Sony hack just costs a corporation some money, maybe (free publicity FTW). Big. Deal. If this is the worst a hacker can do, I'd love to see all future wars replaced with hacking. I'll take that over agent orange and torture any day. This sad, sick notion that hackers are terrorist enemy #1 and this is the most important thing governments should be working on is, like this movie will probably be, shitty fiction, a self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuated by Hollywood in movies like War Games that make it look like we're all going to be nuked thousands of times if we don't stop the Hacker menace. Help me change the media's perception of hacking before we start throwing more whistleblowers and e-graffiti artists in prison. TLDR: Sony got hacked, too bad, learn a lesson and fix your computer security, let's not start WW3 over it shall we?

yourad_io 12y ago
> e-graffiti artists That's brilliant. (I assume this refers to defacement s/kiddies)
- Fogest 12y ago
  I don't think script kiddies could do this size of a hack, especially considering the amount of data involved and stay under the radar this long. If this is what a script kiddie is capable of... then what is a real hacker capable of?
  - yourad_io 12y ago
    That isnt what I or parent was saying.

junto 12y ago

I guess a movie about two brave maverick North Korean TV stars heading to Washington to assassinate Obama, the evil emperor of the United States could also be a 'funny' comedy movie to watch. Seriously though, while the plot of the film is both purile and offensive to the North Korean dictator personally, should NK be behind the attack on Sony (im still not convinced) then it is definitely an ulterly inappropriate response. Problem is, and this is a genuine question, how should they have responded? Is the western media, specifically the US media going to publish a written complaint from NK? Probably not right. I'm not justifying their response in any way, but would be curious to know if they have any way at all to complain. I'm playing devil's advocate here before anyone starts assuming I'm some NK sympathiser. I too would like to see the NK people freed from the tyranny and death camps they currently live under the constant threat of.

icegreentea 12y ago
Well, there are a few ways to parse 'should', and they really all boil down to what the hell NK even wants to do. If they want to stop as many people from seeing the film as possible, then they should have done nothing. If they wanted to send a message that NK has the technical abilities to fuck up American (/Western) businesses, then they did the 'right' thing. If they wanted to score a less aggressive propaganda win, then they probably should have incorporated it into their next round of talks or something.
dantillberg 12y ago
> Is the western media, specifically the US media going to publish a written complaint from NK? I imagine that many major US newspapers would love to publish an op-ed by Kim Jong-un. The New York Times, for example, published this op-ed by Vladimir Putin last year: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-cau....
jerednel 12y ago
I mean, Zoolander's plot was using male models to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia and nobody had a problem with that.
12y ago

FabianBeiner 12y ago

Paulo Coelho, world famous novelist, also made a neat offer: https://twitter.com/paulocoelho/status/545465796202606592 https://twitter.com/paulocoelho/status/545465796202606592

jordigh 12y ago
Not too surprising, since he advocates "piracy": http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/01/paulo-coelho-readers-pirate-books http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/01/paulo-coelho-re...

connie_lingus 12y ago

The CIA report threatens our legitimacy as a world power. no it does not...almost everyone in the world understand that under certain conditions, torture to get potentially life-saving information is just the way of things. let me put it this way...if your immediate family was going to be blown up in two hours, wouldn't you say go ahead and torture that guy who you KNOW has information on how to diffuse the bomb?

xtrumanx 12y ago
I'm not sure I would. It's scary me that you're sure that you would.
- connie_lingus 12y ago
  you would allow your parents and children to be blown up rather than make a horrid criminal be very uncomfortable for a few minutes???? and i'm the nutty one?
  - ObviousScience 12y ago
    Except a) that torture in the report didn't last for a few minutes and b) that it's less effective than other methods and more likely to obtain false information. So if I only had a couple hours and actually wanted to save my family, I'd probably try to do something that would actually make a difference.
  - rblatz 12y ago
    The world doesn't work like the television show 24.
    - connie_lingus 12y ago
      i don't watch tv so i don't know what you are talking about.
      - jobposter1234 12y ago

geophile 12y ago

Isn't this two not really related events being conflated? 1) Sony gets hacked. A big hack, but just a hack. 2) Sony pulls a movie because it offends a nasty dictator identified by name. Why are these connected? It's not as if they learned about the movie from the hack? I've seen the ad for that movie a few times, and I'm pretty sure that the spymasters in North Korea can watch the same Seinfeld reruns that I do. Why is the ridiculousness over Sony pulling the picture (PR stunt or not) at all related to the hack?

joeguilmette 12y ago
What don't you get? Sony got hacked, the hackers said if you halt release of the film we'll stop releasing your private data. The release was cancelled, the hackers stop releasing private data. It doesn't take a data scientist to put those two together.
- geophile 12y ago
  But the movie was pulled over concerns about terrorism, not embarrassing revelations: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/sony-north-korea-the-interview-113655.html http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/sony-north-korea-the-i... Sony left the decision up to the theater chains, and those chains were reported to back away from the movie because of the legal liability if there were a terrorist incident.
- peeters 12y ago
  The hackers also threatened terrorist attacks on movie theatres that showed the film. Which may or may not have influenced Sony's decision.

atmosx 12y ago

I don't get it. Doesn't sonny have the money to hire people like Spender, D. Hartmeier, etc. To secure their network?! To they need a hacker community to secure their network?! I mean it's obvious that they don't care about security or that they do care but they value flexibility more, than tight security. Either way I don't understand the nature of the offer, maybe it's pure irony and I missed it.

websitescenes 12y ago

This would be awesome but so very unlikely. I Suspect that Sony exaggerated the threat and cancelled the film as a publicity stunt. Was it a real attack? Sure. Is the film cancelled forever? Highly doubtful. Sony is way too profit oriented to let this opportunity pass and they certainly are not going to hand the film over to the hacker community and loose out. That said, I think that 2600 releasing the film would be AWESOME!!

jorgecastillo 12y ago

I won't be adding much to the conversation but I really feel I need to say this. If Sony doesn't release this film I am not buying a Sony product ever again.