Thread: Sony cancels The Interview

Sony Just Canned 'The Interview' in the Wake of Terrorist Threat | Motherboard

Cyber-terrorism. Now that is a word I never thought I would use to name a real life event. Sure that word gets tossed around all the time in the public media at the same ratio of water drops in a rainy day. But it's mostly just journalism habit of trashing perfectly good words until they lose their meaning. It's not that we have witnessed cyber-terrorism before. Until now...

Sony actually cancelled the movie that land it what is so far (no doubt at this point) the worse corporate hacking in damages caused in the history of the internet.

The company had not many options at this point. The threats made to it by the hackers that they would expose even still dirtier secrets from the company seems a bit baseless. The company has been very bold in the few public announcements they have made facing the hackers threats. But a few cinemas cancelled the premiere, forcing Sony to remove the movie.

What really secured this hack as cyber-terrorism, was that it actually managed to damage the company in ways we have never seen before. It threatened and spread fear and it did so successfully.

The leaked emails and documents have damaged the reputation of the company. But they have little value on a consumerist society where graver sins are committed directly onto the consumer everyday and people just keep on buying. And this is particularly true of the entertainment industry, to which Sony belongs. No. The real damage, the one that got me most worried was that a cyber attack and a set of cyber threats, actually had people pay enough attention to get scared or afraid and managed to cancel such a high profile event as the launch of a movie.

The precedent that was taken today is a terrible one. And I'm worried of what will come next.

At this point I'm totally on the side of the investigators and I wish they manage to find the hackers. North Koreans (doubtful), contracted Chinese (more likely), or kids doing it for the lulz (best bet), they committed a crime that cannot go unpunished if we want to keep hoping for a free, unregulated internet. Because I fear these are exactly the type of events that can get our governments up in a bunch.

I'm sure whichever higher up at Sony decided to hold off on the showing of the movie is getting a lot of sideways looks right now lol.

It does seem like information is constantly getting stolen these days though. The weird thing is that most of it would be considered completely boring if it wasn't for this weird combination of voyeurism and hero worship that goes on across the internet.

It's right up there with other bullsh*it words, like "cloud".

O_o

No joke...

I've started hearing "I looked it up on the cloud." as opposed to "I google'd it.".

Why!?

For instance, if I came to your house and bashed your knees in, I'm not a terrorist, I just probably have something against you.

If you are using the knee job to coerce me into doing something as a precedent to control others without having to take the time for knee job, you are committing terrorism.

My guess is that a competitor to Sony is responsible, after all, who has the most to gain from the attack?

Virtually anyone who isn't a competitor to Sony?

How do you not get that this is setting a standard of action in the coming months and years?

According to many, the threat wasn't credible. The threat may have been credible; I don't know, but I do know that other groups are going to try to shutdown movies from other studios. For a person looking to cause harm whatever the reason, the result was a great success. Do you believe that other groups will not try for similar result? The actions of the day are going to inform future responses.

[Edit]
@Yarin: I'm not even trying to argue over your opinion. I can't imagine the group responsible being a competitor, but I don't know that a competitor wasn't responsible. The fact that any group of ..............s may determine what I choose to watch, read, or play being a common event is depressing, but I see that this result is a way of accepting that fate which is simply frightening.
[/Edit]

Soma

Originally Posted by Yarin

I know if I was an attacker that wanted to remain anonymous, I would drop hints to imply I'm someone I'm not.

But there is something of a novelty in this particular attack. The group Anonymous, for instance, doesn't (didn't? never heard of them again) care much about concealing their thoughts through disinformation. Other hackers are also very upfront about their motivations. In this particular case, all we know is these people, or this person, doesn't want The Interview to be screened on theaters. And its been very upfront and consistent about that motivation.

Trying to hide myself through disinformation (when I'm a hacker, that is) isn't going to amount to much. Any criminal investigation sticks to the internet protocols and, if successful, pinpoints the source of the attack. There's nothing to gain from spreading misinformation because there's really no criminal profile based investigation taking place. I'm pretty sure hackers themselves realize that what investigators are after is not an individual, or a group. They are after the computers that committed the crime.

Originally Posted by Mario F.

In this particular case, all we know is these people, or this person, doesn't want The Interview to be screened on theaters. And its been very upfront and consistent about that motivation.

Do we really know that though? Until they get proof on the people responsible, I can't really assume anything.

My prediction. Kim Jong Un did the attack himself, and further demands to make Kim Jong Un the star of every movie are on the way!