North Korea Limits US Freedoms through Intimidation

[EyeKhan]

Yeah, a sensational title, but isn't that what is happening? I remember seeing the movie's trailer and being surprised they would make something the NKs would so obviously find very offensive. (Really, a movie about the CIA plotting to assassinate the existing leader of a foreign country, especially one so paranoid/ unpredictable/ messed up?) But I never once considered NK could actually and so successfully attack and damage Sony and further intimidate the movie industry like this. Wow. A cyber-warfare/ terrorism wake-up call? Is this as big a deal as it appears?

New York premiere of North Korea comedy canceled after threats

By Jim Finkle and Mark Hosenball


BOSTON (Reuters) - The New York premiere of "The Interview", a Sony Pictures comedy about the assassination of North Korean President Kim Jong-Un, has been canceled and a source said one theater chain had scrapped plans to show it, after threats from a hacking group.

The hackers, who said they were also responsible for seizing control of Sony Corp's computer system last month, on Tuesday warned people to stay away from cinemas showing the film starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, and darkly reminded moviegoers of the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on the United States in 2001.

"We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time," the hackers wrote.

"(If your house is nearby, you'd better leave.)"

A spokeswoman for Landmark, which was to have hosted a premiere of the film at its Sunshine Cinema in Lower East Side, New York, on Thursday, said by email that the screening had been canceled, but did not explain why.

A Sony spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the threat.

Sony executives had earlier told theater owners it would not pull the film but added they would not object if they decided to cancel screenings, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Carmike Cinemas, operator of 278 theaters in 41 states, informed Sony late on Tuesday that it would not show the film, the person said. Carmike executives were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday evening, a spokesman said.

An official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and another U.S. security official said investigations had found nothing concrete so far to substantiate the threat.

"At this time there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters within the United States," the DHS official said.

Police departments in Los Angeles and New York, however, said they were take the warning seriously.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told a news conference that officers would be taking extra precautions to make sure movie theaters were "as safe as we can make them". He said the threats were "done to put terror" into U.S. audiences.

The North Korean government has denounced the film as "undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war" in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.


CYBER ATTACK

Internet news company BuzzFeed reported that Franco and Rogen had canceled all planned media appearances on Tuesday, the day they were scheduled to appear at a BuzzFeed event. Representatives for the actors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. security agencies are investigating a hacking group that carried out the cyber attack in November that severely damaged the movie studio's network and published damaging internal emails, unreleased films and employee data online. The group published what appeared to be more internal emails on Tuesday.

Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm BeyondTrust, said he believed it was the first time a film screening had been pulled in the wake of a high-profile cyber attack.

"If they pulled the premier because of the hacking it's troubling. The moment you start reacting is the moment you give them more power," said Maiffret.

Sony is already reeling from the disclosures in documents released by the hackers, which have publicly exposed internal discussions important to the company's future.

Reuters has not been able to verify the authenticity of the more than 100 gigabytes of documents that have been distributed via the Internet. The company has confirmed that at least some are authentic, apologizing for the loss of sensitive employee data and some comments made by executives.

The newest file published on Tuesday appeared to be emails from Sony studio chief Michael Lynton. One email showed Lynton consulted with a senior official in the U.S. State Department in June this year, days after North Korea threatened "merciless countermeasures" over the release of the film.

Several rounds of leaks of emails have prompted apologies for disparaging remarks that executives made about celebrities. The leaks have included a James Bond script, high-quality digital copies of films that have yet to be released and private employee data.

Sony has also been sued by self-described former employees who accuse Sony of failing to properly protect their personal data. Sony declined comment on the lawsuit.

http://news.yahoo.com/no-credible-si...--finance.html

[GGT]

Yes, I'd say it's a pretty big deal. It's bad enough that private data was hacked (like SS numbers, health records, etc.) and a behemoth like Sony didn't/couldn't protect that information. But when threats were made against theaters and movie-goers it went from cyber crime to cyber terrorism.

Since it's being reported that it was all done at the behest of North Korea's government....does that mean it's an Act of War? It gets even thornier knowing NK used China's servers to do the deeds. So what should be the official US response?



<I'd love it they could find a way to distribute the movie anyway, without having to rely on theaters or internet providers that are shaking in their boots (if anything were to happen). Maybe they could 'look the other way' while white-hat hackers flood the world wide web with 'bootlegged' copies?>

[Loki]

http://deadline.com/2014/12/north-ko...cy-1201328532/

Pretty disturbing.

[Lewkowski]

Pathetic.

[Flixy]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...ry.html#page=1

China didn't even need to hack anything to get changes done


GGT, distributing the film over the internet wouldn't be a problem for providers, but it would be a major financial setback for the studio. Single streams cost less than theater tickets (and can be viewed by multiple people), and subscription services pay even less. Not to mention the fact that people just want to go to the cinema some time, and might just choose your film just because it's in theaters. And suggesting allowing people to leak the film? Yeah, that's going to earn them back the $44million that they sunk in this,

On the flip side, when this finally d oes get released, they will thank the massive extra publicity they are getting now (might make up for the reviews it's had ).


Anyway, yes, it's disturbing. On one hand I can see why a movie about assassinating a real, current head of state could be seen as bad taste (death of a president didn't exactly go down well with a lot of American media), but at the same time there should be artistic freedom to do so if they want to. Then again, it's not that smart to do that about the leader of a country that is not known for its artistic freedom (or any, I suppose), and known for overreacting to slights aimed at them. Of course they are overreacting badly, but it's North Korea, after all. I hope it all blows over and it can be released not too long for now, and that the threats turn out to be idle.

[GGT]

Flixy, internet giants like Google are worried about the impacts. So are Hulu, Netflix, and ISPs. Sony Entertainment can "eat" the loss, and write it off as marketing or publicity costs.

IMO, this kind of forced censorship shouldn't be left to corporate interests to deal with on their own.

[Lewkowski]

To be fair I personally attribute some of the blame to the overly litigious environment we live in. If something DID happen it won't take but a moment for lawyers to start piling in. That whole issue has its own brand of stupidity attached to it as well.

Still... its quite pathetic as a nation that we are worried about something like this. It really should spur the entertainment industry to further attack NK and its leader through satire, direct insults and films pointing out what a shit hole the country is.

[GGT]

Our society may not be so litigious......if the Insurance Industry didn't have such powerful lawyers and PACs.

Theaters may have wanted to show The Interview, but their lawyers reminded them that their insurer had specific limitations. An insurer can call pretty much anything an "act of
god" in order to avoid liability.

[Loki]

From what I hear, this might be a case of Japan (through Sony) wanting to avoid antagonizing North Korea.

[GGT]

Sony Japan is the parent company, and Sony Entertainment is a predominantly US subsidiary.

[Lewkowski]

Our society may not be so litigious......if the Insurance Industry didn't have such powerful lawyers and PACs.

Theaters may have wanted to show The Interview, but their lawyers reminded them that their insurer had specific limitations. An insurer can call pretty much anything an "act of
god" in order to avoid liability.

Are you serious? Your response to "too much litigation" is to blame the insurance industry? Why do you think people get liability insurance in the first place? Fix it so brainless juries can't give multi-million dollar awards because someone got hurt and they want to make a family feel better regardless of actual culpability.

[Ominous Gamer]

From what I hear, this might be a case of Japan (through Sony) wanting to avoid antagonizing North Korea.

That and the movie theaters that don't back down don't want to be the next targets. Everyone knows the threats of violence don't mean shit, but NK did real damage to Sony, and that freaked out everyone. Sony gave the decision to the theaters first, and they all caved.

[EyeKhan]

Ok, need Fuzzy and Ender to swoop in and declare this isn't the big deal you guys are pumping it up to be.

[LittleFuzzy]

I frankly haven't been paying attention, just how big a deal have you guys been pumping it up to be? This could significantly hurt Sony or it may prove to be just a temporary irritation, I don't know and I don't think anyone here is really in any position to even guestimate how much actual damage this will cause the company. Major labels are going to back off making films featuring North Korea not that they were all that common in the first place, there's going to be a surge in the Indie market and soon enough the big guys will be inching back into the waters. They probably won't be making any films directly referencing the sitting head of a country like NK again but that was always in poor taste anyway and something they probably should have thought twice about in the first place, particularly wrt assassination plots no matter how comedic. How many major-market films do you know of involving the protagonists trying to murder Obama?

[Flixy]

I don't know about obama, but there was a mockumentary about an assassination of George w. Bush. Don't know what your criterium is for major market, but it wasn't a very small film.

[EyeKhan]

I frankly haven't been paying attention, just how big a deal have you guys been pumping it up to be? This could significantly hurt Sony or it may prove to be just a temporary irritation, I don't know and I don't think anyone here is really in any position to even guestimate how much actual damage this will cause the company. Major labels are going to back off making films featuring North Korea not that they were all that common in the first place, there's going to be a surge in the Indie market and soon enough the big guys will be inching back into the waters. They probably won't be making any films directly referencing the sitting head of a country like NK again but that was always in poor taste anyway and something they probably should have thought twice about in the first place, particularly wrt assassination plots no matter how comedic. How many major-market films do you know of involving the protagonists trying to murder Obama?

1. I agree with everything you typed.

but

2. This isn't about how dumb it was to make the movie. North Korea reached into the US, by all accounts severely spanked a major corporation for exercising more or less harmless free speech, and then intimidated the entire US theater industry into self-censorship. You don't think there's enough information to say if the deal is big or not?

[Loki]

I frankly haven't been paying attention, just how big a deal have you guys been pumping it up to be? This could significantly hurt Sony or it may prove to be just a temporary irritation, I don't know and I don't think anyone here is really in any position to even guestimate how much actual damage this will cause the company. Major labels are going to back off making films featuring North Korea not that they were all that common in the first place, there's going to be a surge in the Indie market and soon enough the big guys will be inching back into the waters. They probably won't be making any films directly referencing the sitting head of a country like NK again but that was always in poor taste anyway and something they probably should have thought twice about in the first place, particularly wrt assassination plots no matter how comedic. How many major-market films do you know of involving the protagonists trying to murder Obama?

The issue isn't whether Sony got browbeaten into canceling the release of one crappy film. The issue is that a foreign government can get away with doing this, including the way it was done.

And now this: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/paramou...544056112.html

[LittleFuzzy]

The answer is "a lot". We've been demonstrating that for years, so has China.

[Ominous Gamer]

Sony needs to say fuck it and drop the movie as a VOD. Could easily bump Die Hard as the yearly christmas movie for a few years

[Ominous Gamer]

[Flixy]

Sony needs to say fuck it and drop the movie as a VOD. Could easily bump Die Hard as the yearly christmas movie for a few years

Yeah, that's a great idea if they want to forget about ever making back the millions invested in this.

Funny, but at the same time, if a company continued with an event despite terrorist threats and something did happen, everybody would blame them (and sue them).

The issue isn't whether Sony got browbeaten into canceling the release of one crappy film. The issue is that a foreign government can get away with doing this, including the way it was done.

And now this: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/paramou...544056112.html

True, but isn't that always a problem in international relationships? NK already has sanctions, there are no diplomatic relations, what exactly can you do? It's not like you're willing to risk a war over this. And even with countries that aren't enemies, isn't that basically always the problem? When another country does something against you (or your citizens), but doing something about it would hurt your relations more than it's worth? I'm also thinking about China's hacking here, and, let's face it, about tonnes of stuff the USA does.

[earthJoker]

Is the suing thing really realistic? I mean suing someone for provoking a third party to make an attack? Wouldn't that completely make free speak void?

[Flixy]

I wouldn't say they are responsible for provoking an attack, but they are responsible for security and ignoring warnings could make you liable, I think. But I'm in no way a lawyer, so take that with a grain of salt. But if someone gets a bomb threat but doesn't evacuate the building, and subsequently people die , I could see how that can be framed as negligent.

[Loki]

As long as everyone took "reasonable" steps to ensure security, any lawsuit would be thrown out. When the US said there was no credible threat against American movie theaters, that pretty much precluded anyone from suing if anything did happen.

True, but isn't that always a problem in international relationships? NK already has sanctions, there are no diplomatic relations, what exactly can you do? It's not like you're willing to risk a war over this. And even with countries that aren't enemies, isn't that basically always the problem? When another country does something against you (or your citizens), but doing something about it would hurt your relations more than it's worth? I'm also thinking about China's hacking here, and, let's face it, about tonnes of stuff the USA does.

I was thinking more along the lines of the US government promising to protect Sony from any fallout from showing the movie.

[Ominous Gamer]

Yeah, that's a great idea if they want to forget about ever making back the millions invested in this.

When the hack news first broke people thought it was a marketing ploy for The Interview. Hell, people were still skeptical up until the government stepped in. The movie has an insane amount of publicity right now. Release it through the usual legit digital services and cable VOD services, throw out some patriotic bullshit and they will have hit on a god damn gold mine.

[Flixy]

As long as everyone took "reasonable" steps to ensure security, any lawsuit would be thrown out. When the US said there was no credible threat against American movie theaters, that pretty much precluded anyone from suing if anything did happen.

http://deadline.com/2014/08/cinemark...-rises-820639/

Note that their defense was that this was unforeseeable, which is far, far more true in that case, and it still isn't thrown out... And in this case it has been announced.

I was thinking more along the lines of the US government promising to protect Sony from any fallout from showing the movie.

Protection like what? Use a time machine to take everything back offline? I don't really see what the government can do aside from going after the culprits.

When the hack news first broke people thought it was a marketing ploy for The Interview. Hell, people were still skeptical up until the government stepped in. The movie has an insane amount of publicity right now. Release it through the usual legit digital services and cable VOD services, throw out some patriotic bullshit and they will have hit on a god damn gold mine.

Gold mine? I doubt that. If it enters theaters, maybe, but streams earn significantly less per viewer. I doubt they get more than 5$ per stream, which means almost 10% of all US households would have to watch it. Plus it will leak in HD instantly, if you can stream it you can rip it.

[LittleFuzzy]

Flixy is right about liability and Loki is dead wrong. That shouldn't be the case but it is, and Sony is already facing a couple of class actions. More importantly it would significantly hurt them PR-wise. The movie isn't worth it, Sony is under no sort of obligation and has no interest in "showing that Americans can't be pushed around" and no one would remember it after a few months if it did try. If somehow people die though, that will stick more broadly.

[Loki]

The judge doesn't seem to know the definition of reasonable. If people could have reasonably expected shootings to start targeting theaters, where are all the warnings from law enforcement agencies? Everyone can decide ex post that something that occurred must have been likely. It's incredibly faulty logic.

[Flixy]

The judge doesn't seem to know the definition of reasonable. If people could have reasonably expected shootings to start targeting theaters, where are all the warnings from law enforcement agencies? Everyone can decide ex post that something that occurred must have been likely. It's incredibly faulty logic.

I agree with you, I just used it as an example that this is the reality.

On a side note, in one of the articles I read while looking that example up it was mentioned that a lot of other theaters did hire extra security for the premiere screenings while this cinema chose not to, and that an alarm should have been on the fire door that was left open and used to enter with the weapons. I don't know if the plaintiffs will actually get something in the end, but if that's enough not to get summary judgement, I imagine that would be impossible if you were actually warned about an attack.

[Ominous Gamer]

Sony is facing lawsuits because of the absolutely horrible security and management that's been displayed concerning the protection of sensitive information. Not because they were the target of a hack.

I'm sure that if Sony did release the movie and something did happen that someone would try to sue them, because this is America and sue over everything. Sony would prevail however.
The liability, if any, would be on the theaters. Which is why the theaters were the one who forced sonys hand on this. Sony gave the decision to show the film to the theaters and they ALL balked. Pansies.

Sony has said today that they will be attempting to release the film on schedule.