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Sony playing dangerous game with 'The Interview'

Posted Wednesday, December 17, 2014 at 4:25 PM Central

by John Couture

Oh Sony, what are you doing?

I've sort of let the whole Sony hack mess play out without getting too involved, but things took a turn for the insane today. Sony, a multi-billion dollar worldwide company, is basically admitting that they are powerless to a faceless, anonymous faction of computer hackers.

This isn't David vs. Goliath, this is the bacteria living under David's fingernails vs. Goliath. Of course, I don't mean to belittle bacteria. Anyone who has seen War of the Worlds knows just how powerful a microscopic organism can be, but Sony is waving the white flag before it even steps on the battlefield.

Allow me to summarize the Sony hack so that we are all on the same page here.

On November 24, a group of hackers calling themselves #GOP (Guardians of Peace) took over Sony's systems and alerted the company that they had obtained all of their internal data and they would release it to the world unless their demands were met. About a week goes by in which five of Sony's films including several that weren't released in theaters yet are made available at various illegal downloading sites.

The day after Thanksgiving, word gets out that the hackers' main demand was for Sony to pull the film The Interview which leads to speculation that North Korea is behind the hack due to the subject matter of the film. The Interview is a film in which a celebrity tabloid talk show host played by James Franco and his producer played by Seth Rogen are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un during an interview.

As December breaks, the hackers start releasing personal information such as salaries for Sony's top executives and privileged email communications between Sony executives and various Hollywood figures. The emails, in particular, were rather scathing and included slights against several celebrities including Adam Sandler, Angelina Jolie and Jonah Hill.

Things continued in much the same way for last couple of weeks. The hackers would make veiled threats against The Interview and release damaging information, including a script for next year's Spectre. While the information released was indeed damaging to Sony, the hackers were mostly benign until December 16 when the hackers released the following email to reporters.

We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places The Interview be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to. Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time.

While this threat is specific, there has been no indication to date from the FBI or other law enforcement agencies that this is a credible threat. While the hackers mention of 9/11 was specific and a smart psychological ploy on their part, how would North Korea (even if they are behind the Sony hack) coordinate such an attack in the United States?

Sony, obviously wheeling from the last few weeks' worth of attacks, decided today to take the unprecedented action of allowing theaters to pull out of their commitments to show The Interview. As of press time, at least four major theater chains including AMC, Carmike, Regal and Cinemark have pulled out of their agreement to show the film and surely others will follow.

This is a very fluid situation and Variety is reporting that Sony is considering a premium VOD release for the film. How's that for irony? Of course, if they do decide to go that route, that would present the hackers with an interesting decision. Will they allow Sony to make money off of The Interview in this fashion or would they simply dump it out to these illegal websites to cause further harm to Sony, despite knowing that doing so would allow people to see The Interview?

All of that is conjecture for another day. What we are left with is the fact that for the first time in modern history, a major company is basically being blackmailed by a small, unknown entity. For all we know, the #GOP could be a group of teenagers bored with their privileged upbringing and looking to gain the attention of their idols Franco and Rogen.

Yeah, maybe not, but even if these hackers are in some way connected with North Korea, what does Sony's actions say about global terrorism?

To prove just how fluid this whole situation is, in the time it has taken me to write this article, Sony has decided to pull the film entirely. This saddens me to no end because they have now set the dangerous precedent that groups can exert influence over large corporations. What if the KKK were to hack Paramount and demand they pull Selma?

Or transport yourself exactly one year into the future and imagine that a group of Trekkies have hacked Disney and are demanding that they not release The Force Awakens? What? That's too far-fetched? I would have said the same thing to you if you would have told me six months ago that a hacker group with questionable ties to North Korea would be able to get Sony to pull The Interview.

Of course Disney wouldn't pull The Force Awakens and there's the rub.

While box office projections for The Interview were approaching $100 million, that's not even in the same galaxy as what the next Star Wars film is going to make. The Force Awakens will easily top that number opening weekend.

No, the issue is money. If The Interview were set to make $300 million or more, there's no way that Sony would pull the film. Again, it sets a dangerous precedent moving forward. The ability of a few to censor what is shown to the many sounds a lot like censorship, doesn't it?

With today's developments in regards to Cuba and the easing of trade sanctions, it's easy to forget that we still live in a world where certain bad apples are able to make a big splash. I'm not going to go so far as to call this Sony decision an attack against democracy itself, but I for one would have stood in line with Judd Apatow on Christmas day to see this movie, if only to send a message to these hackers that they can't use threats to scare us.