It seems Sony has found itself in the kind of a situation that offers no easy solution. After weeks of being hacked and embarrassed on an international level, it has finally been confirmed by the U.S. government that North Korea is behind the cyber attack, and the effect has been all but crippling for the movie house. Ultimately, the hackers were working hard to scare Sony into shelving its comedy The Interview, which was scheduled to hit theaters Christmas Day, and as of now their efforts have worked. The film, a comedy about taking out North Korea's Kim Jong Un, seems to have been put to rest permanently, and much of Hollywood seems furious about it.
Aside from having to crawl out from the initial humiliation, not only of actually being hacked but then the mortification that the contents of various emails have been leaked, the company was left with a huge problem on its hands. Within the last week Seth Rogen and James Franco began canceling different media interviews that were intended to promote The Interview, and as of yesterday both actors had been photographed with bodyguards. The stars connected to the project have feared for their own safety, so it makes sense Sony would proceed with extra caution.
If they continued to promote the film and if some theaters were willing to show it over the holiday, and even one instance of violence occurred, then the backlash would have been huge because the company had been warned and failed to heed the public threats. On the flip side, by pretending that this film does not exist, Sony is basically letting North Korea control our entertainment, freedom of speech and the kinds of artistic ventures that see the light of day.
Hollywood and those working in its industry are, as a whole, furious to have this message sent out. If the U.S. does not sensor itself, then how are we allowing a communist country to do so for us? As of now, not only has Sony pulled the plug on The Interview playing on the big screen, but it has also halted any plans for it to turn up on VOD or Netflix. Basically, Sony has willingly eaten about a billion dollars out of fear.
Perhaps some of that fear is justified because, while this story is fluid, we still do not know who the middle man is. North Korea basically outsourced this hacking job, and who accepted the position is important. Some genius holed up in an apartment in, say, Connecticut is likely all talk — but if North Korea hired an Islamic extremist group with loads of technology and money to burn, then that could feasibly turn into a physical problem on U.S. soil.
What are your thoughts on the decisions that Sony has made so far? Do you think this group will stop with just hacking a film studio? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
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