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G_j

(40,366 posts)
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 08:57 AM Dec 2014

Interview: George Clooney Explains Why Sony Stood Alone In North Korean Cyberterror Attack

http://deadline.com/2014/12/george-clooney-sony-hollywood-cowardice-north-korea-cyberattack-petition-1201329988/


<snip>


DEADLINE: How could this have happened, that terrorists achieved their aim of cancelling a major studio film? We watched it unfold, but how many people realized that Sony legitimately was under attack?

GEORGE CLOONEY: A good portion of the press abdicated its real duty. They played the fiddle while Rome burned. There was a real story going on. With just a little bit of work, you could have found out that it wasn’t just probably North Korea; it was North Korea. The Guardians Oof Peace is a phrase that Nixon used when he visited China. When asked why he was helping South Korea, he said it was because we are the Guardians of Peace. Here, we’re talking about an actual country deciding what content we’re going to have. This affects not just movies, this affects every part of business that we have. That’s the truth. What happens if a newsroom decides to go with a story, and a country or an individual or corporation decides they don’t like it? Forget the hacking part of it. You have someone threaten to blow up buildings, and all of a sudden everybody has to bow down. Sony didn’t pull the movie because they were scared; they pulled the movie because all the theaters said they were not going to run it. And they said they were not going to run it because they talked to their lawyers and those lawyers said if somebody dies in one of these, then you’re going to be responsible.

We have a new paradigm, a new reality, and we’re going to have to come to real terms with it all the way down the line. This was a dumb comedy that was about to come out. With the First Amendment, you’re never protecting Jefferson; it’s usually protecting some guy who’s burning a flag or doing something stupid. This is a silly comedy, but the truth is, what it now says about us is a whole lot. We have a responsibility to stand up against this. That’s not just Sony, but all of us, including my good friends in the press who have the responsibility to be asking themselves: What was important? What was the important story to be covering here? The hacking is terrible because of the damage they did to all those people. Their medical records, that is a horrible thing, their Social Security numbers. Then, to turn around and threaten to blow people up and kill people, and just by that threat alone we change what we do for a living, that’s the actual definition of terrorism.

DEADLINE: I’ve been chasing the story of the petition you were circulating for a week now. Where is it, and how were these terrorists able to isolate Sony from the herd and make them so vulnerable?

CLOONEY: Here’s the brilliant thing they did. You embarrass them first, so that no one gets on your side. After the Obama joke, no one was going to get on the side of Amy, and so suddenly, everyone ran for the hills. Look, I can’t make an excuse for that joke, it is what it is, a terrible mistake. Having said that, it was used as a weapon of fear, not only for everyone to disassociate themselves from Amy but also to feel the fear themselves. They know what they themselves have written in their emails, and they’re afraid.

...more...
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Interview: George Clooney Explains Why Sony Stood Alone In North Korean Cyberterror Attack (Original Post) G_j Dec 2014 OP
Thank you, Mr. Clooney ChazII Dec 2014 #1
This message was self-deleted by its author 99Forever Dec 2014 #2
Great Clooney... 99Forever Dec 2014 #3
For what it might be worth, Clooney founded and funded the Satellite Sentinel Project which used Bluenorthwest Dec 2014 #6
Because as we know, George Clooney is a warmongering MIC tool. NuclearDem Dec 2014 #8
"Japanize".. is that a verb? TwilightGardener Dec 2014 #10
Well I feel safer. 99Forever Dec 2014 #11
Lol, do you ever make sense? Nt Logical Dec 2014 #15
Money and image repair abelenkpe Dec 2014 #4
Still sad that the hackers appear to win. ChazII Dec 2014 #5
Yeah, totally understand. abelenkpe Dec 2014 #7
Embarrassing Sony is not terror. nichomachus Dec 2014 #9
No, it isn't terror. HappyMe Dec 2014 #12
Fine, but it's not terror nichomachus Dec 2014 #14
Yeah, I know. HappyMe Dec 2014 #16
Sony Execs lancer78 Dec 2014 #13

ChazII

(6,198 posts)
1. Thank you, Mr. Clooney
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 09:36 AM
Dec 2014
This is a silly comedy, but the truth is, what it now says about us is a whole lot. We have a responsibility to stand up against this.

If this picture or Team America were to be released I would be one of the first in line.

Response to ChazII (Reply #1)

99Forever

(14,524 posts)
3. Great Clooney...
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 09:45 AM
Dec 2014

... you and your pals at the Japanize Sony Corporation do your thing, with your own warriors on your dime.

Have at it.
 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
6. For what it might be worth, Clooney founded and funded the Satellite Sentinel Project which used
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 10:16 AM
Dec 2014

satellite imagery to observe and report human rights abuses in Sudan that were being ignored by the world at large. So taking large and unusually expensive steps to solve problems is not exactly outside his parameters. And any implication that he desires military responses is an unfounded and rotten allegation. And Sony is owned by the Japanese. Did you get your spelling from FR?

abelenkpe

(9,933 posts)
4. Money and image repair
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 09:54 AM
Dec 2014

That's why Sony canceled. Also, not actually even a very good movie. Destined to not do well against the other movies slated to be released at the same time. Still sad that the hackers appear to win.

ChazII

(6,198 posts)
5. Still sad that the hackers appear to win.
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 10:07 AM
Dec 2014

That is why and the only reason why I would go to see either of these movies. It would be my way of giving the finger to the hackers. It would be my way of telling the them go to h*ll and I won't cave to their threats. For what it is worth, I did attend a presentation where there was a bomb threat.

nichomachus

(12,754 posts)
9. Embarrassing Sony is not terror.
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 12:58 PM
Dec 2014

We need to stop that shit -- that everything we don't like is "terror."

And threatening terror only means something if the person threatening has the means and ability to carry it out. I can threaten to pee in the punchbowl at the White House Christmas party, but since I wasn't even invited, the likelihood of my being able to do that is less than zero.

Sony had a crappy IT security stance. They had been hacked numerous times before. And still Sony execs were writing embarrassing emails like they were middle school kids.

Everyone just needs to get a freaking grip.

If you want a sane discussion of the issue, read an interview with cybersecurity expert Peter Singer.


http://motherboard.vice.com/read/reaction-to-the-sony-hack-is-beyond-the-realm-of-stupid

"Reaction to the Sony Hack is Beyond the Realm of Stupid"

nichomachus

(12,754 posts)
14. Fine, but it's not terror
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 01:19 PM
Dec 2014

We need to stop throwing that word around at anything we don't like. This is a police matter, not a matter of national security.

HappyMe

(20,277 posts)
16. Yeah, I know.
Fri Dec 19, 2014, 01:25 PM
Dec 2014

I would imagine people are working to figure out exactly who and where this came from.

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