After 20 days and eight data dumps, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) turns to news organizations and demands them to stop publishing information gleaned from the emails and documents leaked by the hacking group Guardians of Peace (GOP) claiming responsibility for the devastating Nov. 24 hack.
Attorney David Boies, writing on behalf of Sony, sent a strongly-worded letter to media outlets demanding that they refrain from publishing more information obtained from the internal files, and destroy those files if they have already been downloaded. The letter, which was first reported to New York Times, was also delivered to The L.A. Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Re/code.
Boies, whose previous clients include former Vice President Al Gore and Microsoft, says that "[SPE] does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading or making any use" of the stolen information.
If Sony's request is not granted, Boies says the company "will have no choice but to hold you responsible for any damage or loss arising from such use or dissemination by you."
The letter also confirms that Sony deems that the ongoing offensive waged against the beleaguered Hollywood studio is all part of a move by the attackers to block the comedy film "The Interview" from being released to theaters on Christmas Day. In a message claimed to have come from GOP, the hackers demanded that Sony immediately pull out the "movie of terrorism, which can break the regional peace and case the War."
Boies writes that the hackers are "using the dissemination of both private and company information for the stated purpose of materially harming SPE unless SPE submits and withdraws the motion picture from distribution."
The film, starring actors Seth Rogen and James Franco, revolves around a CIA-backed plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and has earned the ire of the Pyongyang administration, which has called the film an "act of war."
First Amendment specialists, however, believe it will be unlikely for Sony to prevail against media outlets, citing a Supreme Court decision which ruled that the media has the right to publish the contents of the hacked 1971 Pentagon Papers.
"So long as media outlets didn't participate in the illegal taking of the information, they are protected in using the information in any way they see fit," says attorney Jim Ewert, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
News outlets have defended their actions; saying that the information gleaned from the data dumps was "newsworthy" because how major movie studios conduct their business is a "legitimate public interest." Andrew Wallenstein, co-editor in chief of Variety, tells CNN that the press has essentially done the hackers' bidding by publishing Sony's private information, "but on the other hand, it was going to get out there anyway."
"We have to be part of the conversation," Wallenstein says.
"The data breach involving Sony Pictures has resulted in the release of information about the movie industry that is newsworthy," says LA Times editor Davan Maharaj. "We have reported on this material in a manner consistent with our editorial standards, and we will continue to do so."
Several news organizations, including Tech Times, have been reporting on the revelations obtained from the eight data dumps after Sony Pictures' entire computer network was breached by hackers believed to be linked to North Korea. The leaked files started with four unreleased Sony films, including the remake of the classic "Annie" and two Academy Award contenders, as well as the Social Security numbers and private home addresses of thousands of Sony employees.
Soon after, the hackers released the email boxes of top Sony executives, from which were unearthed the studio's grand plan to bring down what is widely believed to be Google and a host of embarrassing email exchanges between executives. In an email sent by Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, he called actor Kevin Hart a "whore" for demanding compensation for promoting movies on social media. In another, "No Country for Old Men" producer Scott Rudin called actress Angelina Jolie a "minimally talented spoilt brat."
Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal also issued a public apology for a series of emails exchanged with Rudin about President Obama's imagined preference for movies starring African-American actors.
On Saturday, the hackers released another message threatening Sony with a "Christmas gift," which will involve larger quantities of data that will "surely give you much more pleasure and put Sony Pictures into the worst state."
