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Author Topic: The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI  (Read 5358 times)

Matthew Chan

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The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI
« on: December 18, 2014, 10:41:59 PM »
This post may unnerve some people but it goes to the heart of what I've been saying since the early days of ELI. It has been interesting watching the Sony Entertainment Pictures hacker crisis: a powerful, major media corporation being felled by hackers who released a bunch of inside information.  I won't detail the huge financial, cultural, media, and overall influential power of Sony Entertainment Pictures. Anyone can do an online search themselves to get such information but suffice it to say that Sony Pictures, as a media company, is considered an elephant and a big deal in the world of media.  Getty Images, Masterfile, and all these other companies don't hold a candle to how large, powerful, and influential Sony really is.

But I want all extortion letter victims to pay attention and learn the lesson that I have been preaching.  When you fight back or make a stand against an organization much larger and powerful than yourself, always remember they are made of individuals like you and me.  They cloak and hide themselves behind a corporate and organizational veil and attempt to show how big and powerful they are.  This only works if YOU fight back on THEIR terms.

In less than a month, Sony Pictures has literally been brought to their knees by a few hackers.  All the hackers did was release and disseminate private and personal information on the INDIVIDUALS and how they act and behaved BEHIND the corporate veil.  Let me be clear, I believe what the hackers of Sony did was illegal and I would never condone that.  However, I am absolutely certain there are many people who are quite gleeful of what happened to Sony and that many within Sony was brought down from their pedestal.

As a First Amendment advocate, I believe Sony and the movie producers had every right to produce and market the movie "The Interview". But despite all their financial backing and power, Sony was essentially defeated and scared into submission because of the onslaught and damages wrought on the INDIVIDUALs of Sony.  The mighty and powerful Sony Pictures Chairman Amy Pascal and her executives have been attacked in a way never seen before in history.

Despite the fact there has been no outrage or demand by U.S. Citizens to pull "The Interview", Sony Pictures and the movie cinema industry have decided to withdraw "The Interview" despite the fact that this "small" movie starring two comedian actors has gotten worldwide attention in a way never seen before in history.  From a marketing point of view, it is a movie that DEMANDS to be watched, if for no other reason to spite the North Koreans.

The people within Sony Pictures have been brought down by the onslaught of PERSONAL INFORMATION released into the public.  Not just the Social Security numbers, email addresses, passwords, and salaries.  But the emails of what they said and how they behaved behind closed doors. Rumors have it that many stars are living in fear now because much of their personal information was discussed within Sony.  Many of these allegedly powerful stars that so many people revere to unhealthy levels might be shown to be NORMAL human beings with NORMAL human failings.

There is no question that Sony Pictures employees now live in fear.  Many likely took great pride that they made good money and they were employed by this prestigious, powerful, famous, influential company as Sony Pictures.  However, the decisions and responses being made by Sony indicate they are paralyzed by fear and uncertainty.  Not because of any CREDIBLE threats against them on a personal level.  But because the hackers took that information and smartly pointed and informed news organizations of the hacked information.

There is no question what the hackers did is clearly illegal.  But notice how many respectable and credible news organizations are gleefully and enthusiastically going through this private information KNOWING that it was the result of hacked (illegally obtained information) and riding this for all its worth.  And, of course, readers like me who are interested in media, movies, business, etc. are DEVOURING the information as quickly as they are released. All the while Sony Pictures employees are reeling from all of this.

Of course, Sony Pictures in their desperation has hired the legally famous lawyer, David Boies, to send a veiled threat to all the news media and tech bloggers to stop reading and reporting on this hacked and illegally obtained information.  To the best of my knowledge, not one of them have stopped reporting even after receiving the threat letter. They cite First Amendment rights to report on the information and that it is newsworthy.

Of course, anyone who understands the Streisand Effect knows that Sony only made it worse by bringing in David Boies to issue a veiled threat to the news organizations and the tech blogger community.  Nearly all of them went public with their respective letters and the reporting of Sony's private information continues on.

Now, it sounds like I am happy about what happened to Sony Pictures as if I had an axe to grind with them. I don't. I am entirely neutral about it and I have no connection to Sony Pictures whatsoever beyond being a movie and video-viewing consumer.  That is it.  Nothing personal for me regarding Sony Pictures.  But the news, information, and lessons being learned are HUGE to anyone paying attention. 

Watch how fearful the employees of this supposedly powerful company behaves. Watch how quickly the entire movie industry caved in to NOT showing "The Interview" move once hacker attacks were directed to the INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES and not the company themselves.  Watch how so many powerful other movie companies that SHOULD BE Sony allies are deathly silent.  Watch how the First Amendment works and who makes it work for them.  Watch how the Streisand Effect works even with the biggest, powerful companies.  Watch how news gets disseminated and embedded into search engines.  Watch how NOT being authentic and real comes back to bite people.  There is so much to watch and learn from the Sony Pictures ordeal but you have to open your mind to it.

The lessons I have been taking from the Sony Picture crisis is priceless.  And at risk of being boisterous and self-congratulatory, many controversial ideas I have shared on ELI have proven to be true and correct.  AS it relates to ELI, always remember the parties (employees and lawyers) who threaten you are often weak and fearful INDIVIDUALS when called into the light. While I do not condone or endorse hacking because it is illegal, the power of the right information being released and shared can be more powerful than having an army of lawyers on your side.

ELI exists to OPENLY SHARE and REPORT INFORMATION.  Anonymous sharing is allowed.  The First Amendment is fully in effect as well as Section 230 of the CDA. 

My current appeal of Chan v. Ellis now in the GA Supreme Court is about the right to openly share and publicize legally-obtained controversial information.  The lawyers of a poet-author from Marietta, GA and one judge in Muscogee County, GA have tried to shut me and ELI down from talking, sharing unpleasant information, and my using abrasive, harsh language.  However, many supporters of ELI including Attorney Oscar Michelen, First Amendment legal scholars Eugene Volokh, Aaron H. Kaplan, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are fighting for your and ELI's right to continue to make sure the First Amendment and Section 230 of the CDA is alive and well.

ELI is not "just another website".  ELI Community and its members have grown more powerful and have fought the good fight so that YOU the reader and victim have the right to speak out and fight back against those that would attempt to extort money out of you because of minor, de-minimis infringements.  ELI is well entrenched in the search engines which means your voice carries very far.  Any helpful comments, insights, comments you post contributes to fighting against copyright extortionists.

I encourage people to name names and openly share your story of those that would unreasonably threaten you over a minor matter. Show them that you are not going to threaten and take money from you without a consequence. Get educated, get empowered, and get even for receiving a bullshit extortion letter.

Remember Sony Pictures.  They became cowards very quickly.  They are afraid to release an entertaining movie that hurts no one.  They are so cowardly, they have chosen to give up their own First Amendment rights to release the movie.  They were brought down by disseminated information and the First Amendment.  You, with ELI's help, can tap into those lessons and use a bit of that power for yourself to fight back copyright extortionists.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2014, 09:24:51 AM by Matthew Chan »
I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

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Re: The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2014, 09:12:57 AM »
Good post, Matt!

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2014, 12:06:36 PM »
Excellent points and well said Matthew.
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

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Matthew Chan

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Re: The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI
« Reply #3 on: December 20, 2014, 04:09:51 PM »
And the hits keep coming to Sony Pictures.  After weeks of near silence, the CEO of Sony Pictures finally comes out of their hole in Sony Pictures to say something publicly.  It was only after President Obama embarrassed the crap out of them by essentially they were cowards.  Suddenly, they had the "courage" to speak out against the President because we all know he is so dangerous that he would channel government resources to attack a movie studio.

Sony Pictures (i.e. their dumb corporate drones still in shell shock from having their emails & personal info being outed) makes all kinds of excuses how a billion-dollar corporation can't find a way to release the movie because NO ONE wants to distribute it.  That is a joke. There was no shortage of smaller media websites willing to pay the costs and take on the "liability" of showing the movie.

It was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that George Clooney passed around a petition so that other movie studios could stand in public solidarity but NO ONE would sign it.  NO INDIVIDUAL or employee from any movie studio from the CEO on down would be willing to be THE PERSON to sign the petition.  You see, even if there is a billion-dollar corporation with huge resources, NO INDIVIDUAL dared step out to sign a petition.

As you think about this, also notice that in recent years any article written about Getty Images and its extortion letter program is always quoted by a "spokesperson of Getty Images". No name is ever mentioned. I have no doubt it is at the request of this "unknown" *cough* Lisa Willmer & cohorts *cough* "spokesperson".  Essentially, Getty Images uses "anonymous" spokespeople because with the media because no employee is willing to put their name out there for Getty.  All the while, they cuss at me, Oscar, and the ELI community in their private offices for us being "bad" people for naming names.

But the employees of Getty Images are willing to write "hidden" complaints letters about me and Oscar, right Mr. Bug-eyes? However, that is only because they never expected to them to see the light of day. 

The bumbling idiots of Sony Pictures have been insulated behind their cushy offices and corporate mommies for their entire existence.  That is why people who are much "smaller" and accustomed to putting themselves out there have so much disrespect and laughing at these "powerful" executives who are just cowering in fear and confusion.

All they know how to do is throw money at the problem.  They had to hire famous lawyer David Debois to speak out and "threaten" the media and anyone reporting on the contents of the hacked media.  Dumb.  Now they have hired Judy Smith (woman who inspired Kerry Washington's character in TV show "Scandal") to help "craft a message". (How about just releasing the fucking movie without being yelled at or being called out, you morons. And when your reputation is being raked through sewer, you should do something good and stop worrying about how much money you might lose about releasing the movie.  It is called goodwill, morons!  You win by putting revenues as a second priority.)

The truth of the matter is the Sony Pictures executives are just clueless and gutless wonders who cannot glean what so many people have figured out.  They are worried about "liability". Well, so many smaller movie houses were happy to take on this "liability" but Sony Pictures refused to let them play it. Even the 2004 movie "Team America" was blocked by Paramount from showing at movie houses because it had a puppet of the previous North Korean dictator!  The spinelessness goes way beyond Sony Pictures.

The hack was a way to scare and censor the movie studios.  And because no movie studio dared speak out in support of Sony Pictures, it goes to show that they are the same type of cowards. There is an axiom that the bigger you are, the more you fear losing.  It appears to hold true now.

Recently, Getty Images tried to put on this front that they changed their ways and going to make their letters more reasonable.  Wow, so nice of generous of them.  I am sure the ELI Community had NOTHING to do with this move.  According to Alexa.com, we have nearly 200 well-earned and well-deserved incoming links from other websites. We have never paid or begged anyone for those incoming links.

Getty Images is made up of gutless boobs that cannot survive outside of their corporate mommies. They always talk tough on BEHALF of Getty Images, not expressing their personal opinions.  That is why every individual who tries to extort money from victims should be named and called out.  ELI has never hacked anyone. All the information we have ever published and shared has been legitimately obtained but behind-the-scenes, they try to prevent it.

And to let everyone know, a few years back a manager of Getty Images approached Oscar (instead of me who is the founder, owner, and chief administrator of ELI whom Oscar would ultimately have to approach and communicate anyhow since he has no administrative rights to ELI) about removing the name of the employee I called out and listed on ELI for my extortion letter in 2008.  That ex-Getty Images employee left the company and suddenly found herself at another position in another company and suddenly found her association with the Getty Images "copyright compliance" to be a "problem" for her own career. I agreed to take her name down because she was actually respectful to me during the two times I dealt with her and didn't persist in my case.

A year ago, another ex-employee from Getty Images (an inhouse lawyer) sent an email asking me to remove his name from ELI. Well, too bad. He was an inhouse lawyer of Getty Images and there was nothing inaccurate that was reported except that he ended his employment at Getty Images.

Well maybe these ex-employees of Getty Images should band together and complain to Getty Images for putting their careers in jeopardy. IF someone wants to get into the extortion business over de minimus infringements with sloppy copyright registrations, they should expect people to hate them and get called out on it.  Sure, someone "made" them do it because Getty Images held a gun to their head.

Even if you felt compelled to pay, never give up your right to speak out loudly and name names.  They may get a few dollars from you but the person's name becomes mud online for a long time to come. That is why I say that I may not win every battle that come my way but my enemies will know and remember they have been in a fight with me. I will see it to that there are "scars" to remember. (That was a metaphor, Mr. Screenshot King of Seattle, Timmy-Boy  "Getty Lapdog" McCormack.)

Every time you read about Sony Pictures and how clueless they are, it isn't just the movie studios, it is nearly every corporation that encourages an internal culture of corporate droneheads.  That would squarely include companies like Getty Images.  Their behavior has been entirely consistent with Sony Pictures.  They try to paint a picture like they are all-knowing.  Well, at ELI, we see their "all-fails" and laugh at them. No matter what happens with anyone else, they can rest assure they will always be looked at as losers and hated.

And if anyone disbelieves me, we have a huge database of people (that grows with every passing week) would agree with me that Getty Images and all of their ilk are well hated and wish only the worst for them.

The hits keeping coming. And every time I think of the moronic leadership of Sony Pictures I think of the management within Getty Images.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 08:42:22 PM by Matthew Chan »
I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

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Re: The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2014, 11:18:15 PM »
ELI , in effect, is an increasingly well networked  citizen Guerrilla  insurgency against a well armed, well financed,  high tech, army of Corporations, their conscripts, and legal mercenaries. How that historically has ALWAYS played out in warfare is well documented....:)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS MATT!

Matthew Chan

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Re: The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2014, 11:38:56 PM »
The genius of Sony Pictures management is a gift that just keeps giving.  Now, Sony Pictures is threatening Twitter and @bikinirobotarmy for sharing emails that nearly every major news organization has been sharing. 

http://www.cnet.com/news/sony-threatens-to-sue-twitter-over-tweets-with-hacked-emails/
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/sony-threatens-to-sue-twitter-unless-it-removes-tweets-containing-hacked-emails
http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/22/7438287/sony-threatens-twitter-legal-action-ban-users-leaks

Of course, the difference between news organizations and Twitter is that it is not part of traditional media and the Twitter user is an individual.

Because Sony Pictures went out of its way to silence a Twitter user and its account, I had to go follow the @bikinirobotarmy account to see what I am missing. I am glad this news story hit or I would have never known about @bikinirobotarmy's Twitter account.

Because I am interested in all things media-related as well as the movie industry, thanks to Sony Pictures legal threats which has now been extensively reported, even more people have become aware of @bikinirobotarmy and the Sony emails.
I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2014, 10:21:28 AM »
nothing lke adding fuel to the fire.. wonder how many followers he had before all of this, something tells me it was not 19.5k!
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Matthew Chan

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Re: The Sony Pictures Hacking Crisis as it relates to ELI
« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2014, 11:15:05 PM »
Now that Sony finally caved in to public pressure to release "The Interview", the coward corporate executives at the major movie theatres are complaining that Sony might release the move on video-on-demand (VOD). They don't want to show the movie that independent movie houses are more than willing to take the "risk" on.  Yet, they also don't want the movie shown on VOD.

The cowardice and stupidity of corporate executives during this Sony Hack has been very revealing.
I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

 

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