Sony Entertainment Hack Is A Message To Us All That Internet Privacy Is A MythSony Entertainment Hack Is A Message To Us All That Internet Privacy Is A Myth
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The hack of computers and emails at Sony Entertainment that began four weeks ago continues to disrupt operations at the entertainment giant. But even more revealing about the hack than even the embarrassing information and emails, is the message it sends to all of us that in this age of the Internet, we are forever reminded that nothing, absolutely nothing, is guaranteed private, and that is a scary thing.
The group Guardians of Peace have claimed responsibility for the hack though there is no real indication of what their motive is. Some speculate it is all about Sony’s upcoming release of the film “The Interview,” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. The film is about an assassination plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea has made it clear it is not happy about the movie’s release and tried to block it. Guardians of Peace have since gone on to threaten 9-11 type attacks on U.S. movie theaters that show the film. In response, some theaters have indeed cancelled showing the movie out of precaution.
So what went from a non-violent computer hack has moved to a real world threat. Authorities however, say there is no evidence that the real world component is credible. But what is definitely real and what has definitely been a nightmare for Sony, and other studios that are bracing themselves should they also become targets, is that the damage to Sony from the hacks has been tremendous and gone beyond embarrassing details like the publishing of salaries that showed women executives making far less money for the same job, or showing how few minorities make up the power and how little they are paid compared to white execs. The damage goes beyond the fall-out from leaked “private” emails between Sony honchos who felt it was OK to tell racist jokes in their emails, including about President Obama, who they speculated must only like the black movies. There were even leaked emails that revealed execs disparaging some of their biggest stars like Angelina Jolie, one calling her a spoiled brat in her email to another exec.
Of course there have been apologies all around with the release of these emails. But apologies for revelations of how you talk when you think no one is listening or reading don’t carry much weight. Guardians of Peace has released 32,000 emails to and from Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton and says there is a lot more interesting revelations to come.
But though reputations can be ruined from these email leaks, never to recover, Sony’s biggest problem will likely be to its bottom line. Former employees are now suing the company for tens of millions of dollars saying the company should have notified employees of the data breach and that social security numbers, salaries and medical records were compromised. Add to that the impact on movie releases and even entertainment creatives choosing to work with other studios rather than Sony due to these revelations and you can see this is a huge financial problem for Sony.
But the lesson for us all out of all this is well beyond Sony. What this hack proves, much like the leak of the celebrity nude photos by different hackers, is that for all the great things we have gained from the Internet and email, we have to accept and admit that true privacy is non-existent in the cyber world. Nothing we do or say in that world is off-limits and safe from prying eyes.
Surely things will change as far as net security is concerned. But for every security fix there is someone that is looking for a way around it. I suppose it is just better that we treat our use of the Internet as if we are operating in the middle of town square, where everyone can see. Because the truth is, it looks like everyone can.
Photo Credit: WikiCommons
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OV in Depth: Reported by Opposing Views 4 hours ago.