UPDATE: Over the weekend, the account known as @TheAnonMessage was suspended. Anonymous reached out and made it clear they have no connection with the person behind the string of messages laid out below.
It was only a matter of time before the hacker collective Anonymous put their two cents in regarding the Sony hack. Early on Friday, one of Anon’s many Twitter accounts set their sights on North Korea, the hacker group known as #GOP (aka Guardians of Peace) and Sony Pictures regarding the decision to pull The Interview from theaters. From the looks of things, they are planning on releasing the movie to the world themselves. From Twitter:
About the @SonyPictures hack by North Korea, well let’s just say that— Oh hold on, popcorn’s ready.
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
Okay, for real though. @SonyPictures is a little bitch for giving in so easily. Then again, what do you expect from Sony other than that?
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
You’re gonna let Kim Junk Uno and his minions boss you, a multimillion dollar corporation responsible for billions of dollars in revenue?
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
Come on @Sony, where’s your game?…
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
Seriously @Sony we warned you. We infiltrated your systems long before North Korea. We thought you’d take it as a warning and fix your shit.
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
If North Korea can do this to Sony, a “credible” and “legitimate” conglomerate, who’s to say they can’t do it to their next major target?
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
Why are people asking us to leak the movie?
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
We’re saving it as a Christmas present for you.. #winkwink
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
We’re not with either side, we just want to watch the movie too…and soon you too will be joining us. Sorry, @SonyPictures.
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
First, The Interview. Now @ParamountPics is pulling Team America after North Korean threats. Are we really that weak? #holyshit
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
Banning movies only because North Korea’s dictator disapproves.
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
What’s next, @RedDawnFilm?!
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
Operation RIP North Korea, engaged. #OpRIPNK
— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonMessage) December 19, 2014
Elsewhere on Friday, President Obama delivered a press conference and voiced an opinion similar to that of Anonymous by calling Sony’s reaction a mistake. Now, it seems the US government has decided the next appropriate step is to ask China to block North Korea’s internet access. From The New York Times:
“What we are looking for is a blocking action, something that would cripple their efforts to carry out attacks,” one official said.
So far, the Chinese have not responded. Their cooperation would be critical, since virtually all of North Korea’s telecommunications run through Chinese-operated networks.
It is unclear that China would choose to help, given tensions over computer security between Washington and Beijing since the Justice Department in May indicted five hackers working for the Chinese military on charges of stealing sensitive information from American companies.
China has already condemned the movie themselves, calling it an act of “senseless cultural arrogance” on the part of Hollywood and the United States. From Variety:
“Any civilized world will oppose hacker attacks or terror threats. But a movie like The Interview, which makes fun of the leader of an enemy of the U.S., is nothing to be proud of for Hollywood and U.S. society,” said an editorial in The Global Times, a tabloid sister paper to China’s official The People’s Daily.
“No matter how the U.S. society looks at North Korea and Kim Jong Un, Kim is still the leader of the country.”
Is this the right move to make by the Obama administration? I really don’t know at this point. I feel like this whole fiasco has me stuck in the middle of the longest eye roll ever achieved by a human ever. At least we might get to see The Interview, albeit illegally.
(Via: The New York Times / Twitter / Variety)
