Sony Pictures is asking media outlets not to help the hackers by broadcasting leaked information, but not everyone is getting the message.
Over the weekend, yet more private emails and information from inside Sony Pictures was leaked, including email correspondences and personal information.
Sony lawyer David Boies has sent a letter to major U.S. news outlets, telling them to stop re-posting the material, as it is “stolen information.”
Boies writes that Sony, “does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading or making any use” of what the hackers have been leaking.
The hacking group, calling themselves the Guardians of Peace, are strongly suspected to have ties with North Korea. The group’s aim is allegedly to have the controversial comedy The Interview pulled from cinemas.
The Interview stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as a pair of journalists who are sent to North Korea to assassinate leader Kim Jong-un.
Beware of movie spoilers below!
And – spoiler alert – this is indeed what happens. Kim Jong-un’s death scene has been leaked by Gawker, along with an email correspondence between Rogen and the studio where they work out how best to censor the scene.
The fact that Rogen and Franco have actually chosen to kill off Kim Jong-un in its movie is probably a key reason why the hacking group is demanding that the film not be shown.
The Hollywood Reporter wonders if this copyright infringement will have legal repercussions for Gawker, or whether the news outlet is protected by the first amendment (freedom of the press).
If Sony does not pull the movie, GoP is planning to release more private information around Christmas.
“We are preparing for you a Christmas gift,” the group wrote Saturday. “The gift will be larger quantities of data. And it will be more interesting. The gift will surely give you much more pleasure and put Sony Pictures into the worst state.”