Sony Hack: Sony Threatens Twitter, Users with Lawsuit over Dissemination of Stolen Information

Sony Pictures is still reeling from November’s incident, when hackers from Guardians Of Peace (#GOP) broke in their servers and stole thousands of files of sensitive data, the bulk of which was released in batches when the studio refused to pull the comedy “The Interview” from the release schedule.

Even though Sony eventually caved and shelved the film temporarily, the leaks still continue. So now that it’s clear that they can’t plug those holes by doing what #GOP wants them to, the studio is looking elsewhere for solutions.

They’re now trying to stop the dissemination of information by threatening with lawsuits everyone who’s reporting on it, from media outlets to Twitter users and Twitter in general. They want those private emails and all the data in them offline for good, and the best way they believe that can be achieved is by sending legal notices to whoever is talking about them.

Sharing stolen information is illegal

Sony gave in to #GOP and canceled all plans for “The Interview” when the hackers told them they would bomb, 9/11-style, all theaters screening the film. Studio bosses explained that they were left with no other choice, and no amount of public criticism from high-profile figures (including President Obama, George Clooney, and Sean Penn) got them to change their mind.

So now that they have exhausted this option of stopping the leaks (to no avail), they’re looking to do that by preventing people from sharing the leaked emails or even talking about them.

A few days ago, attorneys for the studio sent notices to the New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and Gawker, warning them with a lawsuit if they continued publishing screencaps of the emails stolen by the hackers from the servers, containing information about ongoing projects or planned films.

Today, they’re threatening Twitter with similar legal action, as the letter below, obtained by MotherBoard Vice, can confirm. It was sent to Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s general counsel, and to user Val Broeksmit, who is actually a musician in a band called the Bikini Robot Army.

Sony leaves no room for doubt: they want all those tweets deleted and the account suspended because it’s been used for an illegal activity, that of disseminating stole information.

Freedom of press

As of now, none of the parties mentioned above has complied with Sony’s demands. The NYT, THR, and Gawker are protected by the freedom of press, which means they have the right to report on the leaked emails and even to post them online after they became public domain through the leak.

Broeksmit’s tweets are still online as of the time of reporting, and in his most recent message, he thanks all his followers (and the media) for their support and says that “There is no crime in the act of journalism,” which most likely implies that he too saw himself as a member of the press when he posted photos of the leaked emails to his Twitter feed.

He did black out the email addresses of the Sony execs involved, and he only posted the messages when everyone else was doing it too. So they were public domain at the time, even though obtained illegally by #GOP in the November attack.

More negative attention

Sony could use some positive media attention right now, but it’s not going to get it by threatening to sue everyone, especially not media outlets. The leaked emails exposed the world of Sony higher-ups as a very mean and quite unprofessional (verging towards immature) one, in which executives backstabbed the talent and moaned about them behind their back, like the disposable puppets they were.

It also exposed executives as racists and misogynistic, money-grabbing and without scruples, the partner no one would want to have but had no other choice than to work with.

It goes without saying that Sony has done enough damage to its own image by having these people in a position of influence. Sure, it would have been ideal if the hacking never happened and the world would still be ignorant of what went on at their headquarters, but it did. So now that everybody knows, trying to silence members of the press won’t win any favors for the studio.

Sony Letter to Twitter