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WikiLeaks has published "The Sony Archives," a searchable database containing 30,287 documents and 173,132 emails leaked from Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). The WikiLeaks press release portrays the archive as newsworthy and in the public interest:
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said: "This archive shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation. It is newsworthy and at the centre of a geo-political conflict. It belongs in the public domain. WikiLeaks will ensure it stays there."
Sony is a member of the MPAA and a strong lobbyist on issues around internet policy, piracy, trade agreements and copyright issues. The emails show the back and forth on lobbying and political efforts, not only with the MPAA but with politicians directly. In November 2013 WikiLeaks published a secret draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) IP Chapter. The Sony Archives show SPE's internal reactions, including discussing the impact with Michael Froman, the US Trade Representative. It also references the case against Megaupload and the extradition of its founder Kim DotCom from New Zealand as part of SPE's war on piracy.
The connections and alignments between Sony Pictures Entertainment and the US Democratic Party are detailed through the archives, including SPE's CEO Lynton attending dinner with President Obama at Martha's Vineyard and Sony employees being part of fundraising dinners for the Democratic Party. There are emails setting up a collective within the corporation to get around the 5,000 USD limit on corporate campaign donations to give 50,000 USD to get the Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo elected as "Thanks to Governor Cuomo, we have a great production incentive environment in NY and a strong piracy advocate that’s actually done more than talk about our problems."
Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton is on the board of trustees of RAND Corporation, an organisation specialising in research and development for the United States military and intelligence sector. The Sony Archives show the flow of contacts and information between these two major US industries, whether it is RAND wanting to invite George Clooney and Kevin Spacey to events, or Lynton offering contact to Valerie Jarrett (a close advisor to Obama) or RAND desiring a partnership with IMAX for digital archiving. With this close tie to the military-industrial complex it is no surprise that Sony reached out to RAND for advice regarding its North Korea film The Interview. RAND provided an analyst specialised in North Korea and suggested Sony reach out to the State Department and the NSA regarding North Korea's complaints about the upcoming film. The Sony documents also show Sony being in possession of a brochure for an NSA-evaluated online cloud security set-up called INTEGRITY.
Additional coverage at BBC and LA Times. Sony has condemned the document dump:
"The attackers used the dissemination of stolen information to try to harm SPE and its employees, and now WikiLeaks regrettably is assisting them in that effort," said a Sony Pictures spokesperson in a statement. "We vehemently disagree with WikiLeaks' assertion that this material belongs in the public domain and will continue to fight for the safety, security, and privacy of our company and its more than 6,000 employees."
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday April 17 2015, @10:02PM
Nowadays if I have to use something like that, I'll normally encapsulate it in a VM. It's always the same machine, even if I clone/move it.
I suppose that's probably possible to detect, but I haven't seen anyone bother so far.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday April 17 2015, @10:39PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2015, @10:51PM
My pirated copy of vmware workstation supports 3d.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday April 17 2015, @10:57PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @12:11AM
Easy to find out, 30-day free trial.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday April 18 2015, @12:33AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @01:04PM
VMWare Workstation, and even the completely Free VM Player (which also Makes VMs - no trial needed), have had full support for DX9 since VM Workstation 7 and also supports OpenGL. It was improved even more in version 9. Please just download the newest Free version of VMPlayer and use it to make a VM and give it a test.
I can play modern 3D intensive video games in the free VMPlayer just fine. I was surprised to even be able to install and run Steam in it and install and run games from it. Works great!! The time has finally come my friend.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @01:06PM
Of course install Windows into the VM. ;)
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday April 18 2015, @03:18PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2015, @10:49PM
It is possible to detect. There is malware out there that will not launch if it detects it is in a VM.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @05:42AM
> There is malware out there that will not launch if it detects it is in a VM.
Sounds like a good reason to run everything in a VM.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kaszz on Friday April 17 2015, @11:35PM
Microsoft uses a license asfaik that explicitly forbid usage in a virtual environment. So it can get your company in legal hot waters in a BSA raid or whatever crap they try.
(guess they want to squeeze out the OS competition and make the Nazi backdoors to work)
Otoh.. it's way easier to "alter the bits on the fly" such that there's no VM to be found..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @01:09PM
NO! You absolutely CAN legally use Windows in a VM, provided you have paid for that copy of it. Microsoft even sells VM software for that purpose. They would LOVE for you to fill up your system with several paid for copies of windows vs just one copy.