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WikiLeaks Publishes "The Sony Archives"

posted by martyb on Friday April 17 2015, @03:22PM   
from the SPE-should-copyright-it dept.

takyon writes:

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."

• Re:Chris Dodd Advised Execs to Give to GOP (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday April 19 2015, @03:06PM

  by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Sunday April 19 2015, @03:06PM (#172845) Journal

  Ben Affleck asked broadcaster to hide slave-owning ancestor [bbc.co.uk]

  Ben Affleck asked television producers not to reveal one of his ancestors was a slave-owner, leaked emails suggest.

  The actor was taking part in a US series called Finding Your Roots, where experts research a celebrity's family history, when the discovery was made.

  The broadcaster, PBS, says in a statement that they didn't censor the slave-owner details.

  It is "very common" to find slave-owning ancestors during research, the show's host says.

  "For any guest, we always find far more stories about ancestors on their family trees than we ever possibly could use," Prof Henry Louis Gates says in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

  He says both film director Ken Burns and journalist Anderson Cooper also found out while making the show that relatives of theirs had owned slaves.

  The details of Affleck's slave-owning family member were not included when his episode of Finding Your Roots was broadcast.

  "In the case of Mr Affleck - we focused on what we felt were the most interesting aspects of his ancestry - including a Revolutionary War ancestor, a third great-grandfather who was an occult enthusiast and his mother who marched for Civil Rights during the Freedom Summer of 1964," says Prof Gates in a statement on the PBS website.

  "Here's my dilemma: confidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors - the fact that he owned slaves," Prof Gates wrote on 22 July 2014.

  "Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns. We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?"

  Lynton replies the same day, saying: "I would take it out if no one knows, but if it gets out that you are editing the material based on this kind of sensitivity then it gets tricky. Again, all things being equal I would definitely take it out."

  After further exchanges the pair seem to agree that censorship is a bad idea.

  "It would embarrass him and compromise our integrity. I think he is getting very bad advice." Prof Gates writes.

  "Once we open the door to censorship, we lose control of the brand."

  Affleck is never referred to by name in the emails - instead he is called "megastar" or "Batman". At the time of the exchange he was filming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

  A PBS spokeswoman says PBS did not know of the exchanges between Prof Gates, Sony and Affleck and wasn't part of editorial decisions made by the host and his producers.

  "It is clear from the exchange how seriously Professor Gates takes editorial integrity," PBS says in the statement on its website.

  "The range and depth of the stories on Finding Your Roots speak for themselves."

  --
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