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| What price freedom of expression now? | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 18 2014, 01:15 PM (66 Views) | |
| Alberich | Dec 18 2014, 01:15 PM Post #1 |
Alberich
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It appears that Sony has had its websites attacked, and loads of highly personal, and business sensitive material, has been published for all to see. Plots of forthcoming films, and some E mail correspondence that the authors would wish to have kept secret, but the real motivation for this attack seems to have been to prevent the publication of Sony's latest film, which is, I understand, a comedy that is less than complimentary to North Korea' supreme being in charge. The hackers (who may well be North Korean; who can say?) have issued threats of terrorist attack on both Sony and on any cinema that shows the offending film, and on the basis of these threats, Sony has caved in and refused to release the film; although to be fair, most cinema chains had already decided not to show it. While one can understand, and indeed sympathise with the position that the company finds itself in, is not the situation more than a little worrying; in that it now appears that the mere threat of violence is enough to prevent the publication of material that some extreme faction finds unacceptable? Already, it would be a brave author who penned a new book which was in any way a critique of that religion of love and peace; no matter how reasoned the argument. And now we have the circulation of a film prevented by the same means. I find this a worrying development in that this will in all probability be the thin edge of a largish wedge, and various factions around the world will have noticed how amenable the Yanks have been to the mere threat of violence being visited upon them at home. Whatever happened to "publish and be damned"? And if freedom of expression can be stifled by threats, where will it end? |
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| Pro Veritas | Dec 18 2014, 01:35 PM Post #2 |
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Upstanding Member
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Imagine US indignation and outrage if North Korea, or anyone else, had made a movie about an assassination attempt on the currently serving POTUS. And don't let anyone pretend that the US would sit mutely by and let that go unanswered; we all know they wouldn't. So no, I don't really sympathise with Sony that much at all; their higher-ups should have damn well known that such a movie would lead to some form a backlash; and given the target of ridicule of the movie in question they should have known there was a 99.9999999999999% certainty that the backlash would be in the form of a cyber-attack. If they didn't they are idiots, if they did but did not then beef up cyber-security then they are incompetent. And surely a movie about the assassination of a currently serving world leader carries some form of threat. I believe 100% in Freedom Of Expression; but I also believe that you have to a) be aware of the likely outcomes of exercising it and b) be man enough to live with those outcomes. It seems Sony failed on both counts. I'm not defending the illegal activities that have taken place in delivering these threats toward Sony; but I am stating that such threats were pretty much inevitable. All The Best |
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12:34 AM Jul 14