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Wikileaks Publishes Hacked Sony Emails, Documents

Posted by samzenpus on from the take-a-look dept.

itwbennett writes Wikileaks has published a searchable database of thousands of emails and documents from Sony Pictures Entertainment that were leaked in late 2014 after the studio was attacked by hackers. Some of the 173,132 emails and 30,287 documents contain highly personal information about Sony employees including home addresses, personal phone numbers and social security numbers, a fact which is likely to raise new concerns about the use of stolen information online.

31 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. WikiLeaks are fuckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They may have a "lofty ideal," but they ruin innocent bystanders lives.

    1. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is not data leaked with the purpose of exposing a wrong.
      This is no better than posting nude selfies ripped from celebrities' phones.

    2. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      WTF are you talking about?
      Inside Sony's Mysterious 'Red Pockets': Hackers Blow Open China Bribery Probe
      Sony Probed India Business for Corruption, E-Mails Show
      There are more cases, even including bribery of US politicians, but I couldn't find a link in 5 seconds so I leave that to the people interested to find.

      There is plenty of stuff in the leaked data that Sony doesn't want to get spread because it shows that they are engaging in criminal activity on a global level.
      The "It's only personal data, think about the children!" nonsense is a lame attempt at covering up their wrongdoings and make people not look to closely into the leaked e-mails.

    3. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by ckatko · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh, hello, bottom of the internet! I didn't see you come in.

    4. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The "It's only personal data, think about the children!" nonsense is a lame attempt at covering up their wrongdoings and make people not look to closely into the leaked e-mails.

      And that's why journalists practice editing and redaction!! So you don't harm the janitor who is trying to feed his family because of the conniving actions of the CEO. And that's the difference between Assange and responsible (or even HUMANE) journalism.
      The publicly useless, personal data and the revealing revelations of business dealings are two separate things. They should be managed as such.

    5. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by Rei · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Huh? Could someone explain to me that it's a bad thing that Sony was investigating subcontractors and a foreign subsidiary for signs of corruption? Not being forced to, not being charged with it, but on their own? Isn't this what we want companies to do when they find evidence that there may be illegal or immoral activity among some of their employees? Or is this some sort of horrible shocking news that a company with 140,000 employees just within the main unit itself might have to police itself?

      And let's not pretend that we're idiots here and that this sort of stuff makes up even the tinest fraction of a fraction of a percent of the leaked, non-redacted material full of personal information about regular employees doing nothing wrong.

      --
      *Kid Rock runs for Senate* Democrats: We must run Kid Scissors.
    6. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's highly unlikely there is any bystander left. It's simply naive to believe that someone is not secretly hashing out all the posted data -- be reminded that it was already on P2P when Wikileaks pick it up -- for example various governments, or their agencies, or even competitors of Sony. The journalists were probably the slowest since they probably do not have the sophisticated tools the other players can use, while the journalists are really the only link between interesting information and interesting story for common people. Oh yes, there are common bad people and common good people, one may argue -- but it would be hard pressed to say that there are any good intentions from the big players when they try to analyze the data.

      So, Wikileaks is not really doing much more harm, to say the least, since the majority of harm is already being done. It even has the good side effect of at least leveling the play field for the victims of the data leaks -- made sure that they know their data and what part of their data is out there -- so that they can sensibly deal with it.

      Things one don't see often hurts more that clear imminent danger.

    7. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Doxxing employees who just happen to be trying to make ends meet are not going to help anyone's cause. It just makes Wikileaks look more like a rogue site. Piss off the powers that be enough, and Wikileaks will suffer the same fate as the Silk Road.

      Yes, dumping socials of schmucks online will give Wikileaks their 15 minutes, which is a short term gain... but people have long memories, and the fact that they hurt a lot of average Joes who have little to do with Sony is going to hurt their cause in the long run.

      Had Wikileaks wanted to actually make a statement and earn some long term respect, they would have had an editor at least go in and redact social security numbers, addresses, names of people's children, and other details. This isn't hard here. Just a simple sed script can zero or mask out SSNs. There is a lot of newsworthy stuff in the hacked Sony emails already, no need to expose innocent people and their families to ID theft for the rest of their lives.

      Wikileaks needs as many friends in power as it possibly can. This stupid stuff just makes them an radioactive to anyone except the basement-dwellers, and it endangers them and any future sites that pop up that might blow the whistle on legitimate malfeasance.

    8. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      First of all this is an edited version. The OMG PERSONLYA INFORMATIN! is Sonys claim to try to prevent the incriminating stuff from spreading. If you actually look at what Wikileaks provide you see that they have provided way more than Sony wants them to but way less than Sony claims they do.

      The problem with that is that editing hurts credibility. How do I know that Wikileaks haven't removed even more incriminating information?
      It is still better than the information provided by Sony since it is done by a third party. It is not as good as raw data.

    9. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Correct but off topic. Assange is not involved in this in any way.
      And as bad as he is, he does not even approach the kind of evil Sony stands for.

    10. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by rhazz · · Score: 2

      The problem with that is that editing hurts credibility. How do I know that Wikileaks haven't removed even more incriminating information?

      Editing wouldn't hurt credibility if they had a specific policy for redacting unrelated private addresses. Even without redactions how do you know they haven't removed entire documents? How do you know they didn't modify them from the original source? They likely publish everything because it reduces their burden and risk. They probably don't have the resources to sift through the materials, and they don't want to have to store the unredacted originals because they would now be a target for those who want more information.

    11. Re:WikiLeaks are fuckers by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3

      Wikileaks didn't publish the information, they are just archiving it. It's out there already, redacting it would have done nothing because anyone who cares can just grab the whole archive off any number of torrent sites or Usenet.

      Wikileaks redacts when it is the only source of a leak. When the leaked information is available elsewhere unredacted it merely keeps and archive copy to make sure it stays online.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. And nothing of value was... gained? by halivar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Other than some titillating gossip that was hashed out 3-4 months ago already, this seems less than newsworthy.

    1. Re:And nothing of value was... gained? by twitnutttt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's bullshit news. It only glorifies shame and schadenfreude.

    2. Re:And nothing of value was... gained? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The leaks prove the whole "North Korea" thing was bullshit.

      It was all made up. North Korea never threatened Sony. The President was dragged out and an international incident started, and it was all because of a fake Popehat twitter account and Sony spinning the opportunity like a neutron star.

      But it's all gossip yeah, lol. Assange is such a loser too. And a rapist. He's totally not likable and Wikileaks is a joke guys. Pshhaww! . Line B is the answer btw.

  3. Private details about employees by ScentCone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Keepin' in classy, Wikileaks.

    Nothing like proving your critics right while also accomplishing a lot of nothing.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    1. Re:Private details about employees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Note Sony's added weasel word "belongs".

      They don't actually dispute that it *is* in the public domain.

    2. Re:Private details about employees by Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not like anyone else with Wikileaks (which today amounts to only a handful of people) has any ability to change the head. As Assange put it, "I am the heart and soul of this organisation, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organiser, financier and all the rest. If you have a problem with me, p**s off." There were lots of people that tried to get him to step down in late 2010. They are all no longer with Wikileaks, either by choice or by being explicitly kicked out.

      Wikileaks could have been something great, long lasting, a major global value to society. In its early days it really looked like it was heading in that direction. Sadly ego can ruin any project. When you feel the need to start blackmailing Amnesty International for nearly a million dollars by threatening to not redact the names of their sources if they don't pay up, you've lost the moral high ground.

      --
      *Kid Rock runs for Senate* Democrats: We must run Kid Scissors.
    3. Re:Private details about employees by Maritz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Assange is obviously a narcissistic psychopath. He's in this for himself. Anyone in Wikileaks who thinks otherwise is a complete fool.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    4. Re:Private details about employees by Maritz · · Score: 2

      Funny how people give away that they are being deceitful when they do such things, but just assume that no-one will pick up on it (because everyone is stupid but me, I guess is the thinking).

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  4. And this achieves what, exactly? by gigaherz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm all up for revealing bad secrets and showing the world the bad side of governments, but these are private emails with personal information. As far as leaking goes, this has everything of the bad, and nothing of the good.

  5. Link by mtbrandao · · Score: 4, Informative

    The "article" has a wall of text, but no link.
    Here:
    https://wikileaks.org/sony/press/

  6. Re:Redacting things is hard, I guess. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Whos a good dog? Whos a good dog? You aren't, no you aren't!

    Good dogs have IQ's high enough to not piss on the carpet.

  7. Huh? by wisnoskij · · Score: 4, Funny

    I always through that WL was about meaningful leaks for journalism/public good not just anything private that randomly gets leaked.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  8. Re:Your subject here by halivar · · Score: 2

    Don't be such a neigh-sayer!

  9. Re:The Psy-Ops Shilling Is Real. by halivar · · Score: 2

    Preach it, brother. Looking at ScentCone's posting history, I can see that his posts are cunningly crafted to look like an average Slashdot poster, thus proving his true identity as a CIA/Halliburton/Illuminati/Bilderburger/Opus Dei/Sleestak agent.

    Look out for the black helicopters. They come for you as we speak. I will soon communicate with you further through the resistance carrier pigeon network.

  10. Spin doctors by vivaoporto · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I don't know if I should be appalled or if it was just a coincidence but check my submission of the very dÃ-me story, reproduced on its entirety below for comparison:

    +- WikiLeaks publishes The Sony Archives
    Submitted by vivaoporto on Friday April 17, 2015 @09:39AM

    "WikiLeaks published on its site a full, searchable archive of the data leaked during the high-profile hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment last year.

    Some of its 30,287 documents from Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and 173,132 emails highlights SPE inner works and thoughts on matters like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the case against Megaupload and the extradition of its founder Kim DotCom and the connections and alignments between Sony Pictures Entertainment and the US Democratic Party."

    What surprises me is the similarity between both introductions not the completely different conclusion between both summaries. It is almost like there was an attempt to control the discussion of these leaks in the context of personal privacy (and of course it is an important part) but also burying the content of the leak itself and its political, social and economical implications.

    1. Re: Spin doctors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Possibly because the social and political implications are overblown and the documents themselves aren't very probative on this point.

      China and the U.S. film industry are deep in each other's pockets. China and the U.S. government, specifically the military, exert enormous influence over entertainment content when they are portrayed. Movies are rewritten to exclude Chinese villains or references to the Chinese political system; China is happy to lock out an entire studio's product for one anti-Chinese film. Films that feature American military hardware often obtain it from the Pentagon, for free, in exchange for the Pentagon having script approval. And then there are movies like the last Transformers, which was rubber-stamped by both the Chinese government AND the Pentagon.

      This is common knowledge, covered in many places before, people just don't care. The leak of documents is meant to give the appearance of coverup and scandal when there really isn't one.

  11. Re:The Psy-Ops Shilling Is Real. by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, you would not BELIEVE how much money I get from the Tri-Lateral Commission. You can too! Just follow my simple 5-step plan, which I lay out in my seminars, which I host annually at the Rothschilds. They always let me stay in their pool house.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  12. Re: There's a reason for professional journalism by iluvcapra · · Score: 2

    Just speaking as someone who's PI is in the Sony dump, I have not yet been killed.

    However, I'll be under fraud alert for the next three years, Nigerian princes call my cell about twice a day, and someone has already tried, and fortunately failed, to open a student loan in my name. (No, I don't get it either.)

    I mean it's not awful, it's not like I slept with a video game reviewer or anything. But it's been a huge hassle.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
  13. Re:This is wrong. by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 2

    Wikileaks like to market this as shining light on the truth but in reality they are just revictimizing a company that was the victim of hacking and theft.

    Karma is a bitch on wheels, ain't she?

    I see this as no different than someone wiretapping publishing a family's private conversations.

    Yeah, the Gambino family.