Big Democratic Donors Don't Talk So Pretty When They Think They Won't Be Heard
The Sony email scandal, and everything that's been revealed.
Big Democratic Donors Don't Talk So Pretty When They Think They Won't Be Heard
The Sony email scandal, and everything that's been revealed.
If the worst was wondering if Obama likes black dominated films I don't really see a problem. This highlights how thin skinned the grievance industry types are.
Ben at December 14, 2014 10:59 AM
People are being weirdly casual about this. It's one thing to see it as a source of unremarkable Hollywood gossip: "Did you hear what she said about him after the meeting?" But this data leak has suspended production of several films, some of which are three- and four-hundred-million-dollar ventures. People aren't going to get paid.
What business are you in? Carpet manufacturing? Aluminum fabrication? Short-term finance? If a major production initiative in your industry were disrupted this way, wouldn't it be worth more than gossip about Jennifer Lawrence and race jokes?
If this is a group of teenagers playing a prank, why aren't we concerned that they'll do it again, perhaps selecting a less-amusing target.It might have been better if they'd gone after a more-entertaining industry than movies... Something that makes a lot more money. Video games, maybe. Or a defense contractor.Or a pharmaceutical firm. Imagine how you'd feel if Herceptin or some other life-saving medicine were suddenly not available because these intruders had a been in their bonnet.
What if they start taking out universities, a semester at a time? Fire departments?
I very badly want the people behind this identified and punished.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at December 14, 2014 12:11 PM
Fuckin' html.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at December 14, 2014 12:12 PM
Speaking of the grievance industry, I noticed in there that top male movie leads are paid more than their women counterparts. One wonders if liberal Hollywood will muster up outrage about that, or will remain silent lest they be denounced as rich and "privileged" by the rest of the movement?
jdgalt at December 14, 2014 1:10 PM
I'm sorry, I'm having trouble getting outraged by this. Most of the e-mail is the usual stuff: speculation about movies, boasting about movies, arguing about difficult directors. The biggest "scandals" are that female stars are paid less than male stars, which we already knew about. And speculating that Obama likes movies about black people, which is fairly mild on the racism scale.
Mike at December 14, 2014 2:56 PM
Crid,
Isn't Sony a Japanese company? Isn't it Japan's responsibility to respond to this? Or was it only Sony USA that was hacked?
Otherwise I agree with you. This was a significant act of corporate extortion/espionage. The perpetrators should be found and punished, nation state or not.
Ben at December 14, 2014 3:00 PM
I'd be pretty offended if someone insinuated I liked Think Like A Man or Kevin Hart.
I loved the Angelia Jolie "spoiled brat" comment and then the pic of Pascal trying to hug her afterwards. Jolie has the look of "Biiiiitch plz"
Ppen at December 15, 2014 1:32 AM
I'm still having trouble caring Crid, sorry. If the entire industry disappeared, I don't think I'd miss the next boring movie based on a comic book superhero sequel at all.
MarkD at December 15, 2014 4:46 AM
MarkD, wait till this group or one like it thinks it would be lovely idea to crash the US electrical grid.
You know, like the entire thing. I'm not sure why someone thought it would be a good idea to connect that infrastructure to the commodity internet...
I R A Darth Aggie at December 15, 2014 6:52 AM
"It's JUST Sony, why should I care? Schadenfreude is delicious!"
Be careful that schadenfreude doesn't bite you firmly on the behind.
Ever have a Sony product that you registered with the manufacturer? Do you really think Sony Pictures was the only thing hacked? This reveals that their systems are run by 10 year olds who don't care about security.
Or that a sophisticated group got in to their system... what else would such a sophisticated group really be interested in? In particular, how does said group, pay it's bills?
"isn't this SonyJapan's problem?" As if global conglomerates don't have systems that are integrated.
Even IF things are firewalled off, there are usually backend connections that can be had.
Computer systems are surprisingly robust, right up 'till they fail, much like the human body.
I don't care who said what about whom, that is largely irrelevant... but if this group hacked your kid's Sony game account, and got YOUR info, it's another databreach closer to the day where your bank account is mysteriously empty...
and your nest thermostat get's turned up to the point where your parakeet dies, or down to where your pipes freeze.
Djirk Gently would call this "fundamental interconnectedness of things" but that was the amusing light side of one holistic detective...
not the darkside of removing the failsafe's from a powerplant.
SwissArmyD at December 15, 2014 7:34 AM
SwissArmyD,
It is actually much harder to crash the entire power grid than to break into Sony's email server. For one thing there is not 1 monolithic US grid. There are 3 matched phase grids; east, west, and Texas. And even in each of those grids how they are connected to the internet as well as how much is more a function of local politics (county level often) than anything else. There is surprisingly little standardization. I don't know if you remember the blackout that hit New York a few years ago. Essentially a tree branch fell on a power line in Canada. That blacked out the entire NE US due to a cascade failure. The boundaries of that blackout were political in nature. The entire area hit operates under a single set of regulations. Once it hit the border of any neighboring regulator the failure was stopped.
Also, what is the appropriate response for the US government to take over this Sony break in? I have no issue with the FBI helping. But if this was a North Korean state sponsored group what do you want the US to do? Do you want the US army bombing Pyongyang?
Ben at December 15, 2014 1:25 PM
well Ben, ya see... it was I R a Darth Aggie, that was speaking about the grid... but are you supposing that they would attack anyplace they could? if the grid isn't monolithic, how many failure nodes does it have? What happens if it's not a trip out, but a lockout? what happens with a smart-meter hack?
And? When did I suggest the US government do anything?
I'm talking about hardening targets, and de-integrating things that shouldn't be connected. Truthfully, I don't WANT the government involved, cuz they are often worse than worthless...
The rest of us, and in particular corporate environments? better a pack, than a herd.
SwissArmyD at December 15, 2014 2:00 PM
> If the entire industry disappeared,
> I don't think I'd miss the next
> boring movie
I seriously, seriously admire you for being not-precious about Hollywood, perhaps the most pompous and self-adulating commercial realm of all time. (Of all time; of all time.)
But if they started taking out production lines for sneaker shoes, touchpanel LCDs, or for whole series of exotic financial bond issues, I'd be just as concerned. And I'd expect you to be concerned, too.
Or airliner electronic looms; or food distribution platforms.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at December 15, 2014 5:46 PM
Sorry about the misattribution Swiss. All I can say is it has been a long week, and it is only Monday!
As for nodes in the grid, there are several different types. There is a neighborhood level node. Usually one for each side of the street. Next up you get 3-phase nodes. These go to substations and certain industrial customers. Above that you have bulk transmission nodes. Those go between 3-phase nodes and power plants. There are also long distance transmission nodes as well as AC-DC-AC grid crossover nodes for getting between the 3 US grids. So as to how many nodes, I don't know but a lot.
The key thing about the grid is there is no storage at all. So once you lose connection you are done. For that reason most of the US grid is designed as a set of interlocking rings. You always have a minimum of 2 paths to a generator and some times quite a few more. That way something can blow or break and the minimum number of people are inconvenienced. Most of the grid is also designed to be self healing. Breakers instead of fuses and the breakers will even un-trip if conditions appear to have returned to normal.
The reality is huge and it fails all the time. But most of us don't notice or care since the damage is limited to local events.
A little while ago there was a report talking about how someone blowing up just a few transformers could wipe out the US power grid for months. The report was a bunch of bull hockey in my opinion. California and the north east are not the entire US. The reality is nimbyism in both places means much of their power is generated far away and inefficiently transported to those states. I believe (but don't quote me on it) there are 3 high voltage transmission lines that provide a large percentage of California's power. Knocking out just 2 of them would probably brown out most of California. As I mentioned earlier due to asinine regulatory requirements knocking out just 1 high voltage transmission line to New York city can wipe out most of the north east.
Smart meter hacks to my knowledge have the general incompatibility issue I mentioned earlier. Yours could get hacked. Nothing is 100% safe. But it would be quite difficult to hack every smart meter at the same time. And many smart meters just offer better reporting of power usage.
The thermostat is a similar issue.
I am more concerned with security systems that can unlock doors. We all know what someone picking a physical lock looks like. But someone who can pick your lock electronically at home and come with a digital key to break into your house? They look just like anyone else.
Sorry for the wall'o'text reply.
Ben at December 15, 2014 6:05 PM
"But if they started taking out production lines for sneaker shoes, touchpanel LCDs, or for whole series of exotic financial bond issues, I'd be just as concerned. "
I suspect that the reason for the reaction you mention is because it's the media industry we are talking about. This is the industry that, for the past several decades, has specialized in making huge profits out of other peoples' misery. Sony's demands today that the rest of the media industry cease reporting on them and repeating information that is in the public domain is pretty much a canonical instance of the word "hypocrisy".
Having said that... I get your point. It is impacting a lot of opportunities for people to continue making a living. And the larger implications should not be overlooked, even if (maybe especially if) it turns out to be an inside job, which I've heard some rumors of. Just how much can a company trust its IT people? Was highly centralized IT that good an idea in the first place, or was it a short-sighted attempt at squeezing a few pennies without considering the risks?
Cousin Dave at December 15, 2014 6:11 PM
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