The Interview Blackmailing

I've had a change of heart from my last blog in the last 24 hours, the one where I finally pay attention to the Sony Hack. This was mainly because of a CBC Current episode this AM where the host kept referring to North Korea as the Hermit Kingdom, a term I never heard before but seemed to reek of that classic 'branding' of a potential enemy/scapegoat with no to little cultural knowledge of the country in question. The question was 'Could North Korea really have done this?'

There's also this timeline of the Hack as gathered by someone that isn't CNN or NBC.

Then I started thinking of the Hack. It has all the classic bits of a typical blackmail that Hollywood itself could have written (if it was in the habit of reading original screenplays). Let's look at it closely.

The hackers are called Guardians of Peace, which is a pretty 'Americanized' sounding name.
The victims are a conglomeration of nameless Multi-Millionaires that have millions and millions at their disposal. There's some public shaming, then a scapegoat is suggested and finally, the demands...

And what are the demands? What do the hackers 'publicly' want?

For a middle of the pack comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen to not be released. Seriously? Can you see these two being in anything that affects social or foreign economic policy? There has been no talk of money? No talk of Leo DiCaprio for Oscar? Do these hackers seriously want nothing more than to either help or hinder Rogen/Franco's film careers? Are we really going to believe this?

These 2 are big influences in North Korea, apparently

As has been pointed out, this has been a welcome distraction from the CIA Torture Report that rather harshly and irrefutably points out that the USA has little moral high ground when it comes to the Fight for Freedom (for other countries).


The GOP has scraped off a tiny shitload as proof of what they hold and so far the damage is rather quite minimal. This is exactly what happens in the blackmail movies, the 'if you don't believe me, watch what we are capable of' scene. The only ones that have suffered any public relations damage are Amy Pascall and Scott Rudin. Angelina Jolie and Aaron Sorkin have learned some of the gossip surrounding them but really if you think about it - your own emails probably contain a lot worse language, spelling errors and gossip than what's been released or brought to public light.

So what's the next scene? The victims have ceded to the GOP's demands and are not going to show The Interview nationally. But when does it stop? When will Sony announce they have paid X amount to a nameless account on Silk Road? What producers, Sony board members, film stars are receiving emails from the GOP offering to 'liberate' content that relates to them in exchange for a deposit into a Swiss bank account?

There will be an attempt to do a 'Sting' of sorts. A lot of cyber security stuff is going on behind the scenes, but that's boring and doesn't make for good drama. From what little I know of hacking movies (eg, Hackers, Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, every cop movie trying to trace a signal), it's pretty easy to re-route Internet signals through any country in the world, including North Korea. So maybe Public Relations needs to find a fall guy, make North Korea the bad guys. How do you do it? Release previously unreported bits of information that are really convenient for the times, such as this paragraph from the CBC;

For years, North Korea has been pouring resources into a sophisticated cyberwarfare cell called Bureau 121, run by the military's spy agency and staffed by some of the most talented computer experts in the country, he and other defectors have said.

Most of the hackers in the unit are drawn from the military computer school.

- Jang Se-yul, a defector from North Korea who studied at the military college for computer sciences before escaping to the South six years ago, referring to the North's cyberwarfare unit. (no picture given). 

But I found his yearbook photo, that's him on the left, 4th one in

Now, they could have gotten this information like I did, from Google from this Al-Jazeera article. But in this version, the cell is called Unit 121. Bureau does sound a bit more ominous, makes for a good antagonist, like HYDRA, KAOS, or The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

As for the 'Hermit Kingdom'? Well, if they suddenly find their national income has risen without explanation, then I'll reconsider that this was the work of patriotic North Koreans with an allegiance to Kim Jong-un and bad taste in movies. Otherwise, I think I'll keep believing this is the result of good ol'American opportunism and Hollywood going all meta on itself.  I'll never know.

Post Edit - ironically, torrent sites such as Pirate Bay (Hollywood's arch-nemesis in regards to illegal downloads) has offered to distribute The Interview online, making it the world's first true FREE major motion picture... i don't see that happening but interesting nonetheless.