The self-censorship of “The Interview,” the controversial film satirizing North Korea’s leader did not prevent the film from racking in $18 million in sales from digital distribution to make it the highest grossing film ever released digitally. The proceeds, though, are still far below estimates of revenues should the film have been distributed in theaters nationwide. In the meantime, there are indications that the Sony hacking may not have been done by North Korea but by disgruntled former Sony employees.The federal government had said that they had evidence that the North Korean government was behind the attack. (Tech Times, January 1, 2015, by Quinten Plummer)
The Intercept said it obtained an FBI bulletin that revealed that the hackers in the Sony case, who call themselves the Guardians of Peace, threatened to attack an unnamed American new media organization. Trevor Timm of the Freedom of Press Foundation said that the report about the media threat is just one more example of how cyber wars threaten press freedom. (The Intercept, December 31, 2014, by Jana Winter)
The New York Time’s David Carr writes that the effects of the censorship of “The Interview” are insidious as indicated by the decision by New Regency to deep six a thriller about North Korea starring Steve Carell. “The threats and subsequent cancellation will become a nightmare with a very long tail. Now that cultural discourse has become the subject of online blackmail, it is hard to imagine where it will end,” writes Carr. “Documentaries, which have become increasingly important sources of news and information, could suddenly be in jeopardy. And if you’ve been watching the current season of ‘Homeland’ on Showtime, you know that Pakistan’s more sinister operations have been on wide view.”