Forumchem - Forum with AI(ALICE BOT & HAL9000) and TTS

Sony will let The Interview play at select theaters despite threats

Select theaters will screen the Sony-produced film, The Interview, starting Christmas Day it was announced on Tuesday, notwithstanding threats of terrorism and murmurings of an international cyberwar spawned by the movie before its release.

We have never given up on releasing The Interview, and were excited our movie will be in a number of theaters Christmas Day, Sony Entertainment Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton said in a statement on Tuesday morning. At the same time we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters, so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.

White House spokesperson Eric Schultz told CNBC that US President Barack Obama applauds Sonys decision to authorize screenings of the film and reestablishes America as a country that believes in free speech, and the right of artistic expression.

JUST IN: White House statement on Sonys decision to release The Interview on Christmas Day in some theaters pic.twitter.com/uy99LqWt8j

CNBC Now (***) December 23, 2014

The Interview a comedy whose plot involves a plan to assassinate North Korean President Kim Jong Un had long been scheduled to open in theaters across the United States on December 25. Sony pulled the plug on those plans last week, however, in the midst of an international scandal that has spread from Hollywood to Pyongyang and the world over.

A massive computer hack, suffered by Sony last month, has continued to cause embarrassment for the company, with pilfered emails being disseminated on the web. The breach has since been attributed by federal investigators in the US to North Korea. Although the Kim regime hasnt taken responsibility, a series of vague threats made over the internet against theaters, which planned to screen The Interview, led to Sonys decision last week to keep the film off movie screens as more and more cinemas expressed apprehension about showing it.

I am sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. Having said all that, yes, I think they made a mistake, President Obama said last Friday of Sonys decision to nix the film. I wish they wouldve spoken with me first. I would have told them: do not get into a pattern in which youre intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks.

Now only four days later and two days before its scheduled release Sony says certain theaters will indeed show the movie starting at Christmas as they had originally intended.

The people have spoken! actor Seth Rogen, who stars in the film, tweeted on Tuesday. Freedom has prevailed! Sony didnt give up!

The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didnt give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!

Seth Rogen (***) December 23, 2014

Sonys official acknowledgement came moments after Tim League, the chief executive of the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater chain, wrote on Twitter early on Tuesday that Sony had authorized screenings at certain venues. According to sources familiar with the decision who spoke with the New York Times, upwards of 300 smaller theaters could sign-on to show the film.

I dont think anyone could have predicted how this whole thing would have played out, Alamo Drafthouse DFW programmer James Wallace told The Dallas Morning News. Certainly not us! We tried to have some fun with an otherwise tough situation and then somehow became the unlikely champions for freedom of expression. The response has been truly overwhelming and we were all absolutely amazed by the international outpouring of support for cinema and freedom of expression.

Source

Although the United States already shares intelligence on North Korean activities separately with South Korea and Japan, the trilateral agreement marks a historic partnership for the three nations.

READ MORE: Security firm says Sony hack might have been an inside job

Due to historic tensions connected to Japans colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, the sharing of intelligence between Tokyo and Seoul marks a distinctive step forward in bilateral relations between the two Pacific powers.

In April, President Obamas Asia tour seemed to have succeeded in reducing regional tensions over historical and territorial issues hampering Washingtons efforts at trilateral cooperation.

During his visit, the US leader gave Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assurances that the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which have been a matter of controversy with China, are Japanese territory. Obama thus became the first US president to have overtly stated that the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands fall within the purview of the US-Japan security treaty, the Diplomat reported.

Later, at a press conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Obama touched upon the sensitive subject of so-called comfort women - females forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, which was a terrible, egregious violation of human rights.

These statements soothed historic tensions and helped seal the bargain between Seoul and Tokyo.

According to the agreement, to be signed on Monday, South Korean and Japanese officials will share intelligence on Pyongyangs nuclear and missile programs, via Washington, South Koreas Defense Ministry said in a statement, AP reported.

On October 9, 2006, North Korea stunned the world when it carried out its first underground nuclear test, followed by a second test almost three years later. On February 12, 2013, the closed communist country announced it had conducted its third underground nuclear test in seven years, although Japanese and South Korean investigators had failed to detect any radiation.

READ MORE: N. Korea threatens US, demands apology for Obamas reckless rumors of Sony hack

In light of these ongoing tests, Seoul believes North Korea has made progress in its efforts to develop and produce nuclear missiles that are able of reaching US territory, or US military bases that are located in both South Korea and Japan.

The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War was concluded with an armistice as opposed to a formal peace treaty.

In October, troops of the rival Koreas exchanged gunfire along their heavily fortified border several times, though no causalities were reported.

Source

North Korea hurls racial slurs against President Obama, accuses U.S. of causing Internet outage amid Sony hacking scandal

Source

North Korea faced a five-hour Internet outage Saturday, the countrys third major outage in the past week.

Source

Although the FBI believes North Korea was responsible for hacking the movie company, several experts have stepped forward to say it may have been an inside job

Source

Although FBI says it believes North Korea was responsible for hacking the studio, several experts are saying it may have been an inside job

Source

Even North Korea had a blast as 2015 dawned.

Source

The move comes in the wake of the cyberattack on Sony Pictures, which the FBI blamed on the rogue regime

Source

Washington real danger of cyber warfare, not China or N. Korea WikiLeaks

Who is the real criminal? Hrafnsson asked, during a live interview with RT. We have been led to believe that the real danger of cyber warfare is from China or North Korea. But I think the real danger here is the US, the superpower. And they can cause real havoc all over the world with their technologies.

READ MORE: Equation Group hackers attacked 30+ nations with NSA-style tech

On Monday, Moscow-based security firm Kaspersky Labs revealed a trove of evidence showing that sophisticated surveillance systems had been embedded in thousands of computers belonging to officials, scientists, businessmen and journalists in states such as Russia, Iran and China starting from 2001, by what it called the Equation Group.

One of the most powerful in a suite of tools used by the team was a virus that attached itself to the in-built programming contained on the hard disk of almost every top manufacturer. The malware allowed the hackers to take over the computer before the operating system even loaded up for the first time, and has likely existed at least since 2007.

We are not surprised. We should not be taken aback by anything after what we have learned from Edward Snowden, but we are surprised by the sophistication, said the Icelandic journalist, who has worked with Julian Assanges WikiLeaks since 2010.

To go to the core of the computer, which makes it almost impossible to detect is something that we havent seen before.

Hrafnsson says the National Security Agency is likely behind the operation, saying there is no other agent that has the ability and the resources to do this.

The NSA hasnt admitted sponsoring the Equation Group which appears to be lavishly resourced but circumstantial evidence points to US involvement. Most of the computers infected are located in countries that enjoy a rocky relationship with Washington, while some of the infiltration techniques bear the hallmarks of other operations where the US has been ostensibly involved, such as the Stuxnet virus. Two anonymous sources, formerly with the NSA, also confirmed the existence of the espionage capabilities described by Kaspersky to Reuters.

Source

North Korea hailed a South Korean mans attack on the U.S. ambassador to Seoul in a statement through its Korean Central News Agency.

Source