As so many on the political right and left join together to condemn Sony Pictures for not releasing “The Interview,” forgotten in the controversy is the fact that it is not just millionaire executives and pampered celebrities exposed like a raw nerve over this North Korea hacking.
As is the case throughout Hollywood, somewhere around 90% of the people who work for Sony are middle and working class Americans whose sensitive data is now in the hands of a ruthless, capable and determined foreign government.
Over the weekend I spoke to a former-Sony employee. He’s not a celebrity or executive. He’s a behind-the-scenes, middle class post-production artist. “It’s been a few years since I’ve worked at Sony,” he told me, “but because I once did work for them I now know the North Koreans have whatever sensitive personal information I gave to Sony at the time.”
When I asked about Sony’s decision to pull “The Interview” he said, “Listen, I feel bad for everyone involved. You work hard on a movie, you want it to be seen. But I have a wife, two little kids, and rent to pay. Until Sony has some kind of game-plan in place to protect my family from the potential blowback of identity theft or whatever else these North Korean terrorists have in mind, the company has a responsibility to me and thousands of others just like me not to provoke them.”
He added, “Of course I want Sony to fight and I want the movie to come out. But my family is exposed here, so I expect them to fight smart. Provoking North Korea when we’re all this exposed is not smart. When you’re hit like this, you don’t just attack back. You reinforce your defenses and come up with a plan. What I really want to know is where the government has been. They have a responsibility here.”
It has already been reported that the North Korean hackers not only obtained thousands of Social Security numbers, but also the medical records of current and former Sony employees.
Reports are dribbling out now that North Korea’s Internet has been shut down and Sony will release “The Interview” Christmas Day in some theaters and via Video On Demand.
Coincidence? Or did our government finally fulfill it Constitutional duty and give Sony some relief from these foreign terrorists.
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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