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Sony Demands Media Stop Posting Data Leaked by Hackers

Attorney David Boies, speaking for the studio, calls documents ”stolen information“ and asks that they be destroyed in letter to media outlets

| December 14, 2014 @ 2:10 PM

Besieged by a wave of revealing and embarrassing leaks, Sony Pictures Entertainment on Sunday demanded that news agencies stop running stories on “stolen” data released by hackers.

In a sharply worded letter sent to news organizations, Sony lawyer David Boies called the documents posted online “stolen information,” and demanded they not be posted and urged that they be destroyed.

The studio “does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading or making any use” of the information,” Boies wrote in a three-page letter sent Sunday morning to the legal departments of media organizations. The letter was first reported by the New York Times.

: Sony Leaked Emails Depict Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Leo DiCaprio: Sought-After, Apologetic and ‘Despicable’

Sony’s hiring of Boies, one of the nation’s most high-profile attorneys, indicates how seriously it is taking the disclosures from the cyber attack.

Hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace have been releasing documents since the Nov. 24 attack. Personal info on A-list stars, executives’ emails and salaries, business plans and employees’ medical records and social security numbers have turned up in the data dumps. The script for the next James Bond movie, “Spectre,” was among the latest leaks.

The group is demanding that the studio halt its release of the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy “The Interview,” which lampoons North Korea, scheduled for Christmas Day.

: Lisa Kudrow Rips Sony Execs Over Leaked Emails: ‘Don’t Write Anything You Don’t Want Broadcast’ (Video)

The leaks have created a steady drip of inside info from the studio, which has been hot fodder for the industry and general public but has caused some to question the fairness and morality of posting the illegally obtained data. One embarrassing email exchange between studio co-chair Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin came to light and was filled with racially insensitive remarks about President Obama. The two subsequently both issued public apologies.

Sony and the Motion Picture Association of America, the industry’s umbrella organization and chief lobbying force, sought a letter of support from all of the studios, the NYT report said, but that didn’t come together.

The letter of warning from Sony arrived just as hackers released their eighth leak of confidential studio material on Sunday. A group claiming responsibility for the attack, apparently the Guardians of Peace, offered to selectively hold back on releasing email correspondence of its employees, provided that they write in and ask.

: Sony Employees’ Medical Records Among Hacked Data

“Message to SPE Staffers,” reads the posting in broken English posted on Pastebin and Friendpaste, sites used frequently by hackers for data dumps. “We have a plan to release emails and privacy of the Sony Pictures employees. If you don’t want your privacy to be released, tell us your name and business title to take off your data.”

The file also contained an email archive belonging to Steve O’Dell, president of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Sony Hack Attack Timeline: From First Cyberbreach and Leaks to 'The Interview' Release (Photos)

  • Michael Lynton The Grill
  • sony hack email nightmare
  • Sony Pictures
  • Sony
  • James Franco, Seth Rogen, "The Interview"
  • James Franco, Seth Rogen
  • Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton
  • Sony Chiefs Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton 'Deeply Saddened' Over Hacking Attack
  • Sony Pictures
  • Sony's logo on a wall
  • "hacked by #GOP" message found on Sony computers
  • Sony's logo on a wall
  • Sony Chiefs Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton 'Deeply Saddened' Over Hacking Attack
  • Tom Hanks
  • Amy Pascal, Steve Mosko of Sony
  • Sony's logo on a wall
  • Sony Marketing Layoffs
  • Sony Pictures
  • Movie posters for the premiere of the film 'The Interview' at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, California on December 11, 2014. The film, starring US actors Seth Rogen and James Franco, is a comedy about a CIA plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jong-Un, played by Randall Park. North Korea has vowed 'merciless retaliation' against what it calls a 'wanton act of terror' -- although it has denied involvement in a massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures, the studio behind the film. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
  • The Throwaways
  • Skyfall Daniel Craig James Bond 25
  • sony hack email nightmare
  • ArcLight Cinemas
  • Sony Chiefs Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton 'Deeply Saddened' Over Hacking Attack
  • Sony's logo on a wall
  • The Interview movie poster, Sony logo, President Obama
  • the interview hollywood tweets
  • Team America World Police
  • The Interview movie poster, Sony logo, President Obama
  • Mike Myers as Dr. Evil on "The Interview."
  • reince priebus chief of staff donald trump health care bill punt end zone football twitter
  • Sony attorney David Boies
  • sony hack email nightmare
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As Sony CEO Michael Lynton prepares to exit, here’s TheWrap’s blow-by-blow of 2014’s devastating cyberattack on the studio

As Sony CEO Michael Lynton announces his resignation, let's look back at one of the darkest periods of his tenure: the Sony hack. 

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