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It's not often I write about the same company, product or service for two days in a row but today is one of those days.
Sony have found themselves falling down a deep, deep hole.
Firstly, a few years ago they root-kitted a whole bunch of their customers' computers in a move that was outrageous, if not wholly illegal.
Then, just a few weeks ago, their computer network was hacked and huge amounts of very sensitive and embarrassing information was stolen -- and subsequently leaked to the world.
One of these embarrassing bits of information was, as reported yesterday in this column, the company's ridiculous claims that Netflix was aiding and abetting piracy by not adequately enforcing geographical restrictions with respect to the provision of it service.
But wait, just when you think things couldn't get any worse for Sony, they're now digging furiously, making the hole in which they find themselves, even deeper.
This report suggests that the company is now engaging in nasty hacker-like tactics in a vain attempt to stop the dissemination of the data that was stolen from it.
Those crazy dullards at Sony Pictures are apparently launching denial-of service attacks on sites that are hosting the files concerned -- but isn't that illegal?
Aren't there laws in the USA and elsewhere that make such attacks a crime?
Or do we have a situation where, if you have enough money, power and the right connections, you are exempt from the provisions of the laws by which the rest of us must live?
The CIA can torture people with impunity -- even though it's a breach of US and international law.
Warner Bros can effectively rewrite NZ's labour laws.
The FBI can effectively direct our police to engage in armed robbery against a legal resident without any repercussions.
Our own SIS can play partisan politics by acting in a manner designed to discredit the (then) leader of the opposition.
The GCSB can break the law by spying on NZ citizens and residents -- yet nobody is held to account.
We're told that we must have new, stronger, more draconian laws to protect us from the terrorists who would take away our freedoms and rights.
Can anyone else see the irony here?
So I have no doubt that Sony will continue to be given "a license to kill" any website that dares to make available, files stolen from the company. However, I suspect that anyone who even suggested they might launch a DDOS attack against one of Sony's services would be locked up and water-boarded to death in the blink of an eye.
I used to be a real fan of Sony's products. A tour of my house a decade ago would have found a couple of high-end Sony VCRs, a couple of Sony TVs and various other Sony consumer electronics. Today however, I actively boycott the company's offerings and media.
What a sad place the world has become now that the real terrorists run the movie studios and most of the western world's governments.
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