You no mess with Supreme Leader!

[Meshugger]

 

 

You don't release people's personal banking and social security details for a publicity stunt.

 

Personally I don't believe that the Norks have sufficiently experienced hackers to pull this off. I put Chinese or Iranian mercs in the frame.

 

The leaks, if not the underlying hack, have reportedly been traced to the network of a fancy hotel in Bangkok. 

 

 

It's a weird sort of mentality all over the web these days that first suspects some kind of false-flag attack for, well, everything.  I suspect it originates from the 'chan universe (where such suspicions are usually quite justified), but it is very rarely justified elsewhere.

 

Bangkok, that's in N.K. right? America to the rescue....some days I wonder if WWIV will be started by the American's complete lack of geographical knowledge.

 

 

Just bomb everything west of Seoul and east of Hong Kong to glass, just to be sure.

[Enoch]

You do realize that I was responding to Wals' assertion that NK would've contracted something like this out, right? 

[Orogun01]

You do realize that I was responding to Wals' assertion that NK would've contracted something like this out, right? 

He's using logic, get him!

[Malcador]

Why is suspecting false flag attacks weird ? It's fairly easy to do with online attacks and is lulz-y. NK should have just sent people to take care of Rogan, no big loss there.

[213374U]

You don't release people's personal banking and social security details for a publicity stunt.

 

Personally I don't believe that the Norks have sufficiently experienced hackers to pull this off. I put Chinese or Iranian mercs in the frame.

 

My bad. I hadn't actually researched the extent of the attack. Seems they even leaked unreleased films along all sorts of personal confidential data. The description is so over the top that it could well be the script for one of those 90's cyber crime b-films. This **** puts Anonymous' antics to shame.

 

Still, I was mostly surprised that Paramount would also follow suit and pull Team America. Paramount and Sony are different companies, right? They have their unreleased flicks and all the dirty laundry on the cloud too or what?

 

 

It's a weird sort of mentality all over the web these days that first suspects some kind of false-flag attack for, well, everything.  I suspect it originates from the 'chan universe (where such suspicions are usually quite justified), but it is very rarely justified elsewhere.

 

I'm a weird sort of guy. Sorry, I guess?

 

Disclaimer: I haven't even visited 4chan.

Edited December 19, 2014 by 213374U

[Enoch]

Why is suspecting false flag attacks weird ? It's fairly easy to do with online attacks and is lulz-y. NK should have just sent people to take care of Rogan, no big loss there.

 

Well, in hindsight, "weird" probably wasn't the right word to use.  It's an understandable way for folks to psychologically cope with an occurrence/opinion/fact that would otherwise risk upsetting their pre-existing views.  The degree to which it has become the default response of certain ideologues-- often contrary to even rudimentary logical thought-- though, feels new to me. 

[Walsingham]

Why is suspecting false flag attacks weird ? It's fairly easy to do with online attacks and is lulz-y. NK should have just sent people to take care of Rogan, no big loss there.

 

Suppose you arrive at home and your wife is blaming your new puppy for pooping on the rug, and you tell her that she obviously did it herself in order to get rid of the dog.

 

Yeah this could be a Sony executive conducting a felony fraud against their own company, shaking faith in the entire firm and its manifold products all for the sake of a rather minor comedy. But they would have to be criminally insane. It's totally and ludicrously out of proportion. After the threats of violence they'd be sent to a federal penitentiary on terrorism charges.

 

Or it could be the criminally insane nutjobs running the whackstate that is North Korea where the world's chubbiest god-monarch rules over some of the hungriest people.

 

Get a ****ing grip on yourselves.

[Malcador]

Well, in hindsight, "weird" probably wasn't the right word to use.  It's an understandable way for folks to psychologically cope with an occurrence/opinion/fact that would otherwise risk upsetting their pre-existing views.  The degree to which it has become the default response of certain ideologues-- often contrary to even rudimentary logical thought-- though, feels new to me.

Ah you're one of those. Well, the idea that this some one posing as NK for some amusement (false-flag is just when the flag is fake, no?) isn't all that kooky as you seem to want to make it out to be. It could be NK as well, who knows really what their technological capability is for something like this - the attack was pretty crude apparently, nothing Stuxnet-esque or people they've hired to do it (still them in the end though).

 

Have been attacks here, well okay some webpages defaced, by people claiming to be ISIS or some other terrorist group as well when it's come out it's just youths being edgy.

[Barothmuk]

Of interest.

 

"Emails Reveal US State Department Influenced Sony’s “The Interview” so as to Encourage Assassination and Regime Change in North Korea"

The emails also reveal that a RAND corporation senior defense analyst who consulted on the film went beyond “blessing” and outright influenced the end of the film, encouraging the CEO of Sony Entertainment to leave the assassination scene as it was (in spite of misgivings at Sony) for the sake of encouraging North Koreans to actually assassinate Kim Jong-Un and depose his regime when the movie eventually leaks into that country. According to the Sony CEO, a senior US State Department official emphatically and personally seconded that advice and reasoning in a separate correspondence.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Barothmuk

[Malcador]

That seems like some "kitchen sink" type strategy there, hah.

[213374U]

Well, in hindsight, "weird" probably wasn't the right word to use.  It's an understandable way for folks to psychologically cope with an occurrence/opinion/fact that would otherwise risk upsetting their pre-existing views.  The degree to which it has become the default response of certain ideologues-- often contrary to even rudimentary logical thought-- though, feels new to me. 

 

Cognitive dissonance shouldn't feel new to you if you read WoT regularly. It's about par for the course here.

[Barothmuk]

That seems like some "kitchen sink" type strategy there, hah.

What are you talking about?

 

"Fund a Seth Rogan stoner comedy" is a common military tactic.

[Walsingham]

 

That seems like some "kitchen sink" type strategy there, hah.

What are you talking about?

 

"Fund a Seth Rogan stoner comedy" is a common military tactic.

 

 

 

It's not commonly known, but is obviously true that the plan for post Invasion Iraq was actually a pitch for a comedy.

 

Only it wasn't Seth Rogan. It was Uwe Boll.

[Gromnir]

 

You don't release people's personal banking and social security details for a publicity stunt.

 

Personally I don't believe that the Norks have sufficiently experienced hackers to pull this off. I put Chinese or Iranian mercs in the frame.

 

The leaks, if not the underlying hack, have reportedly been traced to the network of a fancy hotel in Bangkok. 

 

 

It's a weird sort of mentality all over the web these days that first suspects some kind of false-flag attack for, well, everything.  I suspect it originates from the 'chan universe (where such suspicions are usually quite justified), but it is very rarely justified elsewhere.

 

perhaps movies and tv shows has taught folks that such wide publicized computer hacks is a smokescreen or a diversion and typically there is some larger plot at work.  also, as far as international incidents are concerned, it is so hard for most folks to take this serious. is not at all like timothy olyphant stealing the totality o' US financial information from a social security computer facility, and there is no threat o' a nuke or dirty bomb being smuggled into ________.  aren't we s'posed to be afraid that the chinese can disable the US power grid?  don't you realize that we are already living in the Matrix, and there ain't no neo to save your clueless arse from digital Armageddon?

 

where were we? oh, yeah, north korea sponsors a hack o' sony that humiliates some executives and compels 'em to delay the release of a comedy film.

 

...

 

this isn't what we were promised by movies and tv and conspiracy theory nutters. the sony hack is so ridiculously banal.  north korea didn't bring about a financial catastrophe in the west and they didn't have planes crash into iconic US buildings.  the endgame were that the haX0rs left a flaming bag of poop on the doorstep of sony? is not a particularly satisfying plot for a tv show or movie, is it? is more like a south park episode scenario, yes?

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Tale]

Online conspiracy communities are gaining more attention and viewership over time. It used to be that particular fringe were isolated, occasionally published books, would be interviewed by low budget TV shows, and had small little conventions through newsletter circulation.

 

Now they're finding their way to not only their isolated little corners of the web, but corners of popular websites like reddit.com where they can get the paranoia out to more people as well as reinforce one another in larger numbers.

[Orogun01]

Why is suspecting false flag attacks weird ? It's fairly easy to do with online attacks and is lulz-y. NK should have just sent people to take care of Rogan, no big loss there.

I had an idea for a sketch where Kim Jong goes over to James Franco to apologize about NK overreaction but thinks Franco is making fun of him by squinting his eyes and gets angry.

 

Don't know how its related to your post but I had to quote someone.

[Gromnir]

conspiracy theory stuff is often having a geographical origin, but am thinking that is hardly shocking. is not so much an internet thing as a cultural phenomenon.

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2013/0222/Was-Chelyabinsk-meteor-actually-a-meteor-Many-Russians-don-t-think-so.-video

 

however, beyond the conspiracy stuff, we do understand some o' the reluctance to believe that this, the hack of sony, is what it appears to be. most international incidents is the result o' a confluence o' accidents and errors in judgment. on the other hand, when some event is the result of intended action, we expect it to be major. george bush sr. vomits on the japanese prime minister? is an accident and only the wackiest conspiracy nut thinks otherwise.  nevertheless, there were dozens o' instant theories and it were even reported on cnn that bush had died... and that were 1992, when the internet for private use were still a fledgling. 

 

the sony hack were not the result o' an accident or a case o' flu and and too much sushi. somebody planned the hack. have the hack be perpetrated by malcontents with too much free time strikes us initially more plausible than that it were actual planned by the north korean government.  based on the damage done to sony and to the movie industry as a whole, we can't see this as being some kinda publicity stunt. nevertheless, while all evidence suggests that north korea were the ultimate cause o' the hack, the whole thing is just so darn silly that we understand why folks might look for other more rational explanations.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited December 19, 2014 by Gromnir

[Walsingham]

According to the BBC the Norks don't usually bother to deny actions they like. They have this time.

 

Keep in mind that (iirc) Sony 've been a target for hackers before. They would be a prime target for extortion after the embarassment they've been suffering.

[Wrath of Dagon]

[Guard Dog]

If this whole thing is a publicity stunt then it would be one of the greatest of all time. This movie had box office bomb written all over it. Trust me, the only way someone was going to see this is if they sat in the wrong theater by mistake and didn't feel like getting up again. No everyone wants to see it. If they wait a week or two and release it it will be a huge success... for a week or two at least.

 

But it's not a stunt. Sony is not THAT smart.

[Walsingham]

If Sony was prepared to use threats of violence and terrorism, and leak its financial details in order to make money then there are easier ways to do it that would wind you up in exactly the same jail.

[Valsuelm]

I just played two games of DotA 2 with Kim Jong-un. I queued up for a solo run and lo and behold there was The Supreme Leader. I was just... 'Wow.. this is a pretty cool surprise'.

 

He really seems like a good chap. Had a very good handle on English and is very friendly. He said had nothing to do with the recent fiasco but did find it all very amusing. Said he's too busy doing important things like pwning noobs to bother with the likes of Rogen, and was actually looking forward to the movie. (I don't understand his fascination with Rodman either, but to each their own, then again if two of Hollywood's biggest idiots made a bad movie about me I'd probably be interested in watching it too). He actually said he's not looking forward to the headache of trying to figure out what to do with his newly found controlling interest in SONY Pictures that someone has seen to give him.

 

For the curious, he played Windrunner and Gyrocopter. And while the second game was a tough one that ran over 80 minutes as we were up against the best Techies I've seen in years, we were victorious both games. 

Edited December 20, 2014 by Valsuelm

[HoonDing]

[BruceVC]

I just watched an interview with the SONY CEO and he was quite clear that the main reason they decided not to screen the movie on the 25 was because of the decision of the various theatres to not want to show it

 

He also said they have not given up  as there are other forms of distribution and are still want people to see the movie

[Malcador]

Yep. Real problem is the theater chains balking at showing it and cutting the demand. Rather funny to hear this movie mentioned as some sort of creative achievement in the news here, people invoking Chamberlain and all.

 

Still think we should send Rogan and Franco to NK as a peace offering