George Clooney tried to convince Hollywood to show their support for Sony, but everyone was too scared to sign a goddamned letter.
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  • George Clooney tried to convince Hollywood to show their support for Sony, but everyone was too scared to sign a goddamned letter.

The FBI has announced that North Korea is behind the cyberattacks on Sony. Up until this announcement, the internet seemed divided on whether the Sony hacks were committed by a disgruntled former employee or by North Korea. I don't expect the FBI's statement to end the argument, but here, from National Journal's Dustin Volz, is the evidence:

Investigators concluded that North Korea is the culprit behind the cyberattack partly based on analysis of malware used in the attack that the FBI said North Korean actors have previously used. The FBI also observed "significant overlap" in the infrastructure of the attack and other malicious cyberactions carried out by the regime. In addition, the hack has similarities to a cyberattack from March of last year that hit South Korean banks and media outlets, which also was carried out by North Korean operatives.

Which, you know, sounds all professional and stuff, but it's not like the government hasn't lied to us before about evidence involving a foreign nation. The Obama administration has said that if North Korea is behind the hack, they can expect a "proportional response."

In other Sony news, this George Clooney interview with Deadline is about half-great and half-bad. The great part is Clooney's suggestion that the media was so distracted by the gossip of the Sony hack that they failed to recognize the severity of the issue. He also calls Hollywood out on its cowardice, revealing that he tried to rally the industry's support into a letter calling for Sony to release The Interview, but that nobody would sign the letter. The bad part is Clooney's hand-waving excuse for why Sony wouldn't release the film. Clooney says, "You could point fingers at Sony pulling the film, but they didn’t have any theaters, they all pulled out." Which is technically true, but mostly bullshit: Sony basically absolved themselves of blame by telling theaters they'd understand if they chose not to screen the film. This was basically Sony forcing theater chains to kill the movie for them. I understand that Clooney has a close business relationship with Sony, but if he wants to claim the moral high ground on this issue, I expect a little more from him than this kind of revisionary hand-waving.