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Hey talkers – I’m taking vacation for the holidays and will resume posts in the New Year. I trust there will be lots to talk about when I return. Happy holidays!

Sony Gets Hacked; Sweeping Changes to Intelligence-Gathering in both 2013 and 2004; SCOTUS Upholds Civil Rights Act; and Lions Break Free in NYC Theater

 

⇒ What You Were Talking About This Week: Sony Cyberattack (and Cuba)

Nearly four weeks ago, cyber-attackers (self-labeled Guardians of Peace) hacked into Sony’s internal computer system and began to slowly roll out personal emails and information including exorbitant executive salaries and illegal movie downloads. What started as a somewhat humorous distraction—Sony employees lamenting the number of Adam Sandler movies released—devolved into a serious cyberattack and multiple class action lawsuits. And to think it all started over a movie, “The Interview,” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco—the duo who brought us the stoner-thriller movie “Pineapple Express.”

In case you’ve been too consumed with holiday cheer to watch the news this week, “The Interview” is a satirical comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jung-un.

This week in particular we witnessed the downward spiral that culminated with Sony pulling “The Interview” from its anticipated holiday release, from delayed release, even from that weird bastion of movie-dom, Video on Demand (at least for now). Meanwhile, the F.B.I and other U.S. intelligence agencies connected North Korea to the cyberattack on Sony.

Say what you will about the artistic merits of “The Interview,” Sony’s decision nonetheless sparked intense debate, with celebrities tweeting “hackers won” and “sad day for creative expression.” This debate, as many film critics and actors have pointed out, has also revived interest in Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator”—which as you may remember is a satire about none other than Hitler.

President Obama weighed in during a press conference on Thursday, forcefully stating, “We cannot have a society where some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship on the United States. If someone is able to intimidate someone from releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they’ll do if they see a documentary or a news report they don’t like.”

Update: Sony decided to show “The Interview” after all. The movie will have a limited release on Christmas Day.

Also, I cannot overlook President Obama’s decision this week to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba. Fortunately, this story is just beginning to take shape and is sure to heat up when the Republican-controlled 114th Congress begins in January.

⇒ Last Year: Still Talking about Security

Last year, three news stories dominated airwaves—and all fell into the security spectrum. On December 16, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon declared that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records likely violated the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable search. This was the first such ruling of its kind.

On December 18, a presidential advisory panel report recommended sweeping changes to government surveillance programs, including limiting the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records by stripping the National Security Agency of its ability to store that data in its own facilities. Both of these issues came to the fore thanks to Edward Snowden—the former N.S.A. contractor (is he a traitor or a patriot?) who stole a bunch of documents and exposed the scope of N.S.A. surveillance programs. He currently resides in Russia with Russia’s man of the year (for the 15th time running).

Also at this time, Target announced that data connected to about 40 million credit and debit cards had been stolen as part of a breach over the Thanksgiving weekend. Major retailers including the Home Depot, Kmart, and others continue to struggle against such hacks. As a report from Bloomberg points out, the good news is that these security breaches have only impacted two of the 10 biggest retailers in the U.S.

⇒ 10 Years Ago: Seriously, Still Talking about Security

On December 17, 2004, President George W. Bush signed into law a sweeping overhaul of U.S. intelligence-gathering efforts—the most ambitious restructuring since the creation of the C.I.A. and the National Security Council following WWII. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act called for increased border patrol and port and aviation security, as well as a national intelligence director (a new position) to oversee all intelligence agencies.

Upon signing the bill, President Bush stated, “America, in this new century, again faces new threats. Instead of massed armies, we face stateless networks; we face killers who hide in our own cities. We must confront deadly technologies . . . .Our government is adapting to confront and defeat these threats.”

The trends over the past decade, from the Intelligence bill to the cyberattack on Sony, show the way in which the U.S. struggles to find a balance between protecting the homeland and preserving the individual freedoms that we fought and continue to fight to defend.

⇒ 50 Years Ago: Civil Rights Act Upheld       

On December 14, 1964, the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) upheld the Civil Rights Act in a unanimous decision. At question in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (379 U.S. 241, 1964) was if, under the Constitution, Congress could pass a law preventing private businesses from discriminating against people because of their race or color—essentially, whether or not private discrimination is a federal crime.

This of course was not the first case to question the legality of the Civil Rights Act or civil rights issues. Aside from the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibited discrimination by states, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which made it a crime to deny to anyone the “full and equal enjoyment” of railways, hotels, theaters, and other places of public amusement. Though this went all the way to the Supreme Court in 1883, the court held that Congress overstepped its bounds and the Fourteenth Amendment did not give Congress the right to outlaw private discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was challenged in another case and again the Court upheld the act.

And then there was the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, though SCOTUS has since decided we don’t quite need all of that anymore. Writing the opinion of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts argued, “. . .[V]oting discrimination still exists; no one doubts that. The question is whether the Act’s extraordinary measures, including its disparate treatment of the States, continue to satisfy constitutional requirements.” He later concluded, “Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.” Obviously, not everyone agrees.

⇒ 100 Years Ago: Lions—oh my!

At a vaudeville theater on East 86th Street, six lions jumped into the audience, throwing the unassuming theatergoers into frenzy. An Evening World story from December 17 really captures the commotion of the “six ferocious beasts” that plunged from the stage. In essence, the lions slipped out of their cages after the curtain fell, at which point a woman spotted the first of the lions and “uttered a shriek that brought the great audience to its feet.”

Though many audience members were trampled, and some seriously injured, most of the lions were frightened by the “clamor” and just hung out in the lobby. One less cowardly lion, however, wanted to take in the fresh city air. From the news report: “ . . . one of them escaped into the street. He dashed across the northwest corner of 86 Street and Third Avenue where he took refuge in the hallway leading up to a photograph gallery, the second door from the corner.” Policeman shot and killed this lion, but not before he went up a flight of stairs and bust into a gallery where a woman was sitting for a portrait.

I enjoy this (unintentionally) sarcastic line: “Apparently none of the performers who had charge of the lions were in the theater.”