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Sony Businesses The Media Your Rights Online Entertainment

WikiLeaks' Latest: An Even More Massive Trove of Sony Documents 100

Newsweek is one of many outlets to report that Wikileaks' latest dump is a trove of Sony's company emails and other documents that consists of even more individual pieces than the 200,000-plus leaked in April. Included, says the Newsweek story, are "276,394 Sony Corp. communications, including email, travel calendars, contact lists, expense reports and private files." One interesting tidbit revealed by the documents thus revealed, spotted by Apple Insider, is that "Apple requested [from Sony] 4K content for potential digital distribution and on-demand services testing nearly two years ago, suggesting the company has been exploring ultra high-definition streaming for some time."
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WikiLeaks' Latest: An Even More Massive Trove of Sony Documents

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  • by muphin ( 842524 ) on Sunday June 21, 2015 @09:07PM (#49959195) Homepage
    Whens Pied Piper going to release their Algorithm?
    • Re:mmm 4k content (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21, 2015 @09:19PM (#49959247)

      That would be never.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      I have been working on getting around that for 25 years. It is not possible (doesnt stop me from keep trying though). Their theory holds up very well. The only way around it is to add more 'channels'. That does not exist. The best compression algs these days are ones which remove information and then feed it into other compression algs which can do good on that massaged data. PNG is a good example where the upper part is a massaging of the data then fed into deflate.

      • by muphin ( 842524 )
        Just a thought ( i have no experience in this)
        Spacial Compression, as each bit has a quantifying value of 1 or 0 and each pixels has a certain colour code convertible to a hex code, couldn't one convert a file with a list/db of hex codes being used and using spacial geometry to fill in the blank .. or am i just wrong .. i have no idea what i'm going on about... babble babble...
        for example Minecraft uses content generation to create worlds, couldn't something along those lines be used to generate response
        • Sounds like you're talking about vector drawings like Inkscape and the svg format. PNG is mostly used in raster images which include a list of hex values. To minimise the complexity of the image (as mentioned above) the programming will first simplify the image, sometimes by simply averaging similar values over an area of the image then gets fed to a compression routine that substitutes those averaged values with symbols(I.e ten 'x's become "x10" or something similar). SVG and vector images have the same
      • That would be never.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

        Never say never. There are ways around this problem.
        For example in case memristors/holographic memory/some other magic form of storage is invented we could put 1PB universal dictionary in every computer, compressed material would always use this dictionary instead of adding it to the result file.
        Another idea is a strong (very stronk) AI analysing video material for concepts/objects/ideas. Instead of compressing picture RGB values you send description of scenes, object locations and motion vectors, intents a

        • by mwvdlee ( 775178 )

          AI analysing video material for concepts/objects/ideas.

          How much description would the AI need to produce to get across the intended concept/object/idea?

          Google for the very first image of something as simple as a spoon and try describing it in enough detail that is could be recreated in an image that is unlike all the other images of spoons. You'd probably end up with more data than simply sending the image as an uncompressed bitmap.

          • AI analysing video material for concepts/objects/ideas.

            How much description would the AI need to produce to get across the intended concept/object/idea?

            I dont know, you could test it yourself by .. reading a book and imagining its contents - did it feel like a movie playing in your head?

            • by mwvdlee ( 775178 )

              So your plan for highly compressing video is to basically send the book or script the movie was based on?

              Let's see if it works: "As he rested his heavy head unto the palms of his hands, his sobbing voice continuously uttered the words 'Why? Why do these idiots exist?'". I don't think it conveys quite the total sense of dismay I intended.

            • I dont know, you could test it yourself by .. reading a book and imagining its contents - did it feel like a movie playing in your head?

              Actually, a good writer can make it seem like a memory of a movie. To a good reader. That's how I remember many books.

              But I have a lot of practice and a good imagination... 8-)

              In other words, if the receiver already has most of the information, it can fill in the data lost by the compression. But assumung the information for an unknown transmission, can be a "bug farm" !

        • That would be never.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

          Another idea is a strong (very stronk) AI analysing video material for concepts/objects/ideas.

          Yeah. HTML's alt text as a compression algorithm - now that's a new idea.

    • by quenda ( 644621 )

      Whens Pied Piper going to release their Algorithm?

      Apparently, they just discovered that such algorithms can in practice be patented in the US.
      All they needed to do is license the patent, and watch the money roll in.
      All that coding was a waste of time, and has been shut down.

      • All that coding was a waste of time, and has been shut down.

        Right, why do some real work and create products if you can just blackmail other companies on the basis of vague schemata and a strong financial backing?

  • Wiki-Enquirer? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21, 2015 @09:16PM (#49959237)

    How is this at all what Wikileaks is supposed to be for? At this point it seems more like crass voyeurism than any type of serious attempt to shine a light on corporate misconduct. Sure, Apple asking Sony for 4k content is interesting from a business perspective, but wrong-doing that needed to be exposed it is not. All this seems like is a massive invasion of privacy, as I don't buy for a second that Sony's position "at the centre of a geo-political conflict." in any way justifies such an un-curated document dump.

    • Bleh! this guy has nothing. Snowden has the real goods... on 8K! Now, you might think I'm a conspiracy theorist, but I'll bet ya LG has a 16K thing in the works.

      Wiki-Star or Wiki-Sun would probably be a more catchy name.

    • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Sunday June 21, 2015 @09:51PM (#49959333)

      How is this at all what Wikileaks is supposed to be for? At this point it seems more like crass voyeurism than any type of serious attempt to shine a light on corporate misconduct. Sure, Apple asking Sony for 4k content is interesting from a business perspective, but wrong-doing that needed to be exposed it is not.

      are you kidding me?! despite their evil intentions being revealed ahead of time, the still went on and released Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. i can accept the possibility that the first movie was a misstep but making a sequel is just a crime against humanity!

    • How is this at all what Wikileaks is supposed to be for? At this point it seems more like crass voyeurism than any type of serious attempt to shine a light on corporate misconduct.

      Sony has done a lot of evil in the past (remember rootkits?). By dumping this dataset, Wikileaks is doing two things:

      1) Airing Sony's misdeeds, with the possibility of bringing them to justice. Possibly getting tried in the court of public opinion.

      2) Encouraging other companies to not be evil. If everyone knows that their illegal activities might come to light, it'll act as a deterrent.

      Note that the 4K stuff was picked up by Apple Insider, and consider their mandate.

      Hold off a bit before passing judgement.

      • Re:Wiki-Enquirer? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Etcetera ( 14711 ) on Monday June 22, 2015 @03:11AM (#49960279) Homepage

        How is this at all what Wikileaks is supposed to be for? At this point it seems more like crass voyeurism than any type of serious attempt to shine a light on corporate misconduct.

        Sony has done a lot of evil in the past (remember rootkits?). By dumping this dataset, Wikileaks is doing two things:

        1) Airing Sony's misdeeds, with the possibility of bringing them to justice. Possibly getting tried in the court of public opinion.

        2) Encouraging other companies to not be evil. If everyone knows that their illegal activities might come to light, it'll act as a deterrent.

        Note that the 4K stuff was picked up by Apple Insider, and consider their mandate.

        Hold off a bit before passing judgement. If a more journalistic outlet finds something newsworthy, it might paint the data dump as worthwhile.

        Oh, for God's sake. GTF over yourself.

        Sony Music (aka BMG) 10 years ago has absolutely nothing the fuck to do with Sony Pictures today.

        There's nothing in here that's not standard corporate negotiation -- just trade secrets, voyeuristic awareness by Internet douchebags, and information primarily useful to its competitors. And a whole hell of a lot of invasion of privacy for Sony Pictures employees.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          There's nothing in here that's not standard corporate negotiation

          If convert political donations and lobbying about TPP are "standard corporate negotiation" then I think that needs to be exposed. It's kind of an affront to democracy, you know?

        • Sony Music (aka BMG) 10 years ago has absolutely nothing the fuck to do with Sony Pictures today.

          I'm going to continue to hold Sony responsible for all the misdeeds done by corporations called Sony, and if you don't, you're part of the problem.

          There's nothing in here that's not standard corporate negotiation

          Right, and standard corporate negotiation is abusive to the citizenry, and often illegal.

      • Re:Wiki-Enquirer? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by gsslay ( 807818 ) on Monday June 22, 2015 @03:29AM (#49960329)

        1) Airing Sony's misdeeds, with the possibility of bringing them to justice.

        What misdeeds are being brought to air here?

        2) Encouraging other companies to not be evil. If everyone knows that their illegal activities might come to light, it'll act as a deterrent.

        So this is like taking a random child out of the class and beating them in front of the others, just so they know what'll happen to them if they're naughty.

        Hold off a bit before passing judgement. If a more journalistic outlet finds something newsworthy, it might paint the data dump as worthwhile.

        No, actually it's like arresting someone because maybe they've done something, then looking for the evidence afterwards. If none found, meh, tough luck.

        • So this is like taking a random child out of the class and beating them in front of the others, just so they know what'll happen to them if they're naughty.

          No, this is Sony. It's not some random company. It's a company which has repeatedly abused its customers, and helped to drive the Copyright Cartel.

          No, actually it's like arresting someone because maybe they've done something, then looking for the evidence afterwards.

          No, actually it's like checking up on someone who's violated the terms of their parole before, because Sony is fucking scum. They're not innocent until proven guilty, they've been proven guilty already. Looking for malfeasance from Sony is like looking for it from Microsoft. Highly likely to be found, based on past activities. In Microsoft's case, they were found

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by Meditato ( 1613545 )

      It's the poster's emphasis, not Wikileak's. Get your head out of your ass.

    • Re:Wiki-Enquirer? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21, 2015 @10:43PM (#49959545)

      https://wikileaks.org/sony/emails/emailid/112743

      FW: Heads up - Potential Call from Iger or United States Trade Representative, Michael Froman & Call from Dodd regarding $$$ for Republicans
      Email-ID 112743
      Date 2013-11-07 21:57:25 UTC
      From keith_weaver@spe.sony.com
      To leah_weil@spe.sony.com

      FW: Heads up - Potential Call from Iger or United States Trade Representative, Michael Froman & Call from Dodd regarding $$$ for Republicans

      I’m going to start working on the TPP (and overall trade issues) briefing regardless of who goes (or no one goes) – despite the focus on Investor day, I don’t want folks unaware of what’s going on.

      More to follow.

      From: Weaver, Keith
      Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 1:51 PM
      To: Lynton, Michael; Blake, Jeff
      Cc: Weil, Leah; Diamond, David
      Subject: Heads up - Potential Call from Iger or United States Trade Representative, Michael Froman & Call from Dodd regarding $$$ for Republicans
      Importance: High

      Michael,

      I wanted to give you a heads up regarding a couple of issues, as you may be contacted in the next day or so.

      Potential contact from IGER: I understand you may be contacted by Bob Iger or United States Trade Representative, Michael Froman to invite you (+ one) to a meeting at Disney next Friday (the 15th). While I’m not aware of the details of this meeting (time or agenda), my sense is that much of the discussion will center on the TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP, which is a pending multilateral trade agreement with 12 countries that boarder the Pacific Ocean) – you’ll recall this was one of the key topics of your meeting with Froman and your peers at the White House last year. It seems as though these negotiations are drawing to a close this year and the President/Froman want key industries saying positive things about the benefits. The trick is it’s a closed process, so we don’t know how IP is handled in the text. Should this meeting come to fruition and you’re inclined to attend, I’ll prepare a briefing for you and Jeff.

      Call from Dodd re NRCC/Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte: Chairman Goodlatte has established a new fundraising committee that would allow contributions to his effort WITHOUT giving to the NRCC (all of the studios had the same sensitivity on this as we did). Dodd is likely to call you with this news, tell you that the studio should support with $40k each, and tell you about the tentative date/time for this fundraiser (likely a lunch on 11/22). Our PAC can give $15k, the rest would need to come from individual execs.

      Let me know if you have any questions.

      Regards,

      KW

      The Sony docs and emails are chock full of this stuff. Serious stuff like an almost this almost quid pro quo to Republican Congress members for TPP goodies . The fact the media only concentrates on celebrity bullshit is not Wikileaks fault.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Good to see corruption is alive and well under carte blanche euphemisms ignored and unpunished by the judicial system.

        Does the common pleb/joe get a free pass treatment for accepting "contributions" for other stuff? For example, granting some type of license or for any other "services" and said "contributions" being free of taxes of course.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I wouldn't even say it is interesting from a business perspective. 2 years ago 4k was already well under way, everyone that was producing OS's, media players or consumption devices was requesting content for testing.

    • I would be inclined to agree.

      If this was a dump of docs unquestioningly demonstrating that Sony was using underage labour in Liberia to cut their rootkits to disk using nothing but a chisel and a magnifying glass, I would be setting up my own mirror of this "leak" and showering the world with links. All this drop seems to be doing is opening employees even more massive invasion of privacy and identity theft. It could be argued these employees deserve to have their cheeks parted for simply working with Son
    • @Anonymous coward: "How is this at all what Wikileaks is supposed to be for? At this point it seems more like crass voyeurism than any type of serious attempt to shine a light on corporate misconduct."

      "I understand you may be contacted by Bob Iger or United States Trade Representative, Michael Froman .. my sense is that much of the discussion will center on the TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP, which is a pending multilateral trade agreement with 12 countries that boarder the Pacific Ocean) – you
    • How is this at all what Wikileaks is supposed to be for? At this point it seems more like crass voyeurism than any type of serious attempt to shine a light on corporate misconduct. Sure, Apple asking Sony for 4k content is interesting from a business perspective, but wrong-doing that needed to be exposed it is not.

      Exactly - when did Wikileaks jump the shark?

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21, 2015 @09:20PM (#49959253)

    Obviously nothing; if they can't secure their own corporate network, what tells me my personal info and credit card number is safe?

  • Giving the best in entertainment news, from Sony to Hurricane Anna [theguardian.com]. So lame

    Give us the good shit on Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Then I'll believe they got something.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Clearly some very sophisticated group of hackers, probably either from China or NK, did the deed. There's a reason why a business' emails are internal - they're not designed for the world to see, as they discuss internal strategies, planning, projects, research, personal reactions to presentations, HR stuff, and more.

    As psychologists have demonstrated, people act differently when they know the world is watching, as opposed to one other person or a small other group of people. The change is not always for t

    • Malware emailed to a system administrator (who opened-and-ran the malware), can hardly be called sophisticated.
    • by Jiro ( 131519 ) on Monday June 22, 2015 @12:01AM (#49959767)

      There's a reason why a business' emails are internal - they're not designed for the world to see, as they discuss internal strategies, planning, projects, research, personal reactions to presentations, HR stuff, and more.

      Internal strategy over buying politicians isn't really "internal", or at least shouldn't be. When the politician passes a law because he's bought, no judge will be impressed if you say "that law was an internal Sony matter so I shouldn't go to jail".

  • Seems to me, if s/Sony/US Congress/g could happen the world would be a better place.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Nothing happens. Nothing has happened. Nothing will happen. Ever. They could prove that Sony regularly serves roasted baby meat to his employees and nobody would do anything. The rookit thing? Nobody cares or knows or remembers. Talk to someone in the streets about it, you'll be rewarded with a blank stare. Explain it and you'll be regaled with answers like "oh, that was a long time ago then" or "I don't even know what that rootcrap is so I don't care" and get a dismissive gesture at best. That's the realit

  • Much as Sony had this coming to them, how is releasing all this private information a public service? I rather enjoy the amount of privacy I currently have, and think that people and companies have a right to conduct certain matters privately. The fact that Sony lobbies should surprise no one.
  • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday June 22, 2015 @06:15AM (#49960719) Homepage Journal

    One interesting tidbit revealed by the documents thus revealed, spotted by Apple Insider, is that "Apple requested [from Sony] 4K content for potential digital distribution and on-demand services testing nearly two years ago, suggesting the company has been exploring ultra high-definition streaming for some time."

    Who gives a shit? We're not entitled to read a dump from sony to determine what their future business plans are, not that I give a shit who does, but that's not actually what's interesting. What's interesting is what laws has Sony deliberately broken since the last dump. Since they always do, I want to know what it was. I don't even care a little bit that Sony is investigating 4k streaming, which is not even a little bit of a surprise. I want to see Sony held over the coals, not masturbated over by Apple Insider.

  • I cannot find the link but in the past two weeks or so, there was an 'Ask Slashdot' by a person wanting to find a way of passing on the info contained in his email history before he left his company. His or her reasons were essentially to pass on his corporate knowledge. The person was mostly derided with "Who cares?" It seems however, that given the keen interest in every company email cull that gets left in Wikileaks (or with some reporter), that companies should have an interest in vetting the emails

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