It's difficult to reserve judgment and not drag Sony through the mud for setting what appears to be the worst precedent imaginable -- public, large-scale capitulation -- in response to a new form of terrorism, but in all fairness, only Sony and the FBI actually know the full scope of what the so-called Guardians of Peace stole, and what they threatened to do if their demands aren't met; there might be compelling reason for Sony to presently back down, and we might agree with the action if we had all the facts.
But based on what is publicly known, this is new territory in the convergence between cyber, terror, commerce, nation states, and threat to liberty -- and we're off to a very bad start in which Sony's actions show the bad guys what works.
Anyone who thinks this only affects a single corporation or dumb movie fail to appreciate the huge implications of this form of terrorism succeeding. A criminal group of incredibly sophisticated hackers, likely (based on current information) under the patronage of a rogue nation state have through purely digital theft and threat successfully undermined a major international entity's physical and financial security, and effectively censored freedom of expression.
Done this to us. The United States. Based only on keystrokes. Well hidden. Thousands of miles away.
Unprecedented. Bad. And with Sony's present response, we begin the new game behind on points.
