Good White Hat Hackers May Save Sony By Posting "The Interview” on the Internet

WASHINGTON - Dec. 21, 2014 - PRLog -- WASHINGTON, DC, December 22, 2014 - Although Sony, faced with mounting criticism, has backed down from what appeared to be its original stance, and has now pledged to "distribute" its controversial film on a "different platform," any attempt to release "The Interview" - either by itself or with partners like Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Bit Torrent, etc. - creates grave risks, to all involved, from the GOP hacker.

        But benevolent hackers - so-called white hats - could sprinkle many copies of the film across the Internet for all to download for free, and do so in such a way that neither they nor the downloaders would have to worry about retaliation from GOP, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who is credited with helping to inspire hacker jargon when he started hacking in the 1950s.

        If those who wish to see the film are required to pay, hackers can learn who posted it by "following the money" - tracking the payment path from the viewer to the ultimate recipient.

        But, notes Banzhaf, white hats should be able to post it in many locations on the Internet and, by using standard techniques, hide both the original source of the film and the identity of those who posted it - so long as there is no money or payment trail for GOP to find.

        So the best way - and perhaps the only feasible way - to undercut this so-far successful attempt to censor the film would be to have friendly hackers post it anonymously on the Internet for free distribution.

        Since anyone could then log on without paying a fee through a credit card, PayPal, etc., it would be very difficult for GOP or other hackers to learn the identity of those who posted the film or those who simply signed on to view it, especially if the white hats used standard routing and other techniques to mask not only their identity but even their geographical location.

        Moreover, Sony could have plausible deniability if they cooperated, claiming that the white hat hackers who posted the film for others hacked it in turn from Sony.

        On the other hand, if Sony refused to release a final version of the film to white hats, even surreptitiously, there are probably at least rough cuts if not final versions of the film already available to knowledgeable hackers to post anonymously.

        “Fighting fire with fire by using good hackers to defeat evil ones might be the only way this film may finally get released," says Banzhaf, which is why he is calling on white hats to undertake this novel if not unprecedented role.  Just as it may take a thief to catch a thief, it may take a hacker to defeat another hacker.

        I sense that they are angered that their craft has been used in this way against a major company to promote censorship, and the ultimately irony would be for them to take the lead in striking back, he says.

JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D.
Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
Fellow, World Technology Network,
Founder, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052, USA
(202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418
http://banzhaf.net/ @profbanzhaf