_New York Times_ opinion pieces usually get it spectatularly wrong. Its nice seeing one that gets it right. The thieves who stole from Sony, released Social Security numbers, home addresses, computer passwords, bank account details, performance reviews, phone numbers, the aliases used when high-profile actors check into hotels (a safety measure to keep stalkers away), and even the medical records of employees and their children. Here are the guilty parties, in order of culpability: 1. The Hackers: It is immoral to rifle through a persons or companys private property (e.g., a computer) without that persons permission. (To exploit a personal relationship for such an invasion is the ultimate betrayal.) Breaking and entering is a crime. It is a monstrous injustice to then unleash that private information onto the world. The unleashing was abetted by . . . 2. The Media: Knowingly receiving stolen property is a crime, exacerbated by the additional crime of reselling that property for profit. The government should immediately halt all such publication, and prosecute those in the media engaged in the publication of stolen property. (Please dont cite the First Amendment. There is no such thing as the right to violate the rights of others.) Sony should file a civil suit against the guilty media companies to recoup the economic damages caused by their complicity in this crime. Predictably, the media rationalizes its violation or rights by using the collectivist premise of the publics right to know. That it is a rationalization can be seen by the fact that the media did not invoke that premise when it came to its decision to *not* publish the Danish Cartoons, or when it comes to the decision to *not* publish the names of alleged victims of rape. The medias actual motive is to pillory what it considers Hollywoods evil arm: Big Studios, i.e., the capitalist (non-art) aspect of that industry. Operating on the false dichotomy of art versus commerce, it sees profit as destructive, and this as their opportunity to destroy the destroyers. To peddle stolen property, the fence needs . . . 3. A Consumer: To consume the moral (and actual) crime is to commit the crime. That the public consumes pirated property, that is *not* boycotting those media outlets, proves (once again) that what this country needs is not a political revolution, but a moral one. That there are so many aching to read anything salacious, proves the sad fact that theirs is a barren life.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 16:39:49 +0000
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