The Sony Hack: An insult to the Fundamental Rights?

By Nikhil Nair,Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, New Delhi.

Though the fundamental rights of the people are to be respected, there are a few who are always trying to sling mud on those very rights for their own gains, the recent Sony hackings being an example of that. This downright ridiculous curb of the very freedom of speech and expression on an international scale has left many fuming and the others fearing. The hackings have been directly or indirectly linked to North Korea. Although North Korea has denied all its allegations regarding the hacks, there are concrete reasons which links these hackings to the North Koreans and that it whole heartedly supported this tragic curb of fundamental rights of the many. The hacks made the movie lovers fuming as people protested against such a curb. Hollywood actor, George Clooney was among a few celebrities who came out in full support against the suspension of the movie.

Last month, the entire network of Sony administration was hacked by a group of hackers who call themselves as “Guardians of Peace”. The hack led to the stealing of terabytes of information which included private data, 4 unreleased movies, salary information of the employees and many other information to name a few. The entire Sony administration network was down for a few days following the hack. The shocking blow to Sony was caused when all the confidential stolen information was accessed by the public. The demand of the hackers was the suspension of the release of a movie, ‘The Interview’ which had a plot to assassinate the North Korean leader, Kim-Jong-Un.

However not sure at this point of time, but it increasingly looks like the North Korean regime was responsible for the attacks following the findings by the FBI. It was the first time ever that an organization like FBI has directly named a country for the hackings. The North Korean nation was furious about a comedy movie starring Seth Rogan and James Franco who attempt to assassinate Kim-Jong-Un, the North Korean leader. The North Korean premiere is apparently so paranoid about his impression in front of the world that he could make one of the biggest production companies of the world go haywire.

The group who claimed the hackings called themselves the Guardians of Peace and demanded Sony to stop the release of ‘The Interview’, failing which they threatened 9/11 style attacks against the theatres who showcase the movie. The theatre owners feared the terrorism threats and also speculated that the moviegoers would not flock to the theatres following the threats which in turn lead to the postponement of ‘The Interview’. The Sony network was embarrassed and scared on a global scale and the hackings had a fearful effect on them which ultimately made them to suspend the release of the movie altogether. The movie made on a budget of 42 million dollars was supposed to be never showcased to the world.

With the direct interference of Barack Obama and the White House, ‘The Interview’ finally managed to get a release and people in large numbers flocked in to watch the movie in support of their fundamental rights. Even though the hacks were effective to scare people on a global scale, the viewership of ‘The Interview’ would have given a straight message to the hackers that at the end of the day, people and their rights win and that people’s rights cannot be curbed for long.

When talking about the violation of the fundamental rights, our domestic front is also not too far behind with various religious groups demanding a ban on the Hindi movie, ‘PK’. The movie which talks about the unhealthy religious practices going on in the country apparently did not go down well with these groups demanding an immediate ban on the movie. The movie has turned out to be the biggest Bollywood grosser ever with an earning of more than 300 crores giving a strong message to those groups demanding a ban that the rights of a few does not superimpose the rights of the many and people will turn out in huge numbers in support of their rights.

All the democratic countries which constitutes for more than 80% of the world have all their fundamental rights mentioned in their constitution and the breach of which leads to punishments. Citizens of the world are entitled to all these rights and the mere curb of them by any organization will not be welcomed at all. The people behind the hacks should be punished effectively stating an example so that no such incident ever happens again.