索尼黑客事件佐證好萊塢衰敗

Kim Jong-un, who appears to be America’s newly self-appointed minister of culture, has decided that it is not enough that “The Interview,” the Seth Rogen film about North Korea that includes Mr. Kim’s assassination, will not be released. On Thursday, a message from the Guardians of Peace, the hacker group that breached the computer systems of Sony Pictures and warned against releasing the film, said “we want everything related to the movie, including its trailers, as well as its full version down from any website hosting them immediately.”

金正恩最近似乎成了美國自封的文化部長，他認爲塞斯·羅根(Seth Rogen)導演的關於北朝鮮、含有刺殺金正恩情節的電影《採訪》(The Interview)，不能上映還不夠。星期四，破壞索尼影業網絡系統，並警告該片不得上映的黑客組織“和平守衛者”(Guardians of Peace)發來消息，稱“我們希望和這部電影相關的一切，包括預告片和完整版都馬上從網絡上撤下”。

My, that slope became mighty slippery pretty quickly. The hackers promised that if Sony scrubbed all traces of the comedy from the Internet — an impossible task — they would cease a campaign that has lasted almost a month and has threatened employees and their families, embarrassed executives and potentially unleashed 100 terabytes of private company data into the world.

天哪，形式可真是急轉直下。黑客們宣稱，如果索尼從網上抹掉這部喜劇的所有痕跡——一個不可能完成的任務——他們就會停止對該公司持續了一個月的攻擊，此外他們還威脅公司僱員和他們的家庭，令公司高管難堪，偷偷把相當於100兆字節的公司祕密信息公之於衆。

Federal officials said Friday morning that they had extensive evidence that the North Korean government organized the attack. A few hours later, President Obama added his voice to the chorus of critics, including irate Hollywood actors, who say Sony and the nation’s theater operators should not have canceled the release. “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” he said.

星期五上午，聯邦政府官員稱，他們有足夠證據證明北朝鮮政府組織了這場攻擊。幾小時後，奧巴馬總統加入了批評的大合唱——盛怒的好萊塢演員紛紛指責索尼公司以及美國的院線老闆們不應當取消放映這部電影。奧巴馬說，“我們的社會不應該讓某個地方的某個獨裁者對美國施加審查。”

It was a remarkable and disorienting turn of events: a tiny, failing state that lacks the wherewithal to feed its own people was deciding which movies we can and cannot see, while the industry it had attacked watched silently from the sidelines, and the president of the United States felt compelled to step into an international confrontation catalyzed by a lowbrow comedy.

這是非同尋常、令人迷惑的轉折點：一個每況愈下的小國，連自己的人民都養不活，卻來決定我們能看什麼、不能看什麼，而它所攻擊的行業只是一言不發地旁觀，美國總統則認爲自己不得不捲入一場由一部粗俗喜劇引發的國際衝突。

After weeks of embarrassing disclosures from Sony’s hacked files, the endgame for the movie began on Tuesday, when the hackers invoked the devastation of September 11, and said that anyone who attended the opening on Christmas Day would be risking their lives. “We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time,” they wrote in a rambling email to news organizations.

自從文件被黑客公開後，索尼公司經歷了幾個星期的尷尬，如今這部電影即將迎來上映前的最後階段，然而，就在星期二，黑客卻提起911事件的災難，聲稱任何在聖誕節那天去參加首映的人都將有生命危險。“我們建議你們在那個時候遠離那些地方，”他們在給新聞機構的一封前言不搭後語的電子郵件中這樣寫道。

Theater chains quickly let it be known that “The Interview” would not be screened. Sony, saying it had no choice, withdrew the movie. Certainly, there were concerns about public safety, but make no mistake, other considerations factored in the decision, all involving dollar signs: the box office receipts of films that would be playing alongside “The Interview” during one of the biggest movie weeks of the year, and the holiday shoppers at the retail chains that surround so many theaters. Major cable players made it clear that they were unwilling to step in with a video-on-demand alternative, so short of hanging a bedsheet and screening the movie at its Culver City headquarters, Sony was cornered.

電影院線很快公佈，《採訪》將不會公映。索尼公司說自己別無選擇，也撤下了這部電影。誠然，這裏有公共安全方面的考慮，但是別搞錯，影響這個決定的還有其他因素，全都和金錢有關：比如在一年之中電影最賺錢的一個星期裏，和《採訪》同期上映的其他電影票房收入，乃至諸多影院周圍商店中的假日購物者都將受到影響。各大有線電視臺澄清他們不會播出《採訪》的視頻點播版，索尼別無選擇，只能將這部電影扼殺在搖籃，或者只在公司科爾瓦城總部偷偷放映它。

Once the film was successfully censored, you could count the days until other films were affected. Actually, it happened earlier in the same day, before “The Interview” was shelved, when New Regency announced that it would drop an untitled thriller about North Korea that was to have starred Steve Carell.

這部電影就這樣成功地被審查了，其他電影受到類似影響也指日可待。其實，在《採訪》被宣告擱置的同一天早些時候，這種事已經發生了——新攝政(New Regency)公司宣佈，它放棄拍攝一部與北朝鮮有關的驚悚片，該片原計劃由史蒂夫·卡瑞爾(Steve Carell)主演，尚未命名。

The threats and subsequent cancellation will become a nightmare with a very long tail. Now that cultural discourse has become the subject of online blackmail, it is hard to imagine where it will end. Documentaries, which have become increasingly important sources of news and information, could suddenly be in jeopardy. And if you’ve been watching the current season of “Homeland” on Showtime, you know that Pakistan’s more sinister operations have been on wide view.

這些黑客威脅乃至電影業內的取消行爲將成爲長着長長尾巴的噩夢。如今的文化話語(cultural discourse)已經成了網絡勒索的主題，很難想象它將如何終結。紀錄片如今日益成爲新聞與信息的重要來源，它們很可能突然陷入危險境地。如果你看了這一季映時臺(Showtime)的《國土安全》(Homeland)，你就知道巴基斯坦很有可能採取更危險的行動。

This summer, HBO is planning to broadcast a comedy series starring Jack Black as a foreign service officer who takes on a rogue general who seizes control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Rogue states and their operatives could go after a Bond movie because they didn’t like its taste in villains. (The script for the next installment was released as part of the intrusion, by the way.)

今年夏天，HBO臺計劃播出一部系列喜劇，由傑克·布萊克(Jack Black)飾演一個外國軍官，他惹怒了一個掌控巴基斯坦核武庫的流氓將軍。流氓國家及其官員們可能會因爲他們不喜歡007電影中壞人的品位就譴責它（順便說一句，該劇下一集的劇本作爲黑客入侵的一部分而被公之於衆）。

And it doesn’t end with the entertainment. Some news outlets, including The New York Times, have found themselves under sustained digital attack after publishing articles that displeased various groups that had the resources to respond with intrusions. Many state-sponsored actors will no doubt be emboldened by the spectacular success of the Sony breach.

這種事不會止於娛樂行業。一些新聞出版物，包括《紐約時報》在內，在發佈某些惹惱擁有黑客資源的羣體的文章後，持續遭受到網絡攻擊。黑客在索尼一事上取得的巨大成功無疑會令不少由國家贊助的網絡攻擊參與者感到大受鼓勵。

Things have gone so deeply wrong so quickly — the movie industry will look back at this crossing of the Rubicon with a deep sense of shame — it is hard to keep track of all the mistakes that led us here, but I’d like to take a crack at it.

形式就這樣飛速惡化——在未來，電影業回顧這個轉折點之際，將會感到深深的羞愧——想追溯我們是怎樣犯下各種錯誤，走到今天這步田地，這是一件難事，不過我願意開個頭。

Sony I happened to be with Howard Stringer, then chief executive of Sony, during a vast security attack on its PlayStation platform in 2011 — he looked as if he had been living inside a beehive for three days. That Sony did not harden as a target in a meaningful way afterward is inexplicable.

索尼：2011年，索尼的PlayStation平臺受到大型安全攻擊，當時我正好和索尼當時的首席執行官霍華德·斯特林格(Howard Stringer)在一起，他的樣子看上去好像在馬蜂窩裏呆了三天。在這以後，作爲靶子的索尼表現得並不強硬，這一點令人非常難以理解。

And while I am all for bold creative choices, was it really important that the head being blown up in a comedy about bungling assassins be that of an actual sitting ruler of a sovereign state? If you want to satirize a lawless leader, there are plenty of ways to skin that cat, as Charlie Chaplin demonstrated with “The Great Dictator,” which skewered Hitler in everything but name.

此外，雖然我全心支持大膽的創意選擇，但這是一部喜劇，講的是拙劣地謀殺某個主權國家的領導人，這個領導人是真實存在的，在片中爆掉他的腦袋就真的那麼重要嗎？如果你想諷刺某個無法無天的領袖，要幹這件事有很多辦法，比如查理·卓別林(Charlie Chaplin)的《大獨裁者》(The Great Dictator)，從各方面諷刺了希特勒，只是沒有指名道姓。

Hollywood If you are looking for courage on the lots of Hollywood, probably best to pack a lunch. Other studios were content to watch Sony dangle, saying nothing for fear that they, too, would end up on the Guardians of Peace’s naughty list. The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the film industry, went into witness protection when the crisis erupted, with a spokeswoman telling Deadline, a trade website, on Dec. 11, “We have no comment at this time. We are not involved.” The association condemned the attack only once the devastation was writ.

好萊塢：如果你想在好萊塢的人們身上找到勇氣，還是歇菜吧。許多製片公司都滿足於觀望索尼的猶豫不決，自己卻什麼也不說，擔心自己最後也會上“和平守衛者”的黑名單。當危機發生時，代表電影業的美國電影協會彷彿進入了證人保護計劃，12月11日，它的一位發言人對商業網站“截稿日”(Deadline)說，“目前我們無可奉告，我們沒被捲入。”只有在損害很明顯時，該協會才譴責了黑客攻擊行爲。

The breach of Sony would seem to be exactly the kind of moment when an association has real value, when it can collectively respond to a fundamental threat to the industry. The organization and the studios it represents hid instead. As my colleagues Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply wrote, “The incident is likely to be remembered as a failure of Hollywood leadership.”

對索尼的攻擊或許應當被視爲這個組織顯示其真正價值的時刻，它可以發表全體聲明，迴應對這個行業的基本威脅。然而這個組織，乃至它所代表的那些製片公司卻躲了起來。正如我的同事布魯克斯·巴尼斯(Brooks Barnes)和邁克爾·西普里(Michael Cieply)寫的：“這件事很可能被視爲好萊塢領袖地位的失敗。”

On Friday, George Clooney was even less polite about the widespread cowardice, telling Deadline Hollywood that when he circulated a petition of solidarity, he heard nothing but crickets in response. “As we watched one group be completely vilified, nobody stood up,” he said. When the novel “The Satanic Verses” was under attack, the book industry formed a united front. Exactly the opposite happened here.

星期五，喬治·克魯尼(George Clooney)對普遍的懦弱顯得更不客氣，他對“好萊塢截稿日”說，自己在散佈一封請願書，要求大家團結起來，卻沒有得到任何迴音。“當我們看着一個團體遭到徹底中傷，卻沒有人站出來，”他說。當小說《撒旦詩篇》(The Satanic Verses)遭到攻擊時，圖書行業組成了統一戰線。電影業發生的事卻正相反。

The News Media After the hackers absconded with personal and corporate information from Sony, they put the data on a site called Pastebin. Trade publications and some mainstream news outlets took the bait and spent a great deal of time rummaging through the stolen goods, and highlighting juicy emails meant to cause maximum embarrassment. What public purpose was served by printing private correspondence? We discovered that studio executives are capable of being callous, and that producers can be churlish when they don’t get what they want. As Aaron Sorkin pointed out, that’s not exactly new or important information.

新聞媒體：黑客竊取索尼公司的個人和公司信息後，把數據放在一個名叫“粘貼桶”(Pastebin)的網站上。業內出版物和許多主流新聞出版物上了鉤，花費大量時間去翻查這些偷竊而來的贓物，用大標題報道這些意在儘可能造成尷尬的八卦郵件。刊登這些私人通信對公衆有任何意義嗎？我們只是發現，一旦達不到目的，製片公司的高管們可以非常鐵石心腸，製片人可以變得脾氣暴躁。正如亞倫·索金(Aaron Sorkin)指出的，這並不是什麼新鮮或是重要的信息。

The data dump did reveal an industrywide effort to join forces against Google, but most of what was disclosed was intended to elicit clicks and smirks and the hackers knew enough to harness the base, competitive impulses of the press. News organizations mostly refrained from publishing material like passports and medical records, but in general, the news media served as last-mile delivery agents on information that was used to threaten Sony, the industry, and finally, the American public. The larger story about an unprecedented political attack on free speech took a back seat to titillating peeks at industry backbiting.

這些泄露出來的數據的確表明了，整個業界正在聯合起來努力向谷歌施加壓力，但最主要的內容還是那些會引發竊笑和私語的東西，黑客們知道這一定會刺激媒體最基本的競爭衝動。新聞機構強忍住沒有公開那些護照和醫療紀錄之類的內容，但總的來說，在信息方面，新聞媒體還是成了威脅索尼、整個行業，乃至美國公衆的最後一份力量。在宏觀範圍內，媒體不是去關注對言論自由前所未有的政治攻擊，而是去偷窺業界的互相誹謗中傷。

The list goes on, including politicians who engaged in bombastic, warlike rhetoric, but let’s just say the last few weeks in the American political and cultural narrative have been miserable. The merits of “The Interview” can be debated, but fundamental business imperatives and civic freedoms are clearly in play.

這份名單還可以繼續列下去，包括那些熱衷發表空洞、好戰言論的政治家們，但讓我們只說過去的幾個星期裏，美國的政治與文化敘事都太糟糕了。《採訪》的價值有待商榷，但最基本的商業規則和公民自由顯然還是要尊重的。

So what is the right response? Americans are good at sitting on a couch and watching all kinds of stuff, so why not harness that impulse? David Boies, a lawyer for Sony, told “Meet the Press” on Sunday that the film would eventually be distributed. “How it’s going to be distributed, I don’t think anybody knows quite yet, but it’s going to be distributed.”

那麼正確的迴應應當是什麼樣的呢？美國人擅長於坐在沙發裏看着各種各樣的東西，所以爲什麼不利用這種力量呢？索尼公司的律師大衛·博伊斯(David Boies)在星期日接受“與媒體會面”採訪時說，這部電影最終還是會發行的。“它將以怎樣的方式發行，目前還沒有人完全清楚，但最終它會發行的。”

The president — yes, it’s that important — should convene all the players who make billions from the free and unfettered display of content and broker a deal that gives Americans the opportunity to watch the film. Put “The Interview” on Hulu, on iTunes, on Google Play, on Netflix, on NBC and all the broadcast networks, on Showtime and all the cable stations, put it anywhere and everywhere that people can push a button and watch at the same time. Ubiquity and the lack of a discernible target would trump censorship.

在美國，影視內容可以自由而不限制地播放，許多人因這一點而獲益，賺取了數以十億計的金錢，總統——是的，這很重要——應當把他們都召集起來，還應當以中間人身份制定協議，讓美國人有機會看到這部電影。要把《採訪》放到Hulu、iTunes、Google Play和Netflix、放到NBC或者其他公共臺網絡，放到映時和所有有線網絡，把它放到任何人們可以按一個按鈕就能同時觀看的地方。讓它到處都是，讓目標無法識別，從而打敗審查。

The industry, old and new, digital and analog, should step across a line together, holding hands with consumers and letting the world know that we prize our goofy movies, along with the important ones, and the freedoms that they represent. If disparate competitors managed to set aside self-interest and acted for the common good, it could be the social viewing event of the century. I’d do anything to do my bit for artistic freedom, including watching a buddy-movie comedy that stars Mr. Rogen and James Franco.

這個行業裏，不管是舊勢力還是新勢力，不管是數碼還是模擬，都應該站在同一陣線，與消費者們攜起手來，讓整個世界知道，我們既爲我們那些重要的電影而自豪，也爲這些傻里傻氣的電影感到驕傲，還有它們所象徵的自由精神。如果各路競爭者們爲了自私的目的，想要打着共同利益的旗號袖手旁觀，這將會成爲整個世紀的重大社會旁觀事件。我願爲藝術自由去做任何事，哪怕是去看一部羅根和詹姆斯·弗蘭科(James Franco)主演的兄弟情喜劇電影。

Play the movie.

快放這部片子吧。