Aaron Sorkin condemns press for "morally treasonous" response to Sony cyber-attack

The self-styled “Guardians of Peace” launched their cyber-attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment three weeks ago, releasing tens of thousands of internal documents and emails, including Sorkin’s private correspondence.

Sorkin initially aired his views in an article published in Sunday’s New York Times, in which he wrote “As demented and criminal as it is, at least the hackers are doing it for a cause. The press is doing it for a nickel.”

He told the Today show: “I get that it’s fun, I get that it’s delicious – but are we honestly saying there’s no such thing as privacy anymore?”

The screenwriter – who wrote The West Wing and The Social Network – praised the press’s handling of last summer’s leaked celebrity nude photographs, but suggested the latest cyber-attack is “worse by magnitudes”. He claimed that this time around “the press is selling it out the back of a truck.”

Sorkin also underlined the physical threat that the hackers pose, warning they're “threatening the lives of children.”

The attack is believed to have been prompted by Seth Rogan and James Franco’s comedy about the assassination of North Korea’s head of state Kim Jong-Un, although a direct link between the Guardians of Peace and North Korea is yet to be confirmed.

The Guardians of Peace issued a warning on Tuesday that anyone who watches the film risks “a bitter fate” in line with that of 9/11, and anyone living near a cinema showing the film “better leave”. Yesterday Sony cancelled the New York premiere of The Interview.