# So how do we payback North Korea for the Sony hacking? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 19, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663 "2014-12-19T14:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/61 "2014-12-22T02:01:22Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m not sure why there needs to be a US government response to the hacking of a private corporation, especially when that corporation was apparently negligent in its information security practices. Because of bomb threats to the general theater going public. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/62 "2014-12-22T02:06:18Z")
The bomb threats (and the hacking) should be treated as a crime and investigated by law enforcement authorities. But an official US government response? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/63 "2014-12-22T02:30:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The bomb threats (and the hacking) should be treated as a crime and investigated by law enforcement authorities. But an official US government response? I think so, a foreign country threatening to kill our citizens on our soil, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/64 "2014-12-22T02:35:04Z")
Send them James Franco and Seth Rogen. That’ll show 'em. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/65 "2014-12-22T03:20:08Z")
I almost did this in PM, to avoid hijacking the thread (as everyone else was ignoring it) but I’m going to trust you guys not to continue this after I say all this. She said it in public, it needs to be admonished in public. > [@monstro](#): > > I’ll come up with something once North Korea has harmed me and my life. How utterly selfish. It doesn’t affect you directly, so you don’t care. North Korean terrorists attacked a US company for saying something they didn’t like, attacking the American freedom of speech, and you think there should be no response, because your life wasn’t affected. Not only that, but you show contempt for other people for daring to have a thread on what type of response would be appropriate. My life was not harmed by 9/11. Does that mean I shouldn’t have wanted Bin Laden to be caught? I’ve reported you for threadshitting, as you clearly show contempt for the topic and the people talking about it, but even that’s not quite enough for how shitty this post was. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/66 "2014-12-22T04:14:08Z")
I like how Obama is referring to this as cybervandalism now, not as an act of war. Is that all one has to do, change the language? I know when Rwanda was going on nobody would call it genocide because if they did then the gov. was (I believe) legally obliged to do something. So just call it something else and boom the law doesn’t apply. Neato. As to what our response should be? I think dropping a few million leaflets over Pyongyang with money and DVDs about the outside world would be nice. That or destroying some of Kim and his’s inner circles luxury items. What will we actually do? No idea. Probably file a complaint with the UN. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/67 "2014-12-22T04:17:03Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I can’t even work out how North Korea survives given its exports are about $8 billion a year (I think). With its massive military how can it keep going - especially now Russia has its own financial problems. > > Maybe ask them to pay for the pizza in foreign currency? They engage in crime. Seriously. > **[Drug Dealing, Counterfeiting, Smuggling: How North Korea Makes Money](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/08/11/139556457/drug-dealing-counterfeiting-smuggling-how-north-korea-makes-money)** > > North Korea used to be an industrial powerhouse. Not anymore. Now the government exports drugs and counterfeit dollars. They manufacture and sell drugs They sell nuclear technology overseas They counterfeit $100 bills (US bills) and sell them in China They sell missiles overseas They engage in massive insurance fraud (they take out insurance from insurance companies based in London for buildings in North Korea, then say the buildings were destroyed and demand insurance payouts, then refuse to let insurance inspectors into the country) They sell pirated technology and counterfeits They lease slaves to other nations Basically crime is what keeps the system afloat. The money is used to bribe the inner circle, and the beat goes on. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/68 "2014-12-22T07:41:30Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > They engage in crime. Seriously. > > \< . . . \> > They engage in massive insurance fraud (they take out insurance from insurance companies based in London for buildings in North Korea, then say the buildings were destroyed and demand insurance payouts, then refuse to let insurance inspectors into the country) > > \< . . . \> How is this supposed to work? Wouldn’t the insurance companies just refuse to pay such claims? Especially if NK won’t let insurance inspectors in? Or even if they do? How’s NK supposed to enforce such a claim? What court, outside NK, would support that? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/69 "2014-12-22T12:58:50Z")
> **[Global Insurance Fraud By North Korea Outlined](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR2009061703852.html)** > > For Kim Jong Il's birthday, North Korean insurance managers prepared a special gift. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/70 "2014-12-22T15:22:22Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > And Sean Hannity getting butt fucked by a mule. 🙂 How about Obama getting lynched by a mob wearing Klan hoodies but with slanted eyeholes… that would be even more 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/71 "2014-12-22T21:29:21Z")
[North Korea’s internet is down.](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-22/north-korea-undergoing-internet-outage-network-researcher-says.html) ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/72 "2014-12-22T21:30:42Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [North Korea’s internet is down.](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-22/north-korea-undergoing-internet-outage-network-researcher-says.html) That sucks. How do we expect them to watch \*The Interview \*on Crackle then. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/73 "2014-12-22T21:51:26Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [North Korea’s internet is down.](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-22/north-korea-undergoing-internet-outage-network-researcher-says.html) [Coincidence](http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/12/22/china-arrests-thousands-in-porn-purge/?intcmp=features)? I wonder… Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/74 "2014-12-22T21:57:43Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m not sure why there needs to be a US government response to the hacking of a private corporation, especially when that corporation was apparently negligent in its information security practices. With that line of thought, there shouldn’t be a police response when your house gets broken into and vandalized, either. Especially if you were foolish enough to leave the door unlocked. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/75 "2014-12-22T23:30:17Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m not sure why there needs to be a US government response to the hacking of a private corporation, especially when that corporation was apparently negligent in its information security practices. Because the alternative is to let foreign governments bully us into self-censorship. It’s an attack on one of our basic principles, freedom of speech. If we allow things like this to go unchallenged then private corporations will stop producing anything that might upset some foreign government. From a bottom line viewpoint, it wouldn’t be worth the risk. Do you really want governments like NK, or maybe some fundamentalist theocracies, to set the bar for we can say and see? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/76 "2014-12-22T23:56:11Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > [North Korea’s internet is down.](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-22/north-korea-undergoing-internet-outage-network-researcher-says.html) But who will notice? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/77 "2014-12-23T00:16:23Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I wonder if our little corner of the internet is under Kimmy’s surveillance. If we don’t shape up and do as we’re told, do you think they would hack the SDMB? Just in case, I changed my password to “KimIsAWeenieHead.” ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/78 "2014-12-23T00:24:41Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Because the alternative is to let foreign governments bully us into self-censorship. > > It’s an attack on one of our basic principles, freedom of speech. If we allow things like this to go unchallenged then private corporations will stop producing anything that might upset some foreign government. From a bottom line viewpoint, it wouldn’t be worth the risk. > > Do you really want governments like NK, or maybe some fundamentalist theocracies, to set the bar for we can say and see? I guess the differences is that we just laugh while they demand apologies. [Remember That Time North Korea ‘Nuked’ America and No One Cared?](http://www.mediaite.com/online/remember-that-time-north-korea-nuked-america-and-no-one-cared/) [North Korea video shows US city in flames after missile attack](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/05/north-korea-video-us-city-flames) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/79 "2014-12-23T00:50:18Z")
On the other hand, who gives a damn? Nobody got killed. A big corporation **did** lose money, but **so what?** ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663/80 "2014-12-23T01:11:42Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Why do you think anybody needs to be “paid back”? In North Korea’s mind, what they did met somebody’s demand for payback. What is the purpose of perpetuating a continuing paradigm of payback? because hypothetical conversation? 'm pretty sure neither the US government nor the DOD take their ideas and strategies from the SDMB. Unless, I am unaware of something here. 'luci = Abbie Hoffman? Bricker is Scalia? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-we-payback-north-korea-for-the-sony-hacking/707663.md?page=5)