UNITED STATES—Why do people leak information? People leak information for various reasons….some are politically motivated. While some are considered good leaks, some are bad leaks. A good leak is the disclosure of information that expands public understanding of an issue of public interest- without harming anyone.
A good leak illuminates an understanding of an important issue even if it harms someone, as long its for public interest. A bad leak is one that does harm and does not aid public understanding of an important issue. It can also harm as it tries to inform the pubic regarding an important issue. It can violate an important commitment or trust. Then there is the leak about public or private matters. Information about private finances, sexual orientation, about personal phone calls, songs and books.
The latest leak is the copy of E.L. James latest “Fifty Shades” novel which was stolen ahead of its publication. Kent Police has launched an investigation after Random House discovered a copy of Grey’s novel had gone missing on June 8. The book re-enacts the first installment of the hit trilogy from billionaire Christian Grey’s point of view, which is due to be released next week, according to published reports. It is feared that the thieves may leak the novel, or sell extracts to the media. “The Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy has sold more than 125 million copies worldwide since the first book’s release in 2011. Grey will be published on June 18- Christian Grey’s birthday.
Some of the high profile leaks, include “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” A week before the final Harry Potter novel was due to be published in 2007, all 759 pages were leaked online. Images of all the pages appeared on a number of websites, US publisher Scholastic also sued two companies for dispatching copies of the book four days early, with some ending up on eBay. The film version of the book also was leaked with a 36-minute clip illegally posted on file-sharing websites before its film release.
Another leak was “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” when an almost finished copy of the movie was uploaded to several file sharing websites a month before its cinema release in 2009. While the copy was high quality, some special effects were incomplete and green screens and wires attached to actors were still visible. Hugh Jackman, was heartbroken over the leak, which the FBI was called in to investigate.
Then there was the James Bond “Spectre” script, which was stolen by hackers as part of the cyber attack on Sony Pictures last November. Copious notes from executives about improving the film’s ending, as well as the script were hacked.
“Homeland,” the first episode of the third series of the hit US anti-terror show was leaked almost a month before it was due to be broadcast in 2013. The leaked episode was unfinished and was missing visual effects and the opening credits. According to Torrentfreak.com, more than 100,000 users pirated the episode within hours of it being uploaded.
Two months ago, a day before the premiere of the much-anticipated fifth season of “Game of Thrones,” the first four episodes were leaked online. The four episodes appeared to have emerged from review DVDs sent to the press and had their digital watermarks blurred out. The episodes were downloaded more than 100,000 times during the first three hours online.
HBO said, it would be switching to a secure streaming media site and would no longer send critics hard copies of the shows to prevent further piracy.
Rose’s Scoop: So who are the top five highest paid athletes in the world? Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr, is worth $300 million. He made over $200 million from his historic fight against Manny Pacquiao, who actually comes in second place, at a worth of $160 million. Third is Portuguese superstar soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo worth $79.6 million. Fourth is Lionel Messi worth $73.8 million. Coming in fifth place is Tennis player Roger Federer at $67 million.
