Sony Pictures calls on media to stop publishing its "stolen information"

Sony Pictures Entertainment has warned the media not to publish the details of anything that was stolen in last month's hack by a group calling itself Guardians of Peace (GOP).

David Boies, Sony's attorney, sent out a three page letter referencing "stolen information" to various news publications on Sunday.

The Wall Street Journal reports it received the communication along with Bloomberg News, the New York Times and other media outlets.

The letter - seen here addressed to The Hollywood Reporter - also demands that the publications destroy any Sony data already within their possession:

SPE does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading, or making any use of the Stolen Information, and to request your cooperation in destroying the Stolen Information.

Boies asks recipients of the letter to notify his law firm as soon as they realise they are in possession of any information that came from the Sony hack and to pass the message onto anyone with whom they may have shared it with.

Failure to comply, the letter says, will leave Sony Pictures Entertainment with "no choice but to hold you responsible for any damage or loss arising from such use or dissemination by you, including any damages or loss to SPE or others."

After a series of disclosures by the hackers, over the weekend it was also announced that an early version of the screenplay for upcoming James Bond film SPECTRE had been stolen by the hackers who subsequently posted it online.

EON Productions, the producers of the James Bond franchise, said it is "concerned that third parties who have received the stolen screenplay may seek to publish it or its contents," and referenced the legal protections afforded to it under copyright law in the UK and other nations.

And, in a weird twist to the story, re/code reports that Sony employees have been offered the chance to keep their hacked emails out of the limelight.

In broken English, the offer was made via Pastebin and Friendpaste:

Message to SPE Staffers. We have a plan to release emails and privacy of the Sony Pictures employees. If you don't want your privacy to be released, tell us your name and business title to take off your data.

It’s impossible to tell whether the communication really came from the hackers, and even less apparent whether the offer is genuine. But whoever was behind the message referenced another upcoming "Christmas gift" leak which will contain "larger quantities of data. And it will be more interesting."