Roger Yu

USA TODAY

Sony Pictures Entertainment, reeling from hacker attacks, told news organizations Sunday that they may be held liable for damages if they publish the contents of its hacked e-mails and files.

The warning, which was sent to publishers in a three-page letter from Sony's lawyer David Boies and published by tech news site Re/code, said leaked e-mails, documents and other files amount to "stolen information" and that Sony "does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading, or making any use of the Stolen Information."

"If you do not comply with this request, and the Stolen Information is used or disseminated by you in any manner, SPE will no choice but to hold you responsible for any damage or loss arising from such use," wrote Boies, the high-profile attorney who has represented Al Gore and financier Hank Greenberg.

In late November, Sony disclosed the hacking attack in its computer network that resulted in the public disclosure of embarrassing internal e-mails, sensitive financial information, staffer salaries and information about upcoming movies, as well as several movies being leaked to file-sharing sites. Some Sony staffers also received a new threatening e-mail earlier this month from the attackers.

A group calling itself the Guardians of Peace took responsibility for the attacks. The group has demanded that Sony halt the release of a movie called The Interview, a comedy, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, about a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

North Korea has denied any involvement in the hacking attacks.

In the letter, Sony also demanded that the news organizations in possession of hacked information notify its lawyers and destroy all copies.

Under Supreme Court precedent (Bartnicki v. Vopper), a media organization cannot be held liable for publishing information illegally obtained by a third party, especially when the information is a matter of public concern, says Kurt Opsahl, deputy general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet free speech advocacy group.

"It is unfortunate that Sony got hacked, and lost control over its internal information. But the solution is not to muzzle the press," he says.



In the Bartnicki case, a conversation between union officials about a strike was illegally intercepted and was played on the radio. The Supreme Court held that the radio station was not liable because it was not involved in the initial theft of the information.

"While a newspaper may choose not to publish some information based on the privacy interests and its own standards, it's hard to see how a paper may be required to destroy the information," he says.

Contributing: Elizabeth Weise