The whistle-blowing portal has republished the sensitive information of Sony Pictures from last 2014 hacking scandal. This made all the documents and emails fully searchable through the search engines, which in its turn, provides easier access to the leaked data. For instance, if you search for the controversial comments from the former Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal, you will get about 5,700 results.

Julian Assange explained that the revealed information shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation, which is at the center of a geopolitical conflict and therefore should belong to the public. However, Sony Pictures accused WikiLeaks of contributing to the damage done by the data leak.

Sony was supported by former senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the MPAA, who also criticized the republication of the leaked data. He also pointed out that WikiLeaks instead violates the privacy of every person involved in the leak. In response, WikiLeaks claimed the leaked files shed light on cooperation between government agencies and entertainment industry.

First, the stolen Sony data were just hard-drive images converted into common compressed file formats. This means that anyone could download it from file-sharing networks, including BitTorrent, but then they had to wade through spreadsheet-like directory trees or run memory-taxing searches. It should be noted that the files also included video ranging from movies to high-resolution promotional spots.

WikiLeaks republication removes the processing burden from users’ computers and makes it easier to look through the data. Some of the data may have never been publicized before due to the difficulty of searching through the original leaks.