electrical system of the united states, on airport computers of the united states. we re getting into the arena of major attacks. right now, it has to do a great deal with private industry. but the cost for private industry is now in the trillions of dollars. and it has to be stopped. so the question comes, how do you stop it? one step is allow companies to share information, both with each other and through what we call a portal with the federal government and get responses, where necessary, from technicians in the federal government and be protected for liability for so doing. that s part of our information sharing bill that we passed out of the intelligence committee that has been awaiting floor action. and we hope this next year, we will get it to the floor and get it passed. let me ask you about the events of the last week when it comes to sony pictures. do you think the decision by the
this is chilling. today it s just movies. tomorrow, it could be much, much more. and president obama s comments on that subject were very on point. he said, what if they don t like a documentary or a media report? every one of us is in a creative media industry. and we re producing content that are ultimately going to offend certain people around the world. now we have an example of that media being silenced because a particular person doesn t like it. thank you so much, matt. hope you have a good holiday season. no problem. president obama now headed for hawaii, the hard part of his day finally finished. now we ll analyze his words after his news conference a few hours ago. the politics beyond the podium, plus the legacy he is trying to leave behind. that s coming up next.
backed them into this decision. but that s the way the talent is perceiving this. that a studio is now not releasing a film because a country doesn t like it. and the effects on that, on future movies, on future subjects of media, i think are only beginning. and we re already seeing that paramount pulling a screening of a steve carell film set in north korea, was supposed to start shooting in march. that s been scrapped. i would be afraid if i depended on creative expression and the freedom of speech to do my craft. i think if you re a screenwriter and you have a script that is set in north korea, you might as well throw it in the trash right now because it s not going to get made. every studio is going to re-evaluate the political sensitivities of every movie they put in production. i think that ultimately is going to have a negative impact on the output of the industry. and we in journalism rely on the same freedom of the press, freedom of speech.
house. clooney is not as alone as some might think. celebrities have been taking to twitter blasting sony s decision. i want to get your reaction to what comedian chris rock had to say. take a listen. this whole thing is just scary, man. somebody e-mails, it s your private stuff the whole town is scared. everybody s got to be scared. away from twitter, is that how people in hollywood feel? i think so. i think there are two things going on here. there is a fear of the personal stuff, of people s personal e-mails and exchanges being exposed and kind of the cyber attack on the industry. and then i think there s a larger fear. there s the chilling effect that might go on here. you have essentially a studio saying, we re not going to release a film that offends a country. and we know that it was the theater owners that sort of