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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the hacked files are a matter of public interest. Photo: Reuters

WikiLeaks draws fire for creating online database for Sony files hacked 'by North Korea'

WikiLeaks

Whistleblower site WikiLeaks put hundreds of thousands of emails and documents from last year’s crippling cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment into a searchable online archive.

It is the latest blow for the entertainment and technology company struggling to get past the attack, which the company estimates caused millions in damage.

The website founded by Julian Assange said that its database includes more than 170,000 emails from Sony Pictures Entertainment and a subsidiary, plus more than 30,000 other documents.

“This archive shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation,” Assange said. “It is newsworthy and at the centre of a geo-political conflict. It belongs in the public domain. WikiLeaks will ensure it stays there.”

Sony Pictures blasted WikiLeaks for creating the archive, saying the website was helping the hackers disseminate stolen information.

“We vehemently disagree with WikiLeaks’ assertion that this material belongs in the public domain,” the company said in a statement.

Sony’s troubles began last December after it suffered an extensive hacking attack and release of confidential emails ahead of its release of , a comedy that centres on the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

A group calling itself Guardians of the Peace took credit for the attack, and US intelligence officials said the group was linked to North Korea, but no official link has been made.

The attack exposed tens of thousands of sensitive documents, including emails, a script for the next James Bond movie, unreleased versions of several other movies and other confidential documents.

In a statement, Assange said the documents should be available to the public. Although they were available online it was in a compressed format that was not easily searchable.

The dispute comes as Swedish prosecutors stepped up their push to question Assange in Britain over sex allegations that have forced the WikiLeaks founder to seek refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

Assange agreed to be questioned, this time making no specific demands. In March, Assange said he would only allow himself to be questioned by prosecutors if he could see the evidence.

Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Thomas Olsson, said yesterday: “We sent a confirmation earlier today to the prosecutors that Julian Assange agrees to be questioned in London.”

Swedish prosecutors offered in March to question Assange in London, dropping their previous demand that he come to Sweden to answer to the 2010 allegations, making a significant U-turn in the case that has been deadlocked for nearly five years.

Prosecutors said they had changed their stance because some of the alleged offences would reach their statute of limitations in August.

Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Assange in 2010 following allegations from two women in Sweden, one who claimed rape and another who alleged sexual assault.

The Australian former hacker, who has always vehemently denied the allegations and insisted the sexual encounters were consensual, has been ensconced in Ecuador’s embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden.

Assange has refused to travel to Sweden because he fears the country would send him to the United States, where an investigation is ongoing into WikiLeaks’ release in 2010 of 500,000 classified military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and 250,000 diplomatic cables which embarrassed Washington.

He has long offered to be interviewed by prosecutors at the embassy or by video link.

Olsson said he had no information about when the questioning in London might take place.

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