Radiohead hack aids action on climate change

Climate change action group, Extinction Rebellion, has thanked English rock band Radiohead for donating the proceeds of music the band was forced to release after a hack.  

Hackers tried to swindle the band out $150,000, threatening to release 18 hours of archived music, stolen from lead singer Thom Yorke’s minidisk, if they didn’t pay up.

But the band refused, releasing the recordings from the 1997 album OK Computer on Tuesday and announcing they would donate any money made from the release to Extinction Rebellion.

https://t.co/iTcF2VjYRdhttps://t.co/6Pao0hThbU pic.twitter.com/OepiMlEL73

— Jonny Greenwood (@JnnyG) June 11, 2019

“Instead of complaining – much – or ignoring it, we’re releasing all 18 hours of it in aid of Extinction Rebellion,” the band’s guitarist, Jonny Green, said on Twitter.

“So for £18 you can find out if we should have paid that ransom.”

The recordings will be available for 18 days.

Extinction Rebellion thanked the band, saying the climate and ecological emergency demanded courage, truth-telling and generosity, and Radiohead had shown everyone how that was done.     

“From the bottom of our hearts and on behalf of the Extinction Rebellion movement… we thank Radiohead for supporting us so that we can continue to build our already far-reaching and powerful movement of non-violent civil disobedience,” the group said.

The Rebellion is a movement protesting inaction on climate change, that has spread to 59 countries, with 348 groups across 248 cities and towns.

In April, protesters in London brought central parts of the city to a standstill for 10 days, and over 1,000 campaigners were arrested after gluing themselves to light rail trains and parking a boat in the middle of Oxford Circus.