Posted on
January 29, 2009 in
(Can you see the above video? Please let me know in comments.)
Austin officials aren’t taking the spoof lightly, noting it is a criminal act.
“The sign’s content was humorous, but the act of changing it wasn’t,” Hartley said.
Austin police are investigating the situation, and the vandals could face a Class C misdemeanor charge of tampering with a road sign, Hartley said.
A Class C misdemeanor has a maximum $500 fine. Even if the hackers get caught, charged, convicted, and maxed out on punishment it’ll be money well spent.
Lightin’ up APD!
I could see it fine, Mark. Can’t figure the symbolism though. Is this a specific sign statute that controls of general computer invasion statutes?
Mark wrote: “Even if the hackers get caught, charged, convicted, and maxed out on punishment it’ll be money well spent.”
Couldn’t agree more. I actually think there should be some First Amendment protections for this. It’s art, in a way. Maybe even political commentary. (Okay, that may be stretching it a bit.)
This is a classic hack. Whoever did this had some fun and revealed a weakness in the system without doing any serious damage. I’m not saying the hackers were doing a public service, but the authorities would do well to consider this a lesson learned and be thankful the message wasn’t something really bad, e.g. “Death To America. We Have Sarin Gas. Turn Around or Die.”
[…] I predict more and more zombies to be showing up all across the country and the biggest most dangerous ones, of course, will appear on wall street and in Washington D.C. More info on the actual event here. […]
Well, the zombies with no sense of humor have certainly revealed themselves. Let me know when I lose my sense of humor and I will go bury myself, ok?
Nazi zombies, sounds like the end game special in the new call of duty: World at War game. I got a kick out of this.
It might be breach of computer security, though I don’t know that many details about such signs. Still a funny joke. The first time. The raptor bit was played out before the asshats even attempted it.