Terrorists and crosswalks

[unixronin]

So it seems Cross Anytime just released their list of almost 4,000 accumulated crosswalk-control hacks, including their most popular, a 3-2-1-2-3 sequence to get an instant "Walk" light.

The absurd part?  The FBI has shut down their site, http://www.crosswalkbuttonhacks.com/, citing DMCA violations and (I swear I'm not making this up) fears that "terrorists might use the hacks to cross the streets of America at will."

I honestly don't know whether to laugh or weep.

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Update:  As believable of our bumbling government as this might be, accumulating evidence seems to indicate it's probably a hoax.  I didn't spend sufficient time to check it out, clearly.

Comments

[jilara.livejournal.com]

They'll be crossing at will after having found those streets in their almanacs.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I do believe it were a ho-ax. It's crossposted to a dozen different satire sites, and has no history in the Wayback Machine. Either somebody has a potload of clout and got the Wayback Machine folks to orwell the thing, or it never existed in the first place. Google cache doesn't have anything either.

Just my two bits'...

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

Jinx!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

You know, the sad part about it is it's totally believeable.

*sigh*

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

It's true. I was completely prepared to believe it.

Um, er...

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I think you have been trolled.

Called "the world's greatest tech humour site" by The Register, BBspot creates entertainment for the geekier side of the world. BBspot produces a variety of features like fake news stories satirizing the tech and political worlds, the BBspot Mailbag which pokes fun at the Believers (people who believe our fake news) and much more. BBspot was started by Brian Briggs in April of 2000 as a hobby to bring some fun to the web, but grew to the point where Brian "quit his day job" and made the site his full-time occupation in January of 2003. (http://www.bbspot.com/Legal/about.html) [emphasis added]

But I could be wrong.

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

Isn't BBspot all satire all the time?

The internet archive shows no previous record for that website:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/%20www.crosswalkbuttonhacks.com

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Not all satire all the time, no.

But in this case, it does seem likely ...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

(Though I note it was posted in a number of other places too.)

[jmkelly.livejournal.com]

I believed it for a while, too. I think the real tipoff was that business about their being "used by politicians and city officials to get an edge in crossing the street." Boys and girls, think of the mayor of your town. Think of the city councilmembers. Think of every bureaucrat and politician you've ever heard on the radio or TV. Do you think they'd have the brains to remember something like "three long (where long=1.5 seconds for some signals, 1.7 for others), 2 short, 1 long, 2 short, 3 long" for more than five seconds? Do you think they'd have the patience to actually do it, when they could just whip out their cell phone and bitch out the city traffic engineer?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think I missed that line. If I'd seen it, I'm sure I'd have smelled a rat for exactly that reason.