On Friday, someone hacked into NBC News' Twitter account and started reporting that someone had crashed a plane into the 9/11 World Trade Center Ground Zero site. I don't follow NBC News, but I could only imagine my surprise if I was going through my timeline and read THAT. From what I understand, it's not that hard to break into someone's account on Twitter, which could have dangerous repercussions of sending out misinformation from a trusted news source. This act is pretty stupid, and it is only done to draw attention to yourself. Good job you jagoff, you caused someone's heart to skip a beat.
The people who claimed responsibility are a group called "the Script Kiddies" which is apparently slang for armature low-level, wannabe hackers. Cool name, bro. Anyway, they sent out tweets just before 6 P.M. saying "Breaking News! Ground Zero has just been attacked. Flight 5736 has crashed into the site, suspected hijacking. More as the story develops." After a few more tweets, including one that said "this is not a joke" (which never fails to convince someone to believe something that is unbelievable), they then said that they are the Script Kiddies and they had hacked NBC News' Twitter, and then presumably lol'd all the way to Taco Bell for some more Crunch Wrap Supremes. I imagine that the persons responsible will get caught and punished harshly, as this is a very sensitive time for such hijinks. I don't condone nor support the act, as there was no real harm done here, expect to nearly give a few folks a near heart attack. But also, it's not cool to make light of terrorist attacks, at least not outside of the comfort of your circle of friends. If then, tasteless jokes are hilarious. But on the eve of the weekend of the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it's just in poor taste. But flipping back to why I can't totally condemn the act is the fact that Twitter needs to shore up these accounts that are followed by millions of people, because like it or not, Twitter is a very viable form of news and information. We can't have any old schmuck hacking into these major news networks and spouting off whatever they please just to get a rise out of people. It's fun to them, and afterwards, It's fun to me, too. But if this is to be avoided, Twitter needs to make it harder, nay, impossible for this to happen again.
The people who claimed responsibility are a group called "the Script Kiddies" which is apparently slang for armature low-level, wannabe hackers. Cool name, bro. Anyway, they sent out tweets just before 6 P.M. saying "Breaking News! Ground Zero has just been attacked. Flight 5736 has crashed into the site, suspected hijacking. More as the story develops." After a few more tweets, including one that said "this is not a joke" (which never fails to convince someone to believe something that is unbelievable), they then said that they are the Script Kiddies and they had hacked NBC News' Twitter, and then presumably lol'd all the way to Taco Bell for some more Crunch Wrap Supremes. I imagine that the persons responsible will get caught and punished harshly, as this is a very sensitive time for such hijinks. I don't condone nor support the act, as there was no real harm done here, expect to nearly give a few folks a near heart attack. But also, it's not cool to make light of terrorist attacks, at least not outside of the comfort of your circle of friends. If then, tasteless jokes are hilarious. But on the eve of the weekend of the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it's just in poor taste. But flipping back to why I can't totally condemn the act is the fact that Twitter needs to shore up these accounts that are followed by millions of people, because like it or not, Twitter is a very viable form of news and information. We can't have any old schmuck hacking into these major news networks and spouting off whatever they please just to get a rise out of people. It's fun to them, and afterwards, It's fun to me, too. But if this is to be avoided, Twitter needs to make it harder, nay, impossible for this to happen again.
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