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Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

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Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#101

Post by Natsu »

jimmydoe wrote: post #2

this is fun. it seems most of these crosswalks can be configured via app from https://polara.com/ . So either the authentication was leaked or got physically flashed/hacked?

Someone is either guessing the passwords, which may well be the same all over the city given the number of these devices out there, or cities could just be using the default password of 1234. Yes, really:

https://www.polara.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Polara-iN2...

> PASSWORD ISSUES: The iCCU can be connected to thru Wi-Fi. The buttons can be connected to thru Bluetooth. A. Once Wi-Fi is turned on at the iCCU, the Wi-Fi password is DEFAULT1 (ALL CAPS). B. Following power up, each button will say “change password” every 30 seconds, until the default password is changed. There is one shared password for logging into an iCCU and all PBS connected to it. The factory default password is 1234. Using a Field Service app, use 1234 to log into the iCCU or any PBS the first time, and change the password. This changes the password for all PBS and the iCCU. See Section 5.2 in the Manual for details. C. If the password is unknown, a Password Reset requires a call to Polara Tech Support.

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#102

Post by renewiltord »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #98
googlryas wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who explained why a thing was a certain way, but then the thing was not that actually way? Sorry, I have a pet peeve about poor reading comprehension.

They're annoyed at your "Have you considered that there's a reason?" for strongly implying there's an explanation for the incorrect fact. They dislike that whole type of statement. Their reading comprehension is fine and you're just nitpicking their wording. Also, saying "Have you considered that there's a reason?" is not at all the same as "asking why it does a thing". It's a strong statement on its own. If your ori…

Cheers, mate. Glad to know I’m not speaking Sumerian here. Right on the money.

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#103

Post by thomassmith65 »

vkou wrote: post #49
ryandrake wrote: post #4

Very nice. Totally harmless prank and it clowns on jerks who deserve a good clowning! Hope the pranksters continue and keep it lowkey so they don’t get caught.

The targets of this deserve every bit of shade that can be thrown at them, but unfortunately, this fucks with crosswalk accessibility for the visually impaired.

That's a fair point, but what is surprising is that - unlike 99% of exploits one has heard about, over the years - these hackers:

• had some civic-mindedness - enough to leave in the initial 'wait!' audio

• chose messages that, while falling short of comedy genius, are amusing and above the level of an adolescent

• didn't include any extremist nonsense

Grading on a curve, that's a lot to be thankful for.

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#104

Post by chairmansteve »

jen729w wrote: post #87
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The S in IoT stands for Security.

At work we used to say that “security puts the ‘no’ in ‘innovation’”. H/t Baggott if he’s reading. ;-)

It can be secure.....

Or it can work.

Not both

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#105

Post by borski »

googlryas wrote: post #93
borski wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think there is no overlap between those definitions of “hacker,” you do not understand them.

I don't, so I guess I'm good by that heuristic. Now, I'm curious why you responded to me, but you didn't bother responding to OP who seemed to think that the only definition of hacker was essentially "someone who illicitly breaks into other people's systems".

Because that is not what they said. Their comment was “Apparently hacking is something the denizens of Hacker News disapprove of these days?”

Hacking, by one common definition, generally refers to a clever, benign, and "ethical" prank or practical joke, often challenging to execute and amusing to the community. This was certainly true at MIT.

This fits all of those characteristics. That it happened to involve doing something illegal was not the point.

Putting something on the MIT dome is also illegal; if you get caught, you’ll get charged with trespassing. But trespassing was never the point.

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#106

Post by borski »

ai_slurp_bot wrote: post #94
borski wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, please don’t misunderstand me. My goal wasn’t to mischaracterize your viewpoint, but to point out what I thought was a bad argument. I do not need a PhD in Accessibility Studies to know that the same tones and messages were played as normal, plus the message from “Elon” or “Bill” Even the hearing aid connectivity was left intact; my dad has one. So no, I don’t have an intimate knowledge of the field. And I don’t…

Can you look in the mirror for a second? You accuse me of a bad argument, but then this entire post is you just asserting your viewpoint as true, with basically just a "cmon, obviously!".

That is not what I did. I provided multiple examples of how they left various accessibility features intact. In fact, I have not found one they hadn’t left intact.

Have you? If so, that would be a useful argument, and I would not respond in the same way.

Thus far, I have provided some semblance of evidence, and you have provided speculation, which is a bad argument.

I’m not saying I’m right. I might not be. I am saying your argument is not.

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#107

Post by robocat »

stevenAthompson wrote: post #83
garbagewoman wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different people have different responses to condescension, perhaps? You probably never even considered that. Consider it next time and be better. Hope that helps.

Fifty four percent of Americans read below the sixth grade level. All effective PSA's must primarily target people who don't understand the world around them, and likely never will. It's not condescending, because it's not targeted to you.

You are implying that people don't understand the world if their reading level is low?

Maybe your literacy level is high, but perhaps your level of understanding people could be higher.

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#108

Post by ashoeafoot »

XorNot wrote: post #67
idle_zealot wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, PSAs are dystopian, ads designed to get me to act against my best interests are the sign of a functioning non-dystopian society.

I really do not understand people complaining about PSAs. Like learn some emotional maturity? If you weren't going to do the thing they're asking you not to do, then the message wasn't directed at you and you can go about your day just fine.

PSAs earned their dystopianess in every Mao Village where some politic got to rile up the masses to kill the other.

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#109

Post by ashoeafoot »

DennisP wrote: post #50
vkou wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The targets of this deserve every bit of shade that can be thrown at them, but unfortunately, this fucks with crosswalk accessibility for the visually impaired.

Not by much though, since "wait" and the tones still play. I suspect most visually impaired people will enjoy this as much as the rest of us.

You can not override the sound feature for the blind

Re: Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuck voices

#110

Post by theshackleford »

garbagewoman wrote: post #73
XorNot wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really do not understand people complaining about PSAs. Like learn some emotional maturity? If you weren't going to do the thing they're asking you not to do, then the message wasn't directed at you and you can go about your day just fine.

Different people have different responses to condescension, perhaps? You probably never even considered that. Consider it next time and be better. Hope that helps.

People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. You probably never even considered that. Consider it next time and be better. Hope that helps.
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