The Web Controlled Christmas Light Hoax
from the amusing... dept
A few weeks ago, when we had our story about Christmas lights causing problems with broadband connections, apparently Alek Komarnitsky stopped by here at Techdirt to tell everyone in the comments that he had set up his 17,000 Christmas lights so they could be turned on and off via the web. I had forgotten about this until earlier this morning when a friend instant messaged me to tell me he's become addicted to the site and had been turning the lights on and off regularly. Well, it turns out my friend was taken in by a practical joke. The lights were real but the web-cam and web-based control were a hoax that's now getting a bit of press attention. What's interesting, though, is that from the details it sounds like the hoax was more technically complicated than actually setting up a system to really do what he claimed it would do. Still, it's somewhat amazing that no one figured it out until now.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Disaster Hoaxes
I wonder how many hoaxes and scams are happening in that part of the world as we speak? It is a poorer part of the world, after all, which means that people will stoop lower to make a buck.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
I've always had the same reaction to those old e-mail hoaxes that used to litter our inboxes. I never understood the motivation behind them. Spreading false information for the sake of simply spreading false information serves no one, and in fact can cause harm.
This Christmas lights guy didn't hurt anybody, unless you count wasting hours of others' time as harm. But his ploy certainly qualifies him as an ass of the lowest degree. (Not to mention ... a liar.) There's nothing amusing about making the world spin a little less efficiently.
What a jerk.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wasted time
were actually controlled by a web page?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Christmas lights hoax
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Christmas lights hoax
[ link to this | view in chronology ]