WEBVTT - The Max Headroom Incident 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:12.719 Get in touch with technology with tex Stuff from com Sis. Everyone. 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.000 Welcome to tech Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland, and today in 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:20.880 the studio, I am joined by a special guest host, 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.480 Chuck Bryant Chuff. Welcome to Text Stuff, Jonathan. Hi, Chuck Strickland. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.440 That's weird calling you Jonathan. Yeah, that's fine, call me Strickland. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.599 Josh called me strict, so you might as well keep 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.120 it going. Um now. I Chuck, of course, is one 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.680 of the hosts of Stuff you should know, and Josh 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:41.839 is the other host. We had him on earlier with 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:46.680 the Humanoid Robot episode. It went well, it went well great. 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.160 You know, Josh had to sit there and and wait 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.360 until I'd let him talk, and I would let him 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.480 and then he would he would talk. It was great. 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:59.200 I think I may fall into this role a little easier. Well. 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:01.760 The nice thing is that, you know, I like to 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:06.200 let my guests kind of pick a topic if they 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.480 if they prefer I mean, if they don't, if they 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.760 want me to pick one, I'm happy to. But I 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.640 gave you that that option, and you came back with 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:18.319 one of my favorite stories period, not just in tech 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:21.280 just it's just one of those cool weird things that 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.880 have happened, and I do not want to steal thunder. 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.960 All I wanna ask you is, Chuck, if you were 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:36.280 in Chicago on November twenty and you were watching h 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.039 w g N at nine pm because you you want 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.360 to check out the news and it's coming up on 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.160 the sports, which I know you're a fan of the sports, 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.000 what happened? Well, I that could have happened because I 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.160 would have been sixteen at the time. Yeah, you and 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.200 I are in this age wheelhouse. Yeah, we we actually 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.400 were alive at this time, and we were we would 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.920 have been aware of at least the entity that appeared 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:07.360 instead of the sports scores um. But yeah, something weird 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:12.200 happened at that moment. There was an interruption in normal service. Yeah, 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.880 what they call a broadcast intrusion, and U like all 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:20.120 classic broadcast intrusions, it started with a little grainy, you know, 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.040 static going on, and they're always a little unsettling when 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.359 you watch them, even if they're goofy. Yeah, this is 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.560 something kind of creepy about it. You know, it's out 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:30.880 of place. And as soon as something that, especially when 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.680 it's something as ritualistic as the news, you know that 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.680 follows a very specific pattern, and when something goes outside 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.720 that pattern, you know, that upsets our little world balance 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:46.120 for a moment. So in this case, the there was, 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.640 like you said, there was this this disturbance in the force, 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:56.200 and a new picture popped up and replaced the sportscaster 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:00.000 and it was a guy in a disturbing rubber mass 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:04.200 uh huh. And that mask was of a specific eighties icon, 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.359 which I think a lot of people don't even know 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:11.799 who this is anymore, but Max Headroom. Yeah, if if 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:14.280 you're a child of the eighties, Max Max Hedroom loomed 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.280 large for a while. And I know when this intrusion 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:22.240 came out, this broadcast intrusion, it seemed like about half 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.640 the people even knew who he was trying to imitate, 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.360 and then the other half just had no idea. They 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.200 thought it was just some weirdo with the mask. Yeah. Well, 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:35.120 and part of that was because, uh, the quality of 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:39.240 the video was not exactly super high quality. But on 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.080 top of that, yeah, it's kind of a niche thing, 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.640 and he was Max Hedroom was used as sort of 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:48.360 a spokes thing, I guess, a spokesman for a new coke. 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:52.600 Sure that that great move by the Coca Cola company. Yeah, 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:58.120 oh man, I remember that well, remember it with Paine? Yeah, yeah, 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:02.080 so living living in a land, the whole Coca Cola 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.400 New Coke thing was. It definitely strikes close to home. 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.960 So yeah, he um. He was a spokesman for that 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.240 as well as a kind of a fantasy character who 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.480 appeared on lots of other stuff. But generally speaking, if 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.839 you don't know who Max Headroom is, first, just go 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.160 ahead and do an image search because it'll pop right up. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.280 But it's a a character that was supposed to look 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.440 like a digital character, right, It was supposed to like 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.240 a computer generated image, and it was kind of a 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:34.800 guy with a long face and weird, kind of ridged hair. 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:39.840 He had always had a dynamic c g I background 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:41.760 behind him that looked like kind of just like Neon 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.400 stripes that were constantly twisting and turning in different ways. 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.960 And he would stutter, yeah, that digital stutter occasionally and 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:54.599 uh would be very kind of snarky and sarcastic, and 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.919 ultimately got a television series as well as you know 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:00.599 two a couple of different televis and series, one of 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:02.120 them which was like a talk show, and one of 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:06.480 which was more of a like an actual fictional story, 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.400 like with an arc. Yeah, that one was pretty good. Actually, 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.720 the original British show, even though it was a lot 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.960 of American actors, was was pretty cool and definitely ahead 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.599 of its time as far as you know. The whole 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.159 idea was that this uh roving reporter was I think 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.600 Matt Frewer played him as a real dude and his 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.960 Max Headroom, but he was digitally replaced with this character 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.440 Max Headroom, and at the time it just seemed really odd. 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:33.160 But now when you look back at it and watch it, 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.200 it's like, man, this show was kind of ahead of this. Yeah, 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:39.159 it was really prescient. Yeah it was. It also revealed 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.800 where the name came from. Where Matt Frewer's character, as 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.679 I recall, is waylaid and the last thing he sees 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.680 before he loses consciousness is a sign on a on 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.880 a a wall that's tells what the Max Headroom for. 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.919 That wall's pretty clad became the character's name. Uh yeah. 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.960 So the person who appeared on this video was wearing 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.960 a Max Headroom mask and had this corrugated metal background 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:09.160 sort of emulated the digital look. Wore the suit at 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:11.200 that Max headroom, more like just a dark suit and 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.799 tie and um, yeah, this thing was the metal background. 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.000 It looked like a like a garage door. It was 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.120 just sort of spinning in the background. Yeah, it was. 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:23.120 It was on some sort of gimbal or something. That's 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.640 what I figured. Yeah, because you can tell it's swinging 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.919 back and forth, so predictably. It can't be held by somebody. 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.719 You had to be on some sort of pivot or something, 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:34.720 and but it's moving backward and forward, so it kind 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:39.040 of mimics that that digital line twisting in the background. 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.520 And except for one part, there's a part where there's 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:46.640 a clear cut in the video. The video itself was 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.320 about or at least what we've seen is about a 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.719 minute and twenty two seconds. Yeah. Well, actually, I don't 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.640 think we differentiated. There were two videos, two intrusions. The 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.440 first one was short and had no audio and was 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.000 on w g N. And then about two hours later 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.360 or they hijacked the PBS affiliate and that's where the 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.120 classic minute and a half, nearly minute and a half 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.720 with audio, really strange audio comes through. That's right, because 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:11.440 that first one, like you said, I'm glad you pointed 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.440 that out. It was silent. It was the images from 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.080 the and the image and the audio from w g 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.320 N was cut, but there was no audio coming out 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.360 other than that. I think there's like a buzzing noise 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.520 that came in through the first intrusion, and you saw 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.400 this this figure just sitting there and kind of rocking 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:34.160 back and forth like left and right, which is also disconcerting. Yeah, 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:38.119 it was definitely like you felt like something is really 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.800 wrong at that moment. And when it came back, the 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.240 sportscaster said, you might be wondering what just happened. I know, 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.320 I am, uh something along those lines. But yes, the 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.960 second one, you had the audio and it played for 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:51.560 the what we what appeared to be the length of 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:55.080 the video. The first section had uh, the guy just 0:07:55.160 --> 0:08:00.520 saying odd things and they were all very Chicago specific. Well, 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.160 and and sort of slamming w g N because he 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:08.200 had slammed the Chuck swart Sky Yeah as a freaking liberal. Yeah, 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.880 he is a sportscast for w g N. Yeah, and 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:17.840 uh he also talked about the Greatest World Newspaper nerds 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.800 something like that, but w g N stands for World's 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:25.880 Greatest Newspaper. Yeah, So it turned out that that little know, 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:30.280 the great, the great World newspaper nerds or whatever however 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.880 he worded it, that was a reference back to w 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.520 g N. So it's very clearly intended for w g NY. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.120 And the first attack wasn't as effective as as they 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.360 had hoped because, uh, like I said, there was no audio. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.319 And also the folks at w g N, once they 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.480 figured out something was going on, very quickly changed the 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:55.520 frequency transmitters. They said, well, I guess yeah, yeah, which 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:57.640 is interesting. We'll talk more about how that kind of 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.319 helps us know a little more about the attack curs. 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:05.640 Because here's the other thing. To this day, there there's 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:09.960 no the public has no idea who did this. Yeah. 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.120 I think that's why this story has lingered, and it's 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.960 so cool is because anytime you have an unsolved mystery, 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.000 even if it's uh just sort of an odd broadcast 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.000 intrusion like this, people are going to be obsessed with it. Like, um, 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.960 we've a lot of the information, uh from that I 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.959 did research on. Came from a motherboard kind of the 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.360 mother of all articles. Had some great research. Yeah, Chris 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.040 middle who Yeah, the article, if you want to look 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.200 for it, is the mystery of the creepiest television hack, 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.680 and I agree this article is fantastic. It really lays 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:44.920 out not just the incident, but also other things that 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.679 had happened beforehand that kind of laid the groundwork for this, 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.079 as well as just a discussion, although a brief one, 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.000 about the hacker culture that existed at that time and 0:09:56.040 --> 0:10:00.760 how that kind of lends itself to people who maybe 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.960 are cleverer than is good for them, or could be 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.520 very nice way to say it, because as it turns out, 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.400 the f c C here in the United States does 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:17.520 not take kindly to folks intruding upon established airways. No, 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:20.679 it's it's a big no no, especially with bare butts, 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.559 which I think you said. Once the camera cuts, we 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:27.680 didn't continue there. That's when it got really weird because 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.640 there's a camera cut and then you see the mask 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.400 is off, but the guy has his head out of 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.840 frame and it's just sort of holding the mask. Uh. 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.800 He has pantser down showing his his bear Fannie, and 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.480 then yeah, from profile and then a lady on the 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:44.160 right uh and looks like some sort of Old West 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.680 like Antiochley type Garb spanks him with a fly swatter 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.120 on his butt. Although spanks is really being generous. She's 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.839 very slowly and lightly tapping him on the bottom with 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:58.120 the flyswater, so to the point where you're you're thinking, like, 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.720 I guess that's supposed to represent spanking. Uh, doesn't look 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:03.839 like any spanking I ever received as a kid. I 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.760 got you. Anyway, That's pretty much where the video cut off, 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:10.200 and then it went right back in the Doctor Who, 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.560 and which is really funny to see the transition. Yeah. Yeah, 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.880 he died of an electric shock. Yeah, you've got to 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.600 watch the whole incident on YouTube if you haven't already. Uh. 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.240 And in case you're curious that episode, it's we're talking 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.440 classic Doctor Who. Obviously back in seven. This is not 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:29.240 the reboot. Uh, it was the Horror of fang Rock. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.480 So if that's your favorite episode, I'm sorry that was 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:36.680 interrupted back. So yeah, and like we said, the the 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.640 audio really showed that that the public television station wasn't 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.880 the intended target. It was the it was a target 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:48.160 of opportunity after the first attempt failed. And uh, we'll 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.280 talk more about the technology behind that and why they 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.960 had to switch from one to the other. Um, it 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:58.280 turns out it was largely a practical issue, at least 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.640 as far as I can determine, and um, it was. 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:06.760 There were also references within the Little Weird Diet tribe 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.720 the guy made to Coca Cola because he said catch 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:11.400 the wave and he had a new coat can that 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.320 he threw down on the ground. Yeah, And also a 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:19.839 reference to the cult cartoon Clutch Cargo. Yeah, he hummed 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.320 the theme Clutch Cargo. If you've ever seen the movie 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:29.160 Pulp Fiction, Um, the scene with young Bruce Willis back 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:33.280 in the nineteen seventies, I guess with Christopher Walkin as 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.719 his guardian. He's watching Clutch Cargo on TV. There that 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.000 with the mouth's cut out. O'Brien has also used that 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:45.000 same comedic great effect using the live action in order 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.120 because what what the whole point was was it was 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:51.360 an idea of of reducing the cost of animation big time. 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.240 Because there was no animation. You had to picture, yeah, 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.560 still picture, and then you would superimpose live actors mouths 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.959 on top of it. And if that sounds reap and 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.520 disturbing to you, you you're on the right track. It 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:06.560 was not the only cartoon to do this. There were 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:12.920 a few others. Um, thank you, Cambria productions for and 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.400 uh yeah, so he hummed like the whole Clutch Cargo 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:19.200 theme and made references to actual episodes of Clutch Cargo. 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.200 Uh so it was certainly someone with an odd sense 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.679 of humor who did this. Now there was no other message, right, 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.800 there was no. It wasn't like a political thing. This 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.679 very stream of consciousness kind of weird. He holds up 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.400 I guess what we can cleanly describe as a marital aid, yes, 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.600 at one point, and throws that on the ground, and um, 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.679 it's just once the fly swadding comes in, it's just 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.880 obvious that they're kind of free forming. Although it was 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:47.599 not live, which is important to know. This is a 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.600 videotape that they made. Yeah, yeah, and it was because 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:54.280 I mean, in order to do a live intrusion would 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.400 require essentially a studio and you'd have to have some 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.560 sort of linked to a transmitter that all had line 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.840 of sight to the same antenna as whatever target you're 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:09.000 you're aiming at. So that would have been an astoundingly complicated. 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.920 This is definitely a little easier to pull off. So 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.560 you know, now that we know that this, they've they've 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:20.280 never been found, they're likely never to be found. I mean, 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.760 it's always possible that someone could come forward and say, 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:25.640 all right, well here's how it actually happened. I'm the 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.640 guy who did this. I would improve it. I'm surprised 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.480 that hasn't happened by now, because the Statute of Limitations 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:32.600 is up for Yeah, it's way up, so you can't 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.600 get in trouble and it's um I think they would 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.280 unless they just think it's better left as a mystery 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.480 they would live in like especially nowadays with the Internet 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:43.520 like it is, it would blow up, you know, it 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:47.080 would be right. It could possibly be the fact that 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.880 I mean, you know, of course we're just projecting here, 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.440 but could possibly be that they are no longer terribly 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.000 proud of what they did, and or that they've moved 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.120 on in their lives. Yeah, there's there's a significant amount 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.120 of time since THEAD and they might have thought, you know, 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.160 I'm not going to brag about something I did when 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:06.200 I was younger and dumber, especially now that I'm the 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:10.440 CEO of ABC, right, that that might end up. By 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.440 the way, we do not actually mean that the CEO 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:18.440 of ABC ORDNY Disney affiliates are involved. But the other 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:20.880 interesting thing is that this was not the first time 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:26.640 that UM I A A an intrusion had happened in 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.280 in broadcast history. The first one, if you want to 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.160 go back, actually didn't happen in the United States. It 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:37.360 happened back in UH, the UK in nineteen seventies seven, 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:42.840 and that was when a hoaxer interrupted a Southern television 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:47.240 broadcast by UH inserting audio. It didn't change the video. 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.280 So this is kind of the opposite of what had 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:53.080 happened the first time with the Max Hedroum incident. But 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.880 it was an audio stream that came in and carried 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:00.600 a message from the alien villa on UH. And this 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:02.680 is in the like I said, in the UK. So 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.760 obviously the alien had an English accent. I guess that's 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.440 only you know, fair like, if you're going to interrupt 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:12.880 someone's program, you want to make sure you're speaking in 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.960 the dialect, you know it otherwise, right, Yeah, suddenly they 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.840 spoke like like with a French accent. I mean that 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:25.040 would just be adding. But anyway, so it was a 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.880 message that essentially said that humans should prepare themselves for 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.520 the worst because you know, destruction is a common Yeah, 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.480 that's great, that's what a broadcast intrusion should be some 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.560 creepy warning, not just a random series of images that 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.680 disturb you for things that you can't quite put your 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:42.160 finger on, although that is more disturbing. Almost. Yeah. And 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:44.760 then in six we get the first one in the 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.680 United States. Uh, and this was an inside job deal. 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:52.840 This was happened on April at twelve thirty two am, 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:57.520 and it involved the East Coast feed of HBO. And Uh, 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.640 what happened was the HBO was showing a movie called 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:05.400 The Falcon and the Snowman Classic. You know, it certainly 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:09.520 could not be helped by approximately four minutes of footage 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:12.800 missing because they've been replaced by a series of colored 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:16.879 bars that say good evening, HBO from Captain Midnight twelve 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.679 a month, no way Showtime movie Channel Beware. Yeah, that 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.400 had a clear motive. Yeah, And and and actually ironically, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.080 the um the guy was caught. His name was John R. McDougall, 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.680 and he was an employee of Central Florida Teleport And 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.919 he used what do you use? He the was it 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.280 the text that he used? He? Yeah, So the text 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.320 generators that the companies used in order to put an 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:44.879 overlay on top of a screen, so like like the 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.480 actual words that were being used there. Well, they're very particular. 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:52.439 And by measuring things like the height of the the font, 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:56.240 the how far uh the middle bar of an e 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.920 is according to the other side, how close together the 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.560 his words are, investigators were able to narrow it down 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:07.520 to a specific machine. Yeah. It's well have had his 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.800 fingerprint up there. Yeah. Yeah, this is like incredible forensics, right. 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:13.159 It's sort of like if someone gets hold of a 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.840 typewritten sheet of paper and is able to determine the 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:19.000 model of typewriter that was used to actually make this. 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:21.720 But in this case it got even more specific because 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.119 these machines aren't everywhere, and that's what led them to 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:30.199 track down McDougall. Who uh, who have just decided that 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:34.760 the recent hike in prices for a monthly subscription to 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.920 HBO were unconscionable and he had to make it known. So, yeah, 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:42.120 he had a side job selling satellite dish service. Yeah, 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:46.320 so he thought that would nick his business some and 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.040 so he eventually was caught and pled guilty, paid a 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.400 five thousand dollar fine, and served just one year of probation. 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:57.000 And it was that incident that led, I believe Congress 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:03.280 to make it a federal violation to it's sudden, yeah, 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.400 because they suddenly said, wait now that people can actually 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.560 do this. Now great, this was someone, like we said, 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.160 an inside job. They had access to a satellite. What 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:15.240 what he actually did was he pointed the satellite of 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:21.639 Central Florida Teleport at the HBO satellite. Chuck, you and 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.199 I we wouldn't even know where the heck that satellite is. 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:29.160 So even if we had the equipment and everything else, 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:31.800 we'd just beat Well, the sky is a lot bigger 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:35.119 than I had taken into account. And uh you know, 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:36.880 of course we'd have to be someplace where we could 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:38.840 actually get a good clear view of the sky because 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.399 if they're building in the way or something. But uh yeah, 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:45.080 so he he was a good example of that. And 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:50.360 then September, so this is just before them the incident 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:55.440 with the Max Hedgerm incident. Thomas Hainey hijacked a signal 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.080 at on the Playboy channel. I think I remember hearing 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:01.159 about this one. Yeah. It was where it was sending 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.359 in religious messages essentially saying repent and and you know 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:08.480 you are the discard your wicked ways that kind of thing, right, 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.240 And it's no surprise because he actually worked for the 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:14.600 Christian Broadcast Network, so again he had a job. Yeah, 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.920 he had access to the equipment necessary and the knowledge 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.399 necessary to be able to do this. It's not something 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.760 that the average person would be able to do. And 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:27.200 again it was the character generator, the the font generator 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:29.840 that kind of led the way. It was the main 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:33.359 piece of evidence that was leveled against him. Um. I 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.800 remember that Pat Robertson was very upset when the verdict 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:38.960 was handled handed down. He said that there wasn't enough 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:42.400 evidence to um to say that Hainey was in fact 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.240 the person who who did this. Well, he was convicted, 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:49.760 but um, I think just got probation. And the first guy, McDougald, 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:53.000 is interesting. What he got convicted for was operating without 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.800 a license even though he had a license. So that 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.080 was a bit of a hinky ruling. I think they 0:20:58.119 --> 0:20:59.800 just had to convict him of something because I don't 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:01.920 know if allows in place at that point. Yeah, yeah, 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:04.120 I mean it's it's kind of like that deal where 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.000 you realize this is someone that we need to punish, 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:09.719 but we don't have a law that covers the crime, 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:12.520 and we haven't defined it as a crime, but we 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:14.879 know that this is something people really shouldn't be able 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:18.920 to do, so we have to somehow justify it. Um. Yeah, 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:23.439 And as it turns out, the every nation, uh, in 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:28.160 some way or another, ends up regulating the electromagnetic spectrum. 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:30.680 But it changes from one place to the other. Sure 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:34.160 there's only so much room, right, yeah, exactly. So electromagetic 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.440 spectrum goes all the way from radio waves, which can 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:41.000 a radio wave can be kilometers long, right, and then 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:42.560 you go all the way to the other side to 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:46.240 like gamma rays we're talking about on the nanoscale and 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.000 everything in between. That's the electromagnetic spectrum. Visible light is 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.000 part of that. You know, visible light is on the 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:55.359 short side, but radio waves and microwaves are on the 0:21:55.440 --> 0:22:00.119 longer side, and uh not all those radio wave so 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:02.120 you know, we can't just all use the same ones 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:05.679 because then we would have interference. Right if if the 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.879 television and your phone used the same frequencies, then you 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.280 would have interference between the two, and that would be terrible. 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:14.439 Nothing would be usable. Yeah, I don't call it a 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.160 crunch if there's too much activity on one frequency, Yeah, 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:20.199 that's that's if you've got everyone just using you know 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:22.919 what they're supposed to. Let's say everyone in the cellular 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:27.080 network has they're all on their phones that we've seen 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:32.240 this happen in life events they're posting len couldn't. Yeah, 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.160 or even just going to a big event like any 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:37.960 like c S or any large event like that, you 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:40.919 suddenly can't get access to anything. That's where you've got 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:44.680 more demand for data transmission than there is capacity. Yeah, 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:46.639 I've tried to get a signal at Comic Con before, 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:49.240 and ye, no, no, the same thing is true a 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.040 Dragon Con and that's a like a third the size 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:56.040