Viewers of the Czech Republics national TV channel 2, were stunned this morning to see what appeared to be a nuclear weapon detonating in the Krkonose moutains. |Read More|
The TV station cut to what was supposed to be a live video feed from a panoramic weather webcam in the Krkonose moutains in Cerny Dul. What they didn't know was this feed had feed compromised by a hacker group who replaced the footage with material showing what appeared to be a nuclear weapon detonating over the valley.
The hack was perpetrated by an "artistic" group responsible for a previous media hijack in Prague in 2003, where they replaced hundreds of posters on the Metro with their own creations. Also a stunt involving masking a neon heart installed at Prague castl by artist Jiri David.
The broadcasters immediately reported the incident to the police and are planning to press charges against those responsible. Though the incident obviously caused a lot of distress, a statement was released on the hackers website ztohoven.com, claiming that overall there was a positive reaction to the event. Also that it demonstated both the power of the modern media and it's vulnerability, especially with the increased use of digitally distributed or augmented material.
The weapon footage was extracted from a declassified D.O.E. film of shot Dog from Operation Tumbler Snapper in 1952, and digitally superimposed using video editing software.
