Robert Ward
Matt Blaze35 years ago tomorrow. Never forget. @wbm312
For the youngsters here, the Max Headroom TV hijacking was, I believe, the greatest hack of my lifetime. I hope it’s never solved. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking
Why was this the greatest hack? It was utterly pure. The combination of audaciousness, risk, harmlessness, flawless technical execution, and lack of attribution even decades later left us to ponder a beautiful mystery that transcended the juvenile content. They took what could have been merely a nerdy pop culture prank and turned it into high surrealist art.
kkearns@mattblaze It is absolutely the best hack. 35 years! So awesome. :)
Benjamin Wittes@mattblaze your enthusiasm for it all these years later really is the best part!
@benjaminwittes It stays alive only as long as we're talking about it.
Brian Gongol@mattblaze @benjaminwittes Unlike the original Max Headroom, who stayed "alive" only as long as he remained plugged in. (Or drinking a Pepsi, if memory serves.)
bitlevel@mattblaze So it was a Banksy then? 😆
Meow 
@mattblaze Max Headroom was next level creepy.
Shecky - Third Wheel@mattblaze I fI remember correctly the closest they came was determining the area it came from. Considering the WGN and WTTW studios were in the same general direction from the Sears tower and near enough to each other, the North to near Northwest side was where the signal came from.
As far as who, not even the Chicago underground BBS world had anyone bragging about it. Any admission at this point would be unverifiable.
As far as who, not even the Chicago underground BBS world had anyone bragging about it. Any admission at this point would be unverifiable.
@siliconshecky maybe the roof of a nearby building just far enough away to get los to the dishes.
Alan@mattblaze @siliconshecky I bet they sent the signal from the Coyote building at North, Milwaukee and Damen
@gammacounter @mattblaze could be. Both studios with the time frame between the two hacks were easily drivable and their dishes were easy to see from the ground though so I have to wonder if they were mobile.
@siliconshecky @mattblaze really is fascinating. I'm surprised more of these incidents haven't occurred. 35 years, wow!
Jeff@siliconshecky @mattblaze Depends on if they documented the hack with photos or video. Dumber things have happened.
The Doctor@mattblaze Same. I think that takes the prize of the most epic hack of all time.
Fin@mattblaze I wanna say that there was a Justin Whang video on YouTube he did about this and *maybe* had come up with an answer, but I think it ultimately came up as inconclusive.
Either way, what a strange and somewhat hilarious incident.
𝚅𝚒𝚟 ⥀
Who Was Behind the Max Headroom Incident? - Tales From the Internet
Lynn McAlister UE 
@mattblaze Yes! I was watching "Doctor Who" - I remember it!
Doctor Memory@mattblaze I don't want to see it "solved" but if the hackers were to want to come forward to receive their just accolades I would want to be in the front row cheering.
Space Rogue@mattblaze greatest hack of a lifetime? That’s a pretty bold claim but I am having a hard time coming up with anything greater. Captain Midnight?
@spacerog pales in comparison. Commercial ground station, immediately caught. Where’s the art?
LCS_InfoSec@mattblaze A lot of the younger folks don't even know who Max Headroom is.
Cyber Yuki@LCS_InfoSec @mattblaze They may have an idea if they watch Eminem videos.
Rotten Apple
Martin Grider@mattblaze I would have been 11. I've somehow never heard of this, despite watching all the Max Hedroom episodes at some point in the early 2000s!
Morgan@mattblaze so true!
JohnG@mattblaze Yep I don't want to know that would ruin the magic.
Bill Sherman@mattblaze --I was watching WTTW that night, when the Max Headroom hack happened. It was surreal and unsettling. And then it was gone. Did I see that? Did I dream it? If it happened today, everyone would be on social discussing it in real time.
Beeks@mattblaze I want it solved so we can get an accurate 6 part Netflix mini-series about it.
Michael Knight@mattblaze It happened once, it could happen again!
https://www.tvinsider.com/1054353/max-headroom-reboot-matt-frewer-amc-elijah-wood/
ĸurth@michaelmknight @mattblaze As for the reboot ... I really don't know if that's such a good idea. Frewer is pretty old now, and the series is very much a sci-fi product of the 80ies. It could go massively wrong when they transfer it's overall narrative context and aesthetics badly into the nowaday. hmmm dunno
@michaelmknight but the hack really had nothing to do with the TV show. It was only a vehicle.
don't vibe my ruins!@mattblaze I first came across this incident in a Cracked article. Went through a rabbit hole and reached a comment on Reddit in which they claimed that they knew the guys who did the hack and some stuff about their personalities and such. It was convincing to me then (I wasnt online for long then) but since people lie on the internet, I don't know anymore.
Paul Maplesden@mattblaze There's a great podcast on this: https://www.wbur.org/endlessthread/2022/01/07/encore-max-headroom
Encore: The Max Headroom Incident — Revisiting The Masked Mystery | Endless Thread
On November 22nd, 1987, two TV stations in Chicago had their broadcast signals hijacked by someone wearing a Max Headroom mask. In the years since, Redditors have played an integral role in getting to the bottom of this case. Who dunnit? Why? How? We dig into the story.
Colonel Panic 🌻🇺🇦 
@mattblaze I’m of mixed mind. There’s a romantic appeal to the endless mystery, but it would also be just fascinating to know exactly how they pulled it off.
JSON BaumgartnerOhhhhhhh!!! I remember this! It was pretty creepy at the time. They never did figure out who did it but that was some really cool shit.
Mark Wyner Won’t Comply 
@mattblaze yes! I completely forgot about this. I’m so happy that you exhumed it from my memory. What an unexpected joy.
Derek Graham aka PapalPenguin@mattblaze if it did get solved I’d wanna give them a present. So very clever!
serious business
Jazz Local 32@mattblaze It is rumoured that Max Headroom successfully evaded capture and that he is about crash Putin’s loyalist TV channels - ch -ch -ch - channels - unlike the imposter Matt Frewer who was last seen impersonating a cop
Indigo Gold@mattblaze I was born in the 80's but learning about Max Headroom and watching his videos for the first time is one of my favorite surreal memories. Imagine hacking a TV station just to show something no one will get? I love it
Me, here@mattblaze 💯. I was watching Doctor Who and will never forget.
Stan Fletcher@mattblaze Loved that show. #MattFrewer
JB@mattblaze This was a fantastic learning experience, thank you for sharing! The video content is almost horrifying, even some 35 years later!
Nick 'The Viking'Also for the youngsters here, AFAIK in 1987 this was not a trivial crime.
Maybe 1990 , I was involved in an R&D project that needed so much bandwidth etc. that it required broadcast television frequencies.
Our consultant said no can do.
Bossman says maybe we do it just a little bit.
Consultant says basically they'll find you and throw you in the wood chipper.
My impression at the time anyway, an FCC oracle could tell us perhaps.
CipherMonger@mattblaze I can't believe this is the first I'm hearing of this. Granted I was 9 and living in Michigan at the time, but I've apparently been out of the loop for 35 years.
Peter Burkholder@mattblaze @wbm312 You have stickers?
@pburkholder that would be @wbm312
lp0 on fire 
That's not a valid date. The month number's out of range.
@mattblaze @wbm312 this image would hit harder if mastodon clients didn't do that annoying cropping thing. Why do they insist on copying the dumbest parts of bird?
Jernej Simončič �@stark @mattblaze @wbm312 You should be able to change the image presentation in Preferences – here's how it looks for me:
P Stewart@mattblaze @wbm312 I am just whining/whinging about mastodon, not your post. It seems some clients have that option, some have dark mode, some let you increase the font size, none have all three :( at least that I've found so far
Word of Mouth 
@stark @mattblaze @wbm312 That's because it's all "Sculpted ActivityPub" ... A great deal more is possible than what Mastodon shapes for us.
Masto is it's own thing, to some degree. Similar to Twitter, yes, but ActivityPub could be even CLOSER to Twitter.
The question still lingers... can Mastodon achieve escape velocity?
@mattblaze @wbm312 I saw it happen on both channels live. I was in High School.
Steve@mattblaze
It certainly was a masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds.
It certainly was a masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds.
phryk 🏴@mattblaze @wbm312 Forever 20 minutes into the future! \o/