Max Headroom Intrusion News Reports

[dieselboy87]

lol @ "perverse" its a girl hitting a guys ass with a flyswatter. shes not exactly taking a dump on his chest. fucking retard journalists.

[aPyroKirby]

Back when trolling was truly difficult.

[NaziZombieKiller1991]

I wonder if the guys who did that are still watching this on YouTube saying "ahh that was funny, I can't believe they never caught us."

[LeagueOfDirectors]

$10 says that Jamiebtz is the hacker. 

[godofdarknes]

imagine the irony if he interrupted this

[spiff2268]

Whoever did this should come forward because I'm sure the statute of limitations has long expired.

[secretmiggles]

Oh no your going to have to tape over it! How unfair is life...

I wish something like this would happen again! TV is so boring now.

[JoyGrenade]

Hahaha, "marital aid".

[Enjify]

i think if i saw that in live, i would definetely shit my pants

[Kuhlfurst]

He says the hacker shouldn't underestimate officials...

He has yet to be caught...

[ragekillansf]

100 dollars or one year in jail i take that risk to make history

[AioniosOneirus]

I would have loved to have seen this live on TV. I'd also love to find out who did this awesome trolling.

[tonymarie1984]

the guy at 3:06 sounds like the dude from office space always looking for his stapler



[hailsatan666abortion]

reach out touch faith. mother fucker nasty bitch. the first amendment rules.

[GameFreak982928]

LMAO @ "A portion of his or her anatomy." I love how news reporters are too dignified to say "He stuck his butt out on camera."

[MVillani1985]

They actually did use the word "troll" in the late 80s to describe people "trolling for newbies", remember, they had the internet long before the mid-90s, it was just mostly used by universities, they just used Usenet boards, so this isn't really the pre-Internet era.

[Meatlock]

'Leaves an electronic signature' LOL yeah some good that did to them.

[Spootchies]

Video Pirate = The Pre-Internetz word for Troll.

[UltimateEEnEFan]

4:37

Picture of Ronald Reagan in the background.

LOL.

[joecool759]

"VEWREE VEWREE FUNNY" xD

[SonicEditingChannel]

....someone needs a web redemption...

[SAIL4323]

In the first newscast, the WTTW man was listed as the Vice President and named Andres, but in the second, he was named Andy and only a WTTW spokesman. Who's right.

And as for the fine, it is a higher fine. In one of the newscasts, the FCC spokesman said the maximum fine is $100,000.

[olmecbones]

@SAIL4323 He probably got demoted and had his fancy name taken away from him for allowing his station to get hijacked.

[Abignalessuccessor]

This was great except for the fact that he interupted Doctor Who

[egdeltur666]

"marital aid"

HAHAHAHAHAahahHahaHAAHAHaHAhee­ehoohehehee...

that's the funniest fuckin' thing I've heard all day.

...wait... TAPE OVER IT??? Bitch, how many times in your life do you get this sort of thing on tape? Women, am I right, folks?

[Angrydemoman]

"when this person is caught" eh? lol yeah keep that up

[TheMaxGrody]

"It leaves an electronic signature...." ... haha insane. That was a propagandist's way of saying "we have a clue and people better not think of trying this again!" when in reality there is no real way to track people doing this if they have portable equipment.

[MegaCrazycatt]

@TheMaxGrody I know; right? Its 24 YEARS later; and they still haven't caught him; maybe don't say things that are not true?

[HaloSpartanG13]

The original troll.

[maurin]

4:00 we're gonna have to tape over it LOL

[elteescat]

fly-swatted his ass!

[ub50738]

4:00 I really doubt this chick has ever even seen an episode of Dr. Who, let alone taped one... Media whore...

[hillbillyprofane]

Who clicked "dislike?" Chuck Swirsky? ;)

[ironwolfosiris]

Oh no, a $100 fine....

[hillbillyprofane]

I LOL'd at how PC they were saying "his or her anatomy." Those are definitely male buttocks. Trust me. :)

[Xailah]

I bet the guy who did this is watching this video and laughing his fucking ass off. Kudos to you!

[totopatter]

hahaha

it INCONVENIENCED some of the viewers

they wanted to bring the hacker to justice

serious stuff

HAHAHA

[totopatter]

THIS HAPPENED FOR REAL?!!

HAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA­AAA!!!!

[Diskoboy1974]

I have proof that Channel 9 was feeding all thses people lines.

My proof: That girl at 3:59 was actually kinda hot - what the hell was she doing watching Doctor Who?

[MegaCrazycatt]

@primenemisis Yes it definately is.

[mazzpsykoziz]

i can promise you this guy was tweaking... no doubt BUT HE IS AWESOME!!!

[MrRichardKranium]

Did they ever find the guy?

[shizyo]

@MrRichardKranium

No.

[Billinois78]

It's also extra funny for someone like myself, who lives in the Chicago area, to see all of these reporters way back then. Many of them are still there today.

[2BRKSHS]

I wish there was more hackers of this caliber out there.

[SuperWeaves]

I STOLE CBS

[fle2livefree]

lol sufisticated they said it wasn't that sufisticated lol very funny though lol freakin awesome nesss

[MsSeaKittens]

"marital aid","a portion of his or her anatomy" I lol'd.

[phongbong]

Oh no! It leaves an "electronic signature" , he's gonna get back traced!!!

[ironwolfosiris]

Imagine a guy in a Max Headroom mask coming on TV and asking us to play a game. XD

[richardmaudsley77]

WTTW and WGN...

Can't americans think of names for things instead of weird codes?

[prlad85]

@richardmaudsley77 They are call letters for each affiliate of CBS (Columbia broadcasting System), NBC (National Broadcasting Corperation), FOX (Owned by 20th Century Fox), ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation), CW (Columbia Warner) and PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).

Have a great day, a great night, a great weekend, a great month, a great autumn and a Happy Halloween! Puerto Rican Love from New York City!

[denelson83]

@richardmaudsley77 Those are callsigns.

[richardmaudsley77]

@denelson83 It's a TV station. It doesn't need them, because it's TV. People watch it, on a television.

[Karpet360]

TRololololololololololollololo­lololololololololololol

[85mariapatricia]

ooh electronic signature will get him.................but it didnt

[TheLizzard0]

But the person in the Max Headroom disguise may NOT know how sophisticated officals can be in tracing this sort of thing.

Well you never found him, bitches! They always say that and never catch 'em!

[CrashCoolicoot]

"At a significant power level."

Was it over 9000?

[skyclaw441]

2:36 - 5:08 Best version.

[dasrael]

you can smell the bullshit the news and feds are saying.. 'LEAVES AN ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE!' haha well, since it's 2010 and they still haven't caught the guy I think it's safe to assume it didn't leave jack.

[24Rorschach]

@dasrael Maybe we caught him lol, maybe he was recruited by the NSA for god knows what lols.

[MegaCrazycatt]

@dasrael Lol I remember thinking the same thing. If he really DID leave an "electronic signature" they would have found him almost immediately.

[A86]

@dasrael - I assume the guys who did it were probably either communication specialists/engineers of some sort or were possibly even employees of the same damn station they intruded. The latter theory would certainly explain why they were never caught. They would know how to hide their tracks better being familiar with the building and the layout of the equipment.

[dasrael]

@A86 any sufficiently competent radio "guy" would be able to figure out the STL frequency and modulation and easily override it with a few watts and a well placed Yagi antenna. It would be very easy to pre-record the piece well before-hand and simply drive somewhere near the head-end and blast the signal into the STL from a few blocks away. The most expensive portion of this would be getting ahold of a small STL transmitter/modulator, but it's not that hard. I'm surprised this isn't done more.

[A86]

@dasrael - The first transmission in which it appeared the intruders failed to get the audio signal through (along with the "Max Headroom" guy's somewhat baffled-looking reaction) made it seem like the intrusion was live rather than pre-recorded. But what you're saying is plausible I guess. I say "I guess" because it sounds like you know more about Audio-Video than I do, some I'm kind of just taking your word for it on how the intrusion is done. Lol

[mrzero1982]

stuff like this needs to happen NOW!!!

[Twerk79]

Bill Kurtis at 5:14! It's weird hearing him NOT talking about serial killers :D

[cmban]

i love that guy loooool

[bnbmeister]

I'm surprised they showed the butt on the news broadcast. They'd probably edit that out now days.

[CheddarCheesePlanet]

this would be like youtube channels being hacked back in the 80's

[verbod]

@CheddarCheesePlanet

not really

[Byrnzi360]

They have reduced the list of potential suspects to people with 1) a background in broadcasting and, 2) a Max Headroom mask... They are also looking at the various individuals who stole CBS as potential suspects.

[hkfan1980]

i think the max headroom hijacker was steve jobbs that fucker has a time machine XD

[Keyser187]

ever since and as long as there will be rules there will be people to break them... and I find that VERY funny.. way to hack.

[12345combination]

His transmitter's power level was over 9000.

[jimrobmicah]

And thus, anon was born.

[zetsuumbreon]

I ACCIDENTALY CHANNEL 9

[ConfusedAndAwesome]

Captain Midnight was caught, the guy who did this wasn't.......dont you think it would have been EASIER to catch the Max Headroom pirate?

[12345combination]

@ConfusedAndAwesome

Midnight only got caught because someone anonymously snitched on him from a rest stop payphone in Wisconsin. Think about that, the Captain lived in Florida and someone drove to Wisconsin to snitch on him. Trolls trolling trolls at its finest.

[ConfusedAndAwesome]

@12345combination So why wouldn't someone snitch on the guy who did this?

[12345combination]

@ConfusedAndAwesome

Well it was just a petulant little joke, since he was angry with the satelite providers scrambling several channels for the first time. He installed satelite hookups, and it cut into his business by making fewer people interested in satelite TV. What he did was illegal, but it was a prank so I probably wouldn't turn him in. Of course I troll the crap out of Youtube so make of that what you will.

[toemasie]

FBI found the guy, then hired him. They hire all the smart bad guys.

[1k1llc47s]

The fat fag at 4:20 saying "it's not too bright", well he must be bright to pull something like that off..dick.

[JCSjelde]

it's kinda funny how they say this guy is going to get all these criminal charges but they never found out who did it

[JuggalocodeChile1988]

Max Headroom mask was the Guy Fawkes mask of the 80s.

[bleupagoda]

"I guess we'll have to tape over it"?

How could you tape over THAT!???

[dagilpe]

if i was the guy and the crime can't be judged anymore i would go out and say my name... i think this guy has some knowledge to share!

[Kargaroc286]

THere was BBSes back then

[Moose459]

fucking win

[mrwest15]

He was never caught. I like how they felt confident they'd catch him but they never did. lol.

[horstherbert35]

@mrwest15

They always act as if they were confident they'd catch someone. It's an overused psychological trick that nobody falls for.

[soulas126]

The FCC and FBI are going to make Max face the pre internet BANHAMMER!!

[DrGonzoPrototype]

Pre-Internet-Troll. Epic win.

[StrawB0ss]

omg the 80's were the dark ages of fashion.

[CheddarCheesePlanet]

@StrawB0ss fag

[Erkerkerk123]

I wish he did it more. This is way to funny

[Dulcimerist]

It's even more hilarious that the news showed his bare butt!

[trapadoored]

ahh, the max headroom piracy incident, also known as the awesomest thing that has ever occurred in the history of the universe. I want to make a movie about this.

[jijigagikijiwizgkzz]

That is so fucking punk! To make it even better, the perpetrators were never caught. It's things like this that give me hope.

[MasqueradeMan2]

Wow, it is interesting to find how a few guys manage to "break into" television and have their own 25 second and 1 and a half minute show with stronger signals, and yet to be caught. I wonder if they are still after this guy. And if they do get them (considering one of them are still alive), I want to know exactly how they did it, why they did it, and what they said that was kind of blurry.

[dandyky]

Wouldn't it be awesome to have every episode of 'Hanna Montana' and 'Dora The Explorer' interrupted like this?

[fusel412crew]

oh fucking cry about it thats awesome but people have to be cry babies fuck them

[SniperFish959]

what an absolute legend this can never be done again

[elef003]

i love how the fbi hasn't even figured this shit out. :)

[inventiveinsanity]

I wish people had the balls to do this today.

Someone do this please... make tv cool again ;[

[MisterSin87]

it's not if someone had the BALLS to do it, the fact of the matter is that since the switchover to digitial signals, it's now next to impossible to do...

[Ratman666]

YOU did it didnt you hehehe

[TPWT]

"Being spanked on the bottom, however if caught will get a higher penalty..." brilliant segue

Whoever did this is legendary. It was a fine piece of work and was not caught too. Good work!

[Tiyong55]

freaky...

[Dibrini]

23 years later and they still haven't found these guys? Guess the officials tracing them aren't THAT sophisticated.

[jmtrzc]

Awesome montage. It's hilarious how the news reports all use the ass shot to highlight the hijacking.

[rubino83]

I like how Grizzly Adams at 4:10 talks about it like this is a common occurrence. And then of course he compares it to some manner of video-related Kristallnacht.

[PrimusPrimal1995]

Also, £10 says that they never even looked in Chicago from the start.

[SirMildredPierce]

If they are using microwave to patch in, they would not only have to be very close by to the receiver, but have a line-of-sight. So yes, they would have been in Chicago.

[PrimusPrimal1995]

Am I the only one that thinks this would have been better if he had rickrolled the viewers instead?

[BloodyGoingNowhere]

Yes.

Besides, I don't think rickroll was even thought of then.

[PrimusPrimal1995]

Yeah but still.

[BunnaySango]

Except, the concept hadn't even been heard of.

[rubino83]

Nah, this was back in the 80s, so it would just have been "playing that popular Rick Astley song".

[alexforever411]

I would of come up with something more original than Max Headroom, but that's just me. I don't think I could keep my mouth shut up about it either. It's just to good not to mention it to someone.

[LazerChachi]

Can you imagine being the guy who did this and never getting caught?

I would walk around feeling like the boss.

[Aeolis7]

I love how they are reporting about how bad it is, yet everytime anyone shows the clip, they include the scene with the bare-ass spanking!

[caguas90]

HAHAHA FKN HILARIOUS how he just pops out of nowhere

[bobsullivan14]

they never did get them either.

[magicadd]

"we're gonna have to tape over it".... O RLY?

[GothicPancakes]

BEST TROLL EVER!

[ngzbblax]

woulda been fun if he hijacked the news =)

[fadelio22]

i think the fat guy talking after the 1st pirate incident is the culprit

[woadancincolours]

3:09

"it takes very sophisticated equipment to do this at a significant power level"

And what would this power level be? Would I be able to read it with a scouter?

[H3C70R7H35CH3C73R]

@woadancincolours

IT'S OVER NINE THOUSANDDDDDDD

[unclefestus]

I don't know, but it's definitely OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAND!

[ahomevideoonline]

Over NINE THOUSAND! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!

[takato101]

"The ninety second interruption ended with the video pirate bare bottom being spanked with a flyswatter but his punishment will be far worse if he is caught" hahahahaha XD i wish things like this would still happen

[alecwriter]

Ah! Before the internet!

[videooven]

LOL

[Emorkia]

OMG! The glasses. The 80's. I love it. :)

[Viriatus]

Death do Videodrome! Long live the new flesh!

[PharaohLetMyPeopleGo]

You mean the part where Max Headroom comes in isn't in the episode??

I always thought this was a publicity stunt by the Public TV station. I bet it was Ted Turner under that mask.

If I did this I would definitely show tits.

[TheAtroxious]

Wow, some people watching were faaar too sensitive about the incident. "We'll have to tape over it"? You don't want a tape with footage that made television history? Hah, she's probably regretting that now.

Personally, I'd be cheering the dude. What he did was, frankly, awesome.

Ugh, that one newscaster pronounced "faux" wrong. That drives me nuts.

[hillbillyprofane]

@TheAtroxious I think he said the "mock Max" unless you're referring to a different moment.

[Effedup]

I bet way back then they had no idea that they would never figure out who did it and why... :)

Amazing...I hope these guys come forward one day, they deserve a hand shake

[Alex618mir]

FCC stand for faggoty cock-blocking clam-fuckers.

Words of wisdom by A watchamacallit named Wooldoor

[LivingDeadVideos]

@Alex618mir

You can fuck a clam? GODDAMN. *Runs to clam shelter.*

[zmode82]

This guy is a genius!

[tejojo]

He's more than a video pirate, he's a video TERRORIST!!

[newkillergenius]

Heh- yeah! Fuck the FCC! Too bad Toby McGuire's dad wasn't able to catch 'em.

Hilarious!

[ColonelSamatoshi]

Lol, they never caught em!

F*** the FCC.

[Diskoboy1974]

"We had 20 calls about the David Hyde Pierce incident. And as you know, 20 calls means 20 Million people"

[Tetrisrock]

I love the kid saying that he found the whole thing hilarious whilst all the adults were offended.

[bvseediermedia7]

What I love is the fact that the kid was still up at 23:15.

[Emorkia]

Maybe he saw the interruption that took place earlier, during the news. That's my guess because why would he be watching Dr.Who anyway but he could have been watching a sportscast.

[lazermunky25]

Well.... Dr.who's pretty entertaining.... but this.... this deserves a show or feature length movie of it's own

[Emorkia]

Dr. Who for a child might be too confusing but whatever

[hillbillyprofane]

LOL still creeps me out as much as it did when I was 10! Cheers for posting this! I love how the newscaster says "marital aid." LOL

[feverspell]

The statute of limitations has long since run out on this, so whoever did it should come forward if only to tell people how he/they did it. I think it would be interesting to find out how some dude was able to override two powerful TV signals. I was 5 when this happened and I remember the first hijacking that happened on WGN because my bedroom faced the TV room and I saw it while my parents were watching the news. The 2nd one on WTTW I didn't see until years later when it got on the internet.

[ArizonaDelRio]

It's not that hard, at least it wasn't then. All you need is your own microwave transmitter and antenna (around ten thousand watts) pointed at a repeater tower to overide the incomming signal. I'm sure the security is much more sophistcated now. Too bad.

[bvseediermedia7]

Yes, too bad. We need shit like this now more than ever!

[Lambda]

HACK THE PLANET

[AngryDaven]

I love that the child is the only when that really got the point of it. Says alot.

[bordaz1]

if this was a prank, he probably wouldn't have named specific Chicago Tribune employees. more than likely it was a commentary on news media

[AngryDaven]

Prehaps it was Banksy or Dr.Steel?

[gamersoup]

A good watch. This incident has always struck my curiosity. Didn't even know about the HBO one.

[jamiebtz]

i wish, but no. i got them from a friend of mine.

[GyntherMeyer]

These news reports are very interesting to see. Jamiebtz, did you tape them yourself back in '87?

[patient0Studios]

lol, I love how the Newscaster tries to insist the guy is inept. Its been 11 years and he still remains undiscovered, if you're reading this "Max". JOB WELL DONE

[GyntherMeyer]

No, it's been 21 yrs, not 11.