Comcast says their investigation shows that their systems were functioning properly, so they’ve turned the case over to the FBI.
“We have shared all of our information on this situation with the FBI and will continue to provide our full cooperation to them throughout their investigation,” spokeswoman Kelle Maslyn said in a statement e-mailed to the Arizona Daily Star.
Wow, a real whodunit.
Comcast asking the FBI to solve its porn interruption [AZ Star]
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The Butler did it
@Flame: in the Study
@Jonbo298: With the candlestick.
@TheDustball: It’s like playing telephone!
@Span_Wolf: Purple monkey dishwasher?
In all seriousness, I misread the statement to say “We have shred all our information”
@Flame:
He only did it after the lights went out, the maid screamed, the chandelier crashed, the wolf howled, and the mistress died of tea poisoning.
TWIST!! The Butler was really her SISTER the whole time! So the Butler didn’t do it!
@Flame: That guy was supposed to be a butler? Ya know these pornos always seem to have a weak story line.
@Flame: Wasn’t that Time Curry?
@Darkest Daze: Edit: Tim Curry
@Darkest Daze: “THEY ALL DID IT! but if you want to know who killed Boddy, it was me, in the hall, with the revolver. Take ‘em away, boys… I’m going to go home and sleep with my wife”
(pretty sure i got that right, that would be my favorite movie of all time)
It was the Doctor Who “Max Headroom” Hacker, i tells ya!
@jchabotte: Hey! I actually saw that live! It was kind of creepy at the time. Ah, memories.
@floraposte: I saw maybe 30 seconds on WGN. There was only a buzzing sound and a guy in a Max Headroom mask. I was pretty young at the time and it really scared me. By the time I got my mother the news was back. She did not believe me until a few days later when it was a story on Nightline or some other late night news show. As a kid it very much bothered me that my parent did not believe me and it was just plain scary.
Time Warner did it
@Yankees368: Or better yet, I think COX did it!
…And find out WHO HACKED INTO MY SYSTEM!
/Ocean’s 11′d
They call in the FBI because an employee screwed up trying to watch porn and check the game?
Excellent use of FBI resources.
Also, I’ve heard a cat is stuck in a tree. GO GET ‘EM, MEN!
@Applekid: Well, in order to properly assess the damages, they’re going to need to evaluate a broad selection of titles from throughout the pornographic ouveure… you know, both for background research and to identify exactly what the viewers were exposed to… and therein lies the porn industry bailout.
@drjayphd: Porn industry -stimulus-.
@drjayphd: Clarence Thomas has been deputized as a Special Agent in Charge of Research.
@Applekid: Tell them that the cat’s name is “Hussein”, and they’ll bring Homeland Security too.
FBI = new big brother?
@snowburnt: I’d say the FBI is the original big brother.
@lowercase: Fair enough@humphrmi: Maybe big brother isn’t the right term…It just seems like lately the FBI has been involving itself in every sort of investigation imaginable particularly if the organization is failing to investigate on it’s own.
see: peanuts
@snowburnt: Hmmm? FBI investigating who illegally hacked into Comcast’s systems and interrupted their broadcast is ‘big brother’?
Great to know that all those white-collar, million-dollar criminals are safely locked away for decades and their assets returned. And that Terror, Inc has sent out a press release announcing they’re giving up on attacking the US.
Wait – boobies! What was I saying?
@Trai_Dep: actually it was dick not boobies. If it was boobies it would just be a fine.
Good luck with that investigation. What are they going to do, dust for prints? I could have been a dozen people at dozens of points in the network, all with a reason the be there, and no logging on the video systems to look at.
as mentioned in the previous discussion of this topic – its just a dick people! unclench!
@Davan: Oh sure, unclench. I know where that THING goes after that lowering of the guard. Do not want!
@Applekid: Damn. Doesnt work on my girlfriend either
@Davan: They should consider themselves lucky it wasn’t a Max Hardcore clip.. now THAT would be epic.. the clip from the superbowl was like a high school kid discovering it’s hillarious when you swing your manhood and make slapping sounds.. it was more like farting infront of your friends and laughing than offensive.. kind of a let down really.
@Davan: This is a lot of people we’re talking about. This aint the people who go: “Oh, it’s a porn movie. How joyful.” these are the people who will freak the fuck out when they see this: “OH MY GOD, ITS A PENIS! CALL THE COPS, THE FCC, THE MAYOR, JUST GO!”
People freaked out over Janet Jackson’s nipple, guess they can also freak out about seeing a wangly manhood.
But this ranks on the lines of shock of “Find Your Son/Daughter Looking At Porn”. if it was in the middle of “something”, or if it was nationwide, THEN it would be more shocking.
I love how the article says “viewers…were subjected to a 30-second clip from a pay-per-view porn channel.” Like the clip held them down and went all medieval on their ass. Is the sight of a male member really that damaging to people in Tucson?
@ThickSkinned: That’s not why Comcast asked the FBI to help. Comcast can’t figure out why it happened and they’ve asked the FBI to find out if somebody did it maliciously.
@ThickSkinned: The people of Tucson actually are that “innocent” and surely scarred by the dude waving his wang around. I’m sure the moral majority population there are still making phone calls about this, and before you know it, Border Patrol, DHS, Sheriff Joe (yes, wrong county…making a point here!), and the Men in Black will decent on Tucson to solve this evil deed.
/Grew up in Tucson
Uhh, why the FBI? Wouldn’t this more accurately fall under the purview of the FCC?
We already have enough federal oversight of our communications.
@Rhayader: Comcast can’t figure out why it happened and they’ve asked the FBI to find out if somebody did it maliciously. It doesn’t have to do with the content of the programming. It has to do with a possible investigation of outside tampering.
@rubinow: Yeah, but outside tampering with a broadcast signal, right? It’s about the unaccounted broadcast of something. Sound like it’s right up the FCC’s ally to me.
@Rhayader: Hijacking someone’s broadcast signal is a federal crime. FBI.
@rubinow: The FCC is a federal institution too, no? They investigate federal violations that fall within their scope? Still failing to see the distinction.
@Rhayader: Of course the FCC is a federal institution, but it doesn’t inspect crimes. The FBI does that. The FCC is more of a regulatory commission.
If you look at the FCC website, the Commission is divided up into different bureaus. I have yet to find anywhere on that website where the FCC has authority or interest in investigating this type of crime. The FCC has an enforcement bureau, but, again, I can’t find anything that even comes close to what was described by Comcast. If you can find it, great! I might have missed it.
But in any event, even if the FCC DID have the power to investigate or regulate this type of incident, it would not preclude the FBI from conducting its own criminal investigation. The FCC can’t prosecute criminally. Criminal actions fall under the purview of the FBI. It looks like they want to know more about what happened in anticipation of filing a criminal complaint. It’s their job.
Wikipedia has an article entitled “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” which talks about similar incidents. It has a few lines about FCC regulations regarding signal intrusions, but curiously, there are no links to back it up. The FCC website turns up nothing when you search for “broadcast signal intrusion” or even “signal intrusion.” “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_signal_intrusion
@rubinow: The FCC’s interest might come under 301 of the Communications Act which says you need a license to broadcast. But it still doesn’t preclude the FBI from conducting its own investigation and bringing charges or conducting its investigation and giving that info to the FCC.
If it turns out that the perpetrator did not have a license, I’m not sure what the FCC would or could do about it anyway.
@rubinow: Ya know, if someone did it intentionally, I bet it would’ve lasted a whole lot longer than 30 inches…er…seconds.
@LastAndLeast: The FCC would get involved if say, 300 people filed complaints with them because they were upset they got flashed with a penis during the Super Bowl.
That’s not what this is though. Comcast is trying to find out if someone did it on purpose and possible committed a crime. For that, you go to the FBI.
@LastAndLeast: I guess that’s what they’re all trying to find out.
@Rhayader: Didn’t you know that in the New Conservative United States of America porn is a crime.
I got this story over twitter, and expected something entirely different:
Here’s my screenshot: [farm4.static.flickr.com]
“Comcast says their systems were fun?!?”
Meanwhile, all other crimes have been solved.
Wouldn’t this be an issue for the FCC? If not, why?
@midwestkel: As mentioned a dozen times before, this does not have to do with the subject that was seen, but rather HOW it happened, because Comcast is claiming it wasn’t a technical problem, meaning that someone else did it, which would then be a federal crime.
@midwestkel: Because this is Cable, not broadcast. The issue didn’t involve normal broadcast TV, so no FCC jurisdiction.
I personally hate that the FCC is the censor for the airwaves.
In this case Comcast wants to see if it was done maliciously.
@corsec67: From wikipedia: The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 as the successor to the Federal Radio Commission and is charged with regulating all non-federal government use of the radio spectrum (including radio and television broadcasting), and all interstate telecommunications (wire, satellite and cable) as well as all international communications that originate or terminate in the United States.
@MercyEleusis: That is not an answer. Isn’t the FCC in charge of methods of communication as much as they are in the content? Isn’t this ultimately a question of the method by which this was broadcast? Sounds like a perfect fit to me.
@Rhayader: Not if the signal was hacked from the outside to display that. Then no one under FCC rule was at fault, because a broadcaster themselves didn’t do it, and thus a criminal action. FCC has no Law Enforcement authority, FBI does.
Someone at Comcast turned a silly little case over to the FBI? Gah, what a dick!
Am I horrible for thinking that the FBI is only there to watch it?
“Ok, rewind”
“There.”
“Ahh yeah, that’s great.”
“What are we looking for, sir?”
“Ahh…well…uhm…”
@Twinrevanoe: But will they know it when they see it?
[en.wikipedia.org]
If they had let it run for 5 or 6 seconds before catching it, that would be one thing, but to let it run for 30 seconds? Who was asleep at the switch?
@MorvenCachondo:
Uhh, maybe the guy who was also responsible for the porn sneaking in?
My own theory is that this announcement by Comcast is just their way of scaring the bejeezus into one or more of their employees and causing them to confess before the FBI really gets involved. Nowhere does it actually say that the FBI agreed to take on the case.
@MorvenCachondo: The person probably wasnt asleep, they just didnt have any free hands to fix it.
@gamerecks: LOL! too busy fixing his own switch!
Please use my tax dollars for something important and relevant, please.
@shorty63136: If you did that you would have to probably about 99% of the government employees.
Honestly, who cares?
STFU and GBTW on DOCSIS 3.0 roll out please Comcast.
Phew. I am relieved that this issue is being handled by the FBI. After all, we now know that the financial collapse had its roots in the Janet Jackson Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.
@backbroken: C’mon can’t we have just one Superbowl without a bunch of nakedness?
FBI investigating the porno blunder? are you effing serious?
where the hell are we? cuba? check it out folks… communism won! you heard it here first!
The U.S.- Severed head – OK / Giving head – Not OK
What the fuck is this?
I’m pretty sure it was sabotage, a hilarious one at that.
American Football is definitely primitive bible thumping “Redneck Shit” as mentioned in a previous article. What better to see the reaction of these bible thumpers to hard core porn. Hell, if I were a comcast engineer, especially in a state where there are maybe 100 high school graduates for the whole state, I would do it to.
Who is the FCC going to fine on this?
@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: It was cable, not over the air. The FCC won’t fine anyone for porn on cable. Even though it was an over the air station affected, the porn appeared only on the local cable system’s feed of the station.
Dust for prints? More like get a DNA sample.
@Borax-Johnson:
Off the TV screen…
…from across the room.
I’m surprised Comcast didn’t charge them for it. Isn’t Spice and Playboy an extra cost subscription?
So… FBI has nothing else to do huh?
sure lets stop looking for terrorists and such so we can figure out who put a 30 second porn clip on our tv’s?!?! really? america? are we this sensitive? how about: “We dunno whodunit, sorry, now enjoy your 300 channels of comcasticity fun”!
@ceez: Except anyone who isn’t as free-thinking as you (or many other people on this thread, myself included) is going to get up in arms about it. It’s still immediate, and I would guess they think that the FBI’s time and resources are limitless. People working around the clock, yadda yadda yadda.
@ceez: Who said anybody was stopping the search for terrorists?
I wonder what would have happened if the game was interrupted with 2 Girls, 1 Cup instead of regular porn.
Right , well if they would move the tech from india , maybe they could find out what happened.
FBI – Female body inspectors HEHE
I would say this is legit. If Comcast transmissions were interrupted and they don’t know who did it, they need to figure out who did it and how to stop it. Sure, porn was (relatively) harmless, but if their security hole isn’t patched up, who knows what else could be broadcast without Comcast knowing.
@taybay: Don’t tell that to the people here, they’re still set on the content rather than the act.
Here is something to think about .If this is not investigated ,who can positively say that all our banking , SS#, passwords,or anything else we hold so dear to our privacy will not be compromised . I think that we should let them investigate anybody they want .But , they also need to investigate themselves or every other governmental institution.
It was Tyler Durden.
it was rather wholesome as porn goes.
Hmm. I see they are offering $10 to anyone who was exposed to pornography. I wounder if this is cumulative. At that I could easily retire.
Maybe it was Comcast’s attempt to satisfy the FCC’s “equal time” doctrine years after Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction.