Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass
'Rude' scooters play offensive messages
Lime scooters in Brisbane have been making suggestive and offensive comments to riders after pranksters swapped audio files on some vehicles.
The scooters were hacked to make a variety of comments most of which were sexual in nature, local papers in the city reported.
At least eight scooters had files swapped in the cyber-attack.
Lime said the prank was "not funny" and that it was working to return the hacked scooters to their normal state.
[...] One message had the scooter saying: "Don't take me around, because I don't like to be ridden."
Another played when riders ended a journey on a scooter at which point the speaker on the gadget said: "No, where you go?"
Lime spokesman Nelson Savanh told the Brisbane Times that the prank was the work of "vandals" and that it was checking its entire fleet to see how many had been tampered with.
"It's not smart, it's not funny and is akin to changing a ringtone," he said.
"It's disappointing that someone has taken this opportunity to poke fun at members of the community in a hurtful way," added Mr Savanh.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @06:53AM (3 children)
Too easy to tamper with apparently. They could have done something dangerous instead of something funny. This is like the computer malware of yesteryear where you would get an ambulance driving around your screen instead of one morning waking up to bank account balance at 0.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Sunday April 28 2019, @01:27PM (2 children)
Indeed. Or for more generous fun they might avoid billing the rider, and end with something like "Nice traveling with you, this ride was on me." (Or whatever variation best suits how they sidestep the rental method.)
Lime should be grateful scooters are being hacked for such lighthearted fun - it alerts them to a potentially far worse problem at a tiny loss.
At the same time, publicly calling out such minor vandalism (I'd say changing a ringtone is about right - not even the annoying cleanup and potential damage from applying a sticker) does help remind people thinking of joining in that it is still rude and incurs real costs. As well as letting their customers know that such vandalism exists someplace they might not expect it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @03:09PM (1 child)
> it alerts them to a potentially far worse problem at a tiny loss.
I think this is a great hack, and it should be taken as a lesson by anyone adding computers to vehicles. Scooters don't have power assist steering or brakes (no computer controllable parts), so the only major control system that a hack could attack is the battery & motor drive. If the scooter stops due to a software attack, well, that is a problem, but probably not a major safety problem (unless power was cut at a critical moment in traffic).
The same can't be said for larger vehicles and autonomous vehicles.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Monday April 29 2019, @02:42PM
You sure about the brakes? I don't know about these, but it seems like quite a few scooters have some level of regenerative braking, which for most purposes is effectively the same thing, though mechanical manual override seems common (i.e. software detects and reacts to light "braking" before the brake pads ever come in contact), which means the brakes can't be cut completely.
You could still pull some life threatening tricks though - such as detecting when the user starts to brake and engaging maximum acceleration instead.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @07:00AM (2 children)
It's actually very funny.
Lime aka Neutron Holdings, Inc. should be destroyed.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Booga1 on Sunday April 28 2019, @07:08AM (1 child)
Bwaaahahahahaha!
No, seriously, it IS funny.
If they don't want people hacking the software on their scooters, maybe they should actually secure it?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by krishnoid on Sunday April 28 2019, @07:27AM
Releasing unsecured software isn't smart, and makes altering software as easy as changing a ringtone. As an end-user it is funny; as a developer, hearing again about unsecured software released into the wild, though, isn't really that funny anymore.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @07:08AM (7 children)
Maybe I'm just thick-skinned, maybe I just cannot comprehend the touchiness of Brisbanes general public (and mind you, most Aussies I've met have been exceptionally fun people!), ..... but the most offensive part of these messages, the utter rudeness, the terrifying criminal energy of these heinously anti-social juvenile perpetrators ... seems to be the fact that they've shown off the total incompetence of the company's upper management for ALL TO SEE !!! (ahemm... hear)
At least that's the vibe I'm getting from the official statement, considering I found the given scooter quotes funny and not offensive, and also considering that in my experience most technical people _need _ to actually be, but sadly also _can_ be, forced into incompetence by management demanding the impossible.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @07:26AM (3 children)
When you live in a society hellbent on censoring everything offensive, the next best thing becomes the new offensive thing. And so the cycle continues.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @09:06AM
People!
1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are WARNINGS not MANUALS
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @09:14AM (1 child)
Yeah, right, freedom of speech, bitches. You offended, you snowflake prick? Suck it up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @08:59PM
Sounds like you are though.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday April 28 2019, @08:23AM (1 child)
no one in Brisbane was offended by the noises (well, maybe someone's maiden aunt, or hipster prude vegan might have been)
the scooters themselves are offensive.. but that is a different story.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @09:17AM
Seems that mr Nelson Savanh was expressing his hope the members of community were hurt.
Maybe this is why his disappointed?
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday April 29 2019, @12:00AM
It is not the Brisbane general public upset by this, but Lime Scooters management.
Lime Scooters is an American company, headquartered in the US.
Of course Mr. Savanh is wrong, as other posters have pointed out, it is funny, and it's the company having fun poked at them, not members of the community.
(Score: 5, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday April 28 2019, @08:27AM (2 children)
As always, we send our thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by the horrible hack attack in Brisbane, Austria. Home of Fraser Anning, who we love. Hopefully Fraser is O.K. and Brisbane's great, and very brave law enforcement officers will soon apprehend a Suspect. Or Suspects, right? Believe me, I'm working very hard -- with my Cyber Security Czar, Rudy Giuliani( so smart) to make sure this NEVER HAPPENS in U. S. A. In America. God bless you all!!!!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @03:00PM (1 child)
They should have bought American scooters, much safer. The Austrians are famous and proud peoeple but not good at scooters historically. They're good at other things. Scooters - no. For scooters they should have gone with the USA.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday April 28 2019, @06:12PM
They've had some great politicians. And, they have some great politicians. Fraser is one of the greats, one of the very best. And he's always welcome at the White House. They haven't made him President yet, hopefully that's happening very soon. They can send Fraser or they can send somebody else. I'll get them a tremendous deal either way. On the Scooters -- we have the best Scooters you've ever seen in your entire life. And we can talk about, maybe it's time for Austria to start defending itself -- Weapons. U.S. A. makes the best Weapons of anybody. They're one of the richest countries, they have all this money from their incredible Chocolate Industry, I can get them a terrific price. And we can help with their nuclear too. I mean, they're going to get it sooner or later. They might as well get it from us. Win win!!!!
(Score: 2) by deimios on Sunday April 28 2019, @09:28AM
I dunno, Scooter always seemed offensive to me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RneoccuJwY [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Gaaark on Sunday April 28 2019, @12:56PM (1 child)
"Don't take me around, because I don't like to be ridden."
That IS funny...I'd laugh.
I'd also include "Oh yeah...touch me like that..................yeah....."
"Bicycle, bicycle, BIcycle...you want to ride your bicycle.."
"Fat bottom girls..."
Who'd NOT laugh
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by Entropy on Sunday April 28 2019, @03:38PM
No means no..
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday April 28 2019, @06:43PM
That's what they were getting upset about? I was expecting them to be saying stuff like "Oi, cunt, yer muvver owes me 50 quid an' if she ain't paid up by teatime tomorrow me mates'll come around an' break 'er legs" or something. This? This is friggin' hilarious. Sounds to me like what's got the company upset is it showed how incompetent they were.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @06:52PM (2 children)
Am I the only one who wonders why a scooter plays audio files?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 28 2019, @08:37PM
No good reason, maybe, "because it can?"
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Monday April 29 2019, @12:06AM
Because watching video clips is dangerous while in traffic, so audio ads only.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by progo on Monday April 29 2019, @02:26PM (1 child)
This isn't a prank. It's a warning to security-minded users:
If these scooters have a software-controlled wheel-locking brake for their sleeping state, and if that brake has no safety interlocks to prevent crashing the scooter while it's in motion, then all Lime scooters are unsafe to ride because the software is not under anyone's complete control.
(Score: 2) by progo on Monday April 29 2019, @02:30PM
Actually they've already demonstrated [thelocal.ch] locking the wheels while the scooter is in motion, in the field.
slow clap