This article was published on August 19, 2016

Anonymous hackers deface road sign with a cheeky message to protest police brutality


Anonymous hackers deface road sign with a cheeky message to protest police brutality

It’s well known hackers and cops don’t always get along, but this is particularly true when it comes to this hacking collective.

Earlier this week, an anonymous group hacked a road sign and in Denver, Colorado and changed the reading on the screen with a rather derogatory anti-police message – one you’ve probably heard numerous times before.

traffic sign hack police1
Credit: It's Going Down

The hackivists then explained their operation in an anonymous entry for ItsGoingDown. They were somewhat obscure as to why they left the cheeky message, but the hacking collective told ItsGoingDown it was an act of protest against police brutality:

We did this minor action as a showing of resistance to the growing police state and systems of domination everywhere and in revolutionary solidarity with all those who choose to take action against these systems of domination and oppression and the police who uphold them, who choose to fight back, in revolutionary solidarity with all those who choose to take sides and NOT to remain innocent, people fighting in the streets, in the prisons and jails and detention centers: this is for you! From Denver to Milwaukee to the prison cells of  Korydallos to the mountains of Rojava: The fight lives on!

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traffic sign hack police
Credit: It's Going Down

This isn’t the first time hackers tamper with road signs to troll the authorities and rebel against police injustice.

Days after the shooting and killing of Alton Sterling in July, someone hacked and defaced an electronic sign in Georgia with a similar message.

While the rebellious message will certainly get a smirk from casual passerby here and there, in reality such so-called acts of resistance rarely lead to any meaningful change and in most cases simply add more fuel to the fire.

Hackers may want to look into more effective ways of battling injustice.

via Hackread

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