Recently a report spread like a wildfire on Facebook and Twitter that famed rapper Tupac Shakur was shockingly “alive and well” in New Zealand, 15 years after he has been dead. Of course Tupac Shakur is no longer alive, however if you had of seen the very legitimate web story, you may have though otherwise.
As reported by The Huffington Post, the report on PBS News Hour “The Rundown”carried the headline “Tupac still alive in New Zealand” with a timestamp of May 29, 2011 at 11:30 PM EDT. It includes a picture of Tupac and as of 1 a.m. Monday morning, it was still live on the PBS site.
PBS News Hour online engagement staffer Teresa Gorman spent pretty much spent all of Sunday night, during the holiday weekend, replying to folks on Twitter, telling them the report is false and PBS has been hacked. The Lulz Boat has claimed responsibility for hacking the PBS news site that claimed that Tupac was still alive. Could you imagine actually seeing this as it went across the screen, especially being that PBS is a well-known, well-respected national site. Not only had the hackers posted the “Tupac Alive” Web update to the PBS site, but on the networks Twitter it posted information for staffers, the PBS network, and password info for PBS stations. According to Secure Business Intelligence, LulzSec has attacked several high-profile organizations in the last month, although it is known to hack for “entertainment and infamy,” rather than financial gain. All I have to say is this right proves that there are some people out there who will do anything for attention. Hopefully authorities have taken the best procedures possible so that this hacker will not attack again…doesn’t he know that too many of us have bad nerves, man!
