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Comment by foxfired | Hacker News Reader

One thing that I thought was funny about the hackers remotely hacking the Jeep, is that after the article was published and posted here, an HN user went on and reported them to them to High Way patrol.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9921987

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And the HN user that reported them did the right thing IMO. Ethical research is a thing.

The user reported them to hi-po not because they were 'hacking', but because they intentionally created a dangerous situation on a highway by stalling a car, which could have gotten multiple people killed.

It's similar to the guy that decided to connect to the turbofan with his laptop on a populated passenger airplane in flight.

I argued at the time that no matter what actions they took on the highway, they were placing other cars at risk.

There are so many interactions in a vehicle that the researchers have no way of knowing with absolute certainty what will happen whenever they twiddle a bit.

Yes, 99 times out of 100, things may go as expected. The 100th time one of the O2 sensors happens to be misbehaving and suddenly your car is accelerating unexpectedly because software.

(Warning: the above example is probably complete bullshit but listen to John Hughes talk about property testing the CAN bus and you'll get nervous about ever driving again.)

> It's similar to the guy that decided to connect to the turbofan with his laptop on a populated passenger airplane in flight.

Link?

I think the poster you're replying to is mis-remembering. I'm not sure. IIRC, there was an article alleging that a passenger managed to force a slight turn of an aircraft, but subsequent investigation turned up evidence suggesting it didn't actually happen. Or at least I don't think there was any evidence the engines were under the hacker's control for any length of time.

The only articles I could find were these:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5531679

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8139905

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9402336

But the first one makes some rather dubious claims and doesn't align with my memory of what I believe your OP is remembering. My Google-Fu isn't working out well for me tonight (in my defense, it's late, I'm tired, and I'm reading this for entertainment...).

Edit, also these:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/17/us/fbi-hacker-flight-computer-...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/05/16/chris-roberts-...

Among others. I couldn't find the HN discussion on this, though.

Edit edit: Found the HN links:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9557875

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9568050

Wired published a relatively lengthy article on the incident(s):

https://www.wired.com/2015/05/feds-say-banned-researcher-com...

> The user reported them to hi-po not because they were 'hacking', but because they intentionally created a dangerous situation on a highway by stalling a car, which could have gotten multiple people killed.

Not due to hacking, but a few weeks ago I had been involved in an accident because a Mercedes SUV randomly shut down in the middle of the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, and I had to stop in a line of cars behind said SUV while the driver behind me didn't stop in time. Luckily no one was killed(one injury, not me, but my car got totaled) but had there been any involvement in their part on something like that, I would've lawyered up and sued Wired.

Not really that funny if you watch the actual video.

You can watch it from 2:00 onwards:

http://dp8hsntg6do36.cloudfront.net/55ad80d461646d4db7000005...

Okay, so what did the High Way Patrol (is that seriously a thing?!) do about it?

Yup.

I like how people asks if the setting was necessary. Would they have got off their asses if it wasn't done on public roads?

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