Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts

Monday, July 4, 2011

Secret Service to probe hack on Fox News Twitter feed with fake Obama story

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Secret Service said Monday it will investigate the hacking of Fox's political Twitter account over updates claiming that President Barack Obama had been assassinated.

Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie says the law enforcement agency whose job it is to protect the president will conduct a probe of the false postings and that "we will conduct the appropriate follow up."

Hackers broke into the FoxNewsPolitics account early Monday, leaving a series of six tweets reporting that Obama had been shot to death in Iowa and the shooter was unknown.


In a statement posted on its website, Fox News called the tweets "malicious" and "false."

"We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts," said Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital.

An online magazine at New York's Stony Brook University, Think, reported that initial posts around midnight indicated the Fox News Twitter account had been hacked by a group called the Script Kiddies. Harmless posts announcing the group's hacking of the Fox News account were followed by the false posts about Obama, according to Think.

A Think staffer, Adam Peck, wrote on the magazine's website that he had exchanged electronic messages with a person claiming to be with the Script Kiddies shortly after the initial hacking. Later, however, the unidentified person would not confirm that the group was behind the Obama posts, Peck wrote.

Obama is spending the Independence Day holiday at a barbecue at the White House with military families and administration staffers.

Fox's political Twitter account has more than 34,000 followers. Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI uses an IPad to send out a Twitter message for the first time



VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has tweeted for the first time, announcing the launch of a Vatican news information portal.

Benedict’s tweet on Tuesday read:
“Dear Friends, I just launched News.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”

Vatican officials said the Benedict touched on a touchpad to send the tweet.

The portal www.news.va was launched for the feast day of St. Peter and Paul, which falls on June 29 but officially begins with a vesper service June 28.
Wednesday also marks the 60th anniversary of Benedict’s ordination as a priest.
The portal for the first time aggregates information from the Vatican’s various print, online, radio and television media.
The Vatican, the world’s smallest state and home to the Pope, has flip-flopped between embracing new technologies and standing by traditions, seeking to reach out to younger generations without estranging older, more traditional churchgoers.


Catholics who are more comfortable with technology than with church sacraments can use a $1.99 iPhone application, not endorsed by the Vatican, to help get through the process of confession. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in February 2009, when the application drew attention, that an iPhone is no substitute for a priest.


The application, available on Apple Inc.’s iTunes store, walks users through an examination of their conscience, including a review of past actions and identification of sins.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Great News : France Bans the Words “Twitter” and “Facebook” From Airwaves


Here's something you won't hear on French television news today: "For more information on the U.S. trial of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, follow us on Twitter."


French regulators have banned the words “Facebook” and “Twitter” from French TV and radio unless those words are used to refer to the companies themselves in news stories. 


The regulator, France’s Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel, says that it is "clandestine" advertising to use the names otherwise, violating a 1992 decree stipulating that commercial enterprises should not be promoted on news programs.


Christine Kelly, an advisor to France’s Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel reasons, “Why should we promote a network that is worth billions of dollars like Facebook and not for another one that is having a hard time getting known?”