Examples of hacked matrix signs?

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RJDG14
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Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by RJDG14 »

I was looking at Insulate Britain's website and at the bottom of the homepage is a picture of a matrix sign on what appears to be the Welsh section of the M4 reading "INSULATE BRITAIN":

https://www.insulatebritain.com/

Given their highly disruptive tactics, it makes me wonder if they actually managed to hack the sign somehow (the image does not look to have been edited), and if so how they likely did so when they probably had no access to the control room where the signs are normally controlled from.

Are there any other notable examples of matrix signs on motorways or major roads in the UK which have been hacked?
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RichardA35
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by RichardA35 »

Unless others know better, I suspect they used the well known tool of photoshop.....
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Chris Bertram
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by Chris Bertram »

RichardA35 wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 07:50 Unless others know better, I suspect they used the well known tool of photoshop.....
Agree, the font looks all wrong, size and proportions are dodgy.
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RJDG14
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by RJDG14 »

Chris Bertram wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 08:52
RichardA35 wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 07:50 Unless others know better, I suspect they used the well known tool of photoshop.....
Agree, the font looks all wrong, size and proportions are dodgy.
Now that I've looked closer, I can see that the text is a little wonky.

Not everything you see in photos is fake, though. The wind turbines in my avatar are real.
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RichardA35
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by RichardA35 »

In general, the simple explanation is usually right.

A mess* up rather than a conspiracy.

(* alternative word available)
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Alderpoint
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by Alderpoint »

Are they no longer programmable via a simple text message?
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the cheesecake man
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by the cheesecake man »

A sympathetic insider isn't completely impossible. Or an unauthorised appendage to the sign.
But applying Occam's Razor: Photoshop
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by Chris5156 »

If you look closely, both A's in the picture have the same dead pixels in the same place, which strongly suggests that they were made by copying and pasting a single letter A from a real sign. Photoshop.
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the cheesecake man
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by the cheesecake man »

Chris5156 wrote: Sat Oct 09, 2021 09:19 If you look closely, both A's in the picture have the same dead pixels in the same place, which strongly suggests that they were made by copying and pasting a single letter A from a real sign. Photoshop.
:applause: Excellent detective work. Now you mention it the Ns do too.
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Truvelo
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Re: Examples of hacked matrix signs?

Post by Truvelo »

the cheesecake man wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 20:47
Chris5156 wrote: Sat Oct 09, 2021 09:19 If you look closely, both A's in the picture have the same dead pixels in the same place, which strongly suggests that they were made by copying and pasting a single letter A from a real sign. Photoshop.
:applause: Excellent detective work. Now you mention it the Ns do too.
Which is something you never saw in any of my doctored WAI's from years ago :@
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