Ok I’m extremely late on this issue but I had no idea that Burger King was hacked on twitter! I’m writing about this now because I just wrote about it for my “summary of a hack” assignment. I just thought I would let you guys in on it if you hadn’t heard about it yet. I guess for the people like me who didn’t have twitter before signing up for this class it will be something new! Check these tweets out guys. Really I think they are so funny! Of course I think the hacker goes a little too far when he insults the Burger King employees, but everything else is funny (especially sighting the operation as “OpMadCow”).
Here’s a link if you guys want to check it out: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/18/burger-king-twitter-hacked_n_2711661.html
Hacking Rhetoric 
October 15, 2013 at 4:56 pm
Wow, this is fascinating. I never knew and this is really surprising. I mean, what would they do with a hacked Burger King account? It’s not like that they can steal out the recipe or something.
October 17, 2013 at 12:54 am
I know we are discouraged from trolling… but hacks/trolls like this can be very funny. What do you think there argument couldve been from hacking burger king? See if the could do it? Kicks? Lols? Maybe even a commentary on marketing/advertising through social media. Or even vegetarian activist!
October 17, 2013 at 1:45 am
I have in mind that the folks who claimed responsibility for this talked about their rationale somewhere … I’ll try and locate the source I’m thinking of.
Anyway, Blanche, I think you raise a good point about potential merits of trolling. For me, there’s a question of audience here–I have a lot less sympathy for the multimillion dollar company Burger King than I would for, oh, say (hyperbolic example ahead), the single parent who runs my struggling local news stand … and consequently, I found the Burger King hack pretty hilarious when it happened. If it happened to a sole business owner, chances are it wouldn’t produce the same affect–in large part, I think, because the consequences for Burger King seem so much less dire than they might be for someone in a less secure position. That question of comparative impact is one I was trying to get at with the ‘no trolling’ dictate in the class–not so much to say ‘don’t poke fun at people’, but rather ‘don’t hurt anyone in this class, because if it’s going to work we have to be a community and to do that, we have to start from a place of trust’.
What do you guys think? Are there trolls who are more acceptable than others? What makes them more or less offensive? And to whom?
October 18, 2013 at 3:35 am
I agree, I definitely think that trolling is more acceptable in certain situations. I have a lot less sympathy towards a big powerhouse organization like Burger King getting hacked than I would if a smaller company (or single parent news stand) got hacked. I think that, in general, we tend to not feel as bad for people or companies who are wealthy and successful, and we tend to empathize more with smaller, struggling individuals or groups. Hackers also get more exposure and recognition if they target powerful and well-known organizations, so they are less likely to spend time hacking mom and pop shops.
October 18, 2013 at 3:50 am
I definitely tend to condone trolls versus a major corporation or certain public figures and politicians, while condemning others! Personal affronts against an individual or unacceptable. Especially hacks like blackmailing someone with nudes/ or flat out harassment and cyber bullying. Feel like I have been seeing many headlines recently about teen troll-victims committing suicide… very tragic.
November 19, 2013 at 5:43 am
Hey Devon, cool blog post! You should definitely check out James Pinkerton’s blog posts, they are formidable and glorious. When I read his beautiful prose I cry every time. Check his stuff out.