Hacker Fun with Traffic Controls (And News of a Give-Away at DEF CON!)

EFF Charity Poker Tournament at DEF CON...
eff.org/poker
Sci-Hub...
www.sci-hub.st...
I should probably also just leave this here, and the thirty-year-old song is now in all of your heads and you have to listen to the whole thing...
• Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba...
-- ----- ----------
When waiting at a traffic intersection, I will often press the nearby beg button. Not in an attempt to make the HandMan signal change to "Walk" faster, but to see if there are additional voices programed in. Did you know that you can press and hold on these controls for some interesting results sometimes? Give it a try while you're out in Las Vegas for Black Hat, BSides, and DEF CON! (Just don't attempt to hack these systems even though it seems like they have pretty poor security!) Enjoy! 👍😁👍
-- ----- ----------
I'm on the Fediverse. That's a great place to find me...
defcon.social/...
I'm also on Instagram. I mostly use it for liking my friends' photos...
/ deviantollam
Bluesky is a newer community, and I'm over there, too...
bsky.app/profi...
I'm also on Discord, but mostly only because my daughter uses it, lol...
/ discord
I post dumb questions to Reddit and sometimes answer folks' questions there, too...
/ deviantollam
This is my GitHub. I post my design files there...
github.com/dev...
I still have my Twitter account. I don't use it anymore and neither should you...
/ deviantollam
This is my personal web site. Most things i create wind up online...
deviating.net
This is my company. We're good at stuff...
enterthecore.net
This is where I train. Come and learn badass skills...
redteamallianc...
-- ----- ----------

[@-book]

giggling at the guy behind you around the two minute mark looking over nervously as you explain what "not" to do LUL. great shirt btw

[@DeviantOllam]

yeah there were many many more instances of people on the street being fun-weird around me as i tried to film this, lol

[@Felix-Orion]

The prospector voice is gold

[@DeviantOllam]

i see what you did there 👉😁👉💰

[@AntiComposite]

Press and hold may also activate other features such as extended crossing time for accessibility.

[@DeviantOllam]

2:42 it will be fun to watch the playback metrics on this video and see this specific point spike through the roof as people keep replaying that clip over and over 😂🚦🚸

[@laptop006]

Everyone replays it one way or the other

[@BloodAsp]

Do you have the source of the video at that time stamp?

[@StevenVeldt]

Well now you've put your finger on the scale with that link

[@greenockscatman]

Ya got me

[@DeviantOllam]

@@BloodAsp some adorable and funny person, one must assume

[@twiceineverymoment]

Of all the things I was expecting to happen at 2:42 "SCATMAN!!!" was not one of them 🤣

[@Bready_Player_Bun]

This is Scatman's World, we're just living in it.

[@KORUPTable]

Y W N B A W

[@NotJustBikes]

I am definitely going to try this. Also, thank you for normalizing standing around filming traffic infrastructure. 😉

[@DeviantOllam]

Yoooooo, awesomely amazing to see you here. Keep up the terrific work. Love it all, both videos and the soothing yet funny narration. ☺️👍🚲🚋🚇

[@rustymustard7798]

Ever since i was a kid i'd try holding any button i thought would have any hidden features. By the time i was a teen hackable devices like this started appearing in public. Hold the button for various duration usually 2,5,10, 15 and 30 seconds. Try double clicking, triple click, click 7 times for developer mode, etc. With screens, i cracked a few by multitouch clicking or holding areas like combinations of corners, edges, and whatnot. Try gestures at the edges as well.This worked as far back as the late 80's on early CRT touchscreen kiosks started popping up in malls and such.

[@SloanStewart]

always a joy to break out of kiosk mode and try to see if i could browse the web on internet explorer or something, ha.

[@TheTubejunky]

Raspberry pi controlled vending machines ftw

[@rustymustard7798]

@@SloanStewart Yep, i've gotten admin or root on several devices like that. Back then EVERY default worked, mostly admin/password lol. One fun one was these Hallmark plotter printer kiosks in Walmarts that would draw personalized greeting cards on demand. Holding the top left and bottom right corners of the touch display would just drop me into Windows 3.1 lol.

[@rustymustard7798]

@@TheTubejunky Lol i'm considering building something solar powered like this to vend cut firewood, water gallons, and small outdoor products (like sunscreen, lip balm, etc.) at my house. I live off grid up on a mountain, people hike and camp up here. They all have to pass by my place right before the trailheads and campsites.

[@lightningdemolition1964]

I used to hack museum display phones by clicking the hang up switch 9 times to get an outside line then calling my friends back home. I think it even worked in an elevator once.

[@MakeItHackin]

Crosswalks in Vegas this weekend are going to be hilarious

[@JpWi]

The best part of academia, you pay to do the research (which you may or may not get reimbursed for) only to have someone else put your paper behind a paywall. Most authors will send you their paper for free if you send them an email. Or at least point you to a torrent of it they may or may not host.

[@prophetzarquon]

Same goes for a lot of non-academic scientists & artists & even coders: The most essential works are not created with exclusivity in mind.

[@MichaelJenkins910]

Hey folks, these are safety devices for the visually impaired. Please bear that in mind before engaging with them in any way. Thanks!

[@TheTubejunky]

So I guess they got to the intersection without the need for that crossing button. Imagine that. They're not dumb. Just blind.

[@WackoMcGoose]

@@TheTubejunky More the fact that, without the voice _working as intended,_ they don't know when it's safe to _cross._ Replacing the audio "as a prank", could cause someone else to be turned into road pizza.

[@NaoPb]

@@WackoMcGoose You're right. The only way this might be funny is to replace them with different voices saying the same thing. A voice clip of Deviant for example. He's said the word Wait multiple times in this video.

[@WackoMcGoose]

@@NaoPb Agreed, as long as it's as _functional_ as is normally intended, swapping out the voice lines with your own saying them would be kinda funny...

[@sideshow4417]

Ba-da-ba-da-ba-be bop-bop-bodda-bope

[@mamarshall01]

Actually, just shared this with a lot of my other blind friends. They also have an app that can be used to activate the crosswalk with accessibility built-in. Meaning it in for structure I’m not sure how many times it implemented but I guess we can find that out.

[@economicprisoner]

is THAT why I have to hold the button so long to get an audible signal? They assume you will be using an app?!? Not actually blind. More neurodivergend and the audible signal helps to let me know when the signal is active.

[@n0tthemessiah]

Generic Old-timey Prospector voice is cool and all, but Yosemite Sam was right there the whole time

[@Zero_Phux_Given]

I love this! The music at the crosswalk is a vibe, it would be cool if cities implemented that at specific crosswalks where appropriate.

[@fluffychrist2]

I have been programming these for the last 8 years, and I didn't know about the press and hold

[@bitkarek]

you suck then ;D

[@aquaticontent]

no shade but if you didn't know then what does programming them even involve doing if you've been at it for over a decade and didnt know that

[@3nertia]

@@aquaticontent A valid question that I would also like the answer to! Likely it just means "uploading code I know nothing about" these days heh

[@PanoptesDreams]

@@aquaticontent Sometimes functions are obscured or simply unused. They may not have been taught. It's very typical for a hacker to be more initmately familiar with a system than the people setting them up. Program in this sense could literally be opening a GUI and setting parameters. Not all programming is coding and terminals.

[@Urbanstormm]

You mean you’ve been setting them up, not programming them. A programmer of the product would know about the press and hold function as they are the ones who hard-coded that feature within the product.

[@TransitAndTeslas]

LMAO, I thought I was the only one who goes "Wait" "Wait" "Wait" to each other!

[@DeviantOllam]

Oh i can assure you that you are not 😂

[@3nertia]

I tell people "please standby while the current program completes" xD

[@googleadministrator3994]

See, I always add the "Wait to cross [road of significance] road at [crossroad of significance] drive."

[@yeetyeet7070]

scatman ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop

[@donniedamato]

Extra points to the "Translate to English" link by KZbin for this comment.

[@P_RO_]

"Everybody stutters one way or another"- so true. RIP Scatman

[@BorealSelfReliance]

I love the shirt, Joey Santore (Crime Pays But Botany Doesnt) is making some "Steal Your Education, Sci Hub" shirts too -- I think a portion of the sales are going to the folks behind Sci Hub.

[@LoreTunderin]

I absolutely LOVE Joey's channel. It's just so unexpected to hear someone with his accent and demeanor saying the nerdy stuff he says.

[@codysellers5836]

These are fun. I was a warehouse manager for a company that shipped ped devices, traffic signals, traffic signal boxes, etc. while I was never a tech and couldn’t properly set one up I learned enough to screw them up. But you’d need a key to the signal box to even start. However if you ever get a chance to interview or talk with a tech that handles the setups for complicated intersections in cities those guys have fun brains to pick at.

[@BryanTorok]

I've wanted to be able to get into the large LED billboards by the side of highways. They often run multiple rotating ads, each displayed for a few seconds. I thought it would be neat to insert an ad or announcement, nothing nasty, and see how long it lasted before the company that owns them noticed.

[@TheBryantbush]

I don’t know about your area, but the ones in my area are just giant remote computer monitors, probably running a PowerPoint slideshow. I’ve seen a couple that have had sections of the windows start menu up on them multiple times and once saw a couple that had blue-screened. I don’t think just “inserting” your own slide would be super easy in that setup, unfortunately.

[@BryanTorok]

@@TheBryantbush I was thinking that maybe I could remote access whatever is running at the site and add my own slide. But, that would require a lot of inside knowledge.

[@janthran]

@@BryanTorok find the company that makes them and look up the patent?

[@runed0s86]

@@TheBryantbush It's a basic slideshow, with a folder of jpegs, usually running on windows embedded. The terminals have usbs. You don't need a monitor. Just a drone or webcam.

[@LincolnWorld]

This video cracked me up multiple times. I think we may have a similar sense of humor. One of these days I should go to an even you are talking about. Even knowing very little about hacking, I just get the feeling these things are fun events.

[@aaronwhite1786]

There's some of these in my neighborhood and you were the first person I thought of when I just started pushing and holding or tapping x number of times to see if it would do anything.

[@BIGV1N]

This is quite cool! The neverending nuggets of niche information and tricks are greatly appreciated! I'll be going for a walk tomorrow with the sole intent of exploring this new trick!

[@RnVjayBZb3V0dWJl]

0:39 Haha.. that sneaky hand just creeping into view to push the button had me crying x,D

[@KateGrayCode]

The ones in New Westminster, BC, will go "Traveling East/West/etc" when you hold them.

[@ZiggityPow]

20 years since Napoleon Dynamite. I live near and am in an organization with the Heder family and see Jon occasionally. Need to program crossings around here with "Go for it, Gosh!"

[@IHPI]

Gotta love scihub. Love your content! keep up the good work

[@Nderak]

im upset there isnt one with a texas drawl "wait…wait…wait yall to cross the... service road"

[@JZTres]

I know of a city in Texas that had custom sounds made for all their buttons. That was a country singer singing a message.

[@timothypryor7952]

Putting scatman john on the crosswalk. This is what I love. I was thinking I would make my local crosswalk tell helldivers to get in their hellpods.

[@ApricotVillage]

that "Wait" is embedded into my brain

[@ncot_tech]

We don't have such fun things over here in the UK. We just have a button and most of the time it's a simple compliance/behaviour control button rather than anything that controls the crossing. Although I am now going to try long pressing and double-tapping buttons to see if they do anything extra.

[@TheBaldr]

I don't know why, but I've been watching a dude from Mississippi that fixes tragic lights, very informative videos.

[@klausstock8020]

Scatman John's spirit is now Rick-rolling...uh, Scatman John-rolling...

[@ShagShaggio]

Ha, that's interesting. Totally gonna add that to my "weird shit to ask a lawyer next time I can afford to talk to one" list. Not that I could/would do this as I am just a dumb bystander with an ever increasing set of random interests but I am just curious how that sort of conversion would go lol. Anyways, ENGAGEMENT! Cheers.

[@Chirael]

That is a great shirt and giveaway; Alexandra Elbakyan is a wonderful human being and her project has probably saved or improved countless lives at this point ❤

[@TRD_Mike]

Love ya Dev! Have fun at Defcon.

[@DeviantOllam]

@@TRD_Mike I'll try to! ☺️👍

[@jameskooistra8878]

And just like that Polara is a break out number one download for the day!

[@TRLTheRandomLab]

In Vegas

[@ssprinklep9107]

looks like a blast! I live so close to def con, yet every year I cant make it happen! Keep the videos coming :)

[@cipher3966]

Great to know that. Now I can press and hold over and over to finally get past the confusion of having to cross a street

[@jmr]

I may have went through a phase where I always changed the self checkout to another language. My wife is going to be very annoyed with Deviant if she finds out where I learned this.

[@HankW]

The ones around Toronto will give you haptic feedback if you press and hold. Also that scatman clip is gold

[@devicemodder]

mississauga say "traveling east/west/north/south"

[@joshuagibson2520]

I miss the 90s. Telephony and boxing activities, etc. Good times and good memories.

[@MrHack4never]

Good to see that the US uses the same wait signal pattern as the EU (or, at least the one i always hear in Denmark)

[@MarkkuS]

Love that you call it beg button. My goto is slave button, you can see how much I love them ❤

[@JacksonB]

the press and hold feature im pretty sure is for the visually impaired, so if you press it and hold it doesn't tell you what street you'd be crossing then it needs to be programmed by the city.

[@supark9443]

Ah, morning hilarity. Thank you once again for a chuckle.

[@UserCommenter]

lmao u rockstar down to the shirt ‘n’ all. Have fun pokering!!! ❤EFF❤

[@loganhughey]

When I was younger my friends and I would have fun yelling into them and holding the button down, the volume of the speaker increases depending on outside noise.

[@timseguine2]

Dev is apparently the kind of guy you will literally give you the shirt off his own back.

[@helidude3502]

Loved the “Scatman” 😁

[@chromefinch]

I met him today at blackhat! So cool!!

[@Thesh00tinggallery777]

I love you. Your content is the best.

[@within_cells]

After my son started walking home from school, "WAIT" entered our household lexicon

[@chrisdixon5241]

Nice, though as much as I love Scatman John, I have to protest that the rules of the internet require that you use Rick Astley!

[@ms2649]

Or bad apple 😆

[@Lizlodude]

2:40 Just imagine, you're walking home after a night out with friends at a bar, a little tipsy, and you hit the cross button and it does that.

[@cleonanderson1722]

Alexandra Elbakyan has always been a personal hero of mine.

[@osculant]

Sorry don’t recall if it was in the video, I’m sure someone has mentioned it, but with a crosswalk in Redwood City CA, when I continually pressed the button, it started to vibrate when it was my turn to cross. Accommodating the visually and hearing impaired.

[@justinbanks2380]

Wait, there are ones that talk? The ones arlund me are just buttons and i was under the assumption that they didn't actually affect the traffic lights at all. That their sole purpose was to give you a button to push so that you feel you had some agency and control, while you wait for the traffic light pattern to run it's cycle so you can walk... 🤔

[@ParodieHecker-mobile]

That would be a waste of money for the city, wouldn't it?

[@justinbanks2380]

@@ParodieHecker-mobile yes. It would be. But politicians and other people in power often do things that are a waste to give an illusion a solution, as according to their calculations, it's both cheaper and easier than either resisting the pressure to fix an issue, or actually doing whatever is necessary to fix the said issue.

[@justinbanks2380]

For instance all of our security theatre at airports. It would be pretty easy to go through with objects that could be harmful, if that was your intent. They make all kind of ceramic and composite materials that metal detectors wouldn't catch. I got called for jury duty for the first time and had to come straight from an overnight shift of work. Was running late and didn't want to be late and in contempt of court. Get through metal detectors at the court house, seated in the room only to wait. I knew we couldn't bring phones in, but didn't know or expect a wait so didn't bring a book or anything. So start going through pockets and organizing wallet. To my horror, I realize I still have my 3.5 inch pocket knife that I use at work, clipped to my pocket. I get the bailiffs attention and point it out. He jokingly says, great metal detectors we have huh? He takes it and says I can get it when I leave for the day. I go through for lunch break, and get knife, another bailiff gives me the third degree until another points out I surrendered it myself, I wasn't trying to sneak it in. 'Magically' when I go back through the metal detectors after lunch, the alarm goes off for my belt buckle. I had left knife in car, but this is the same belt I was wearing the first time I went through . Long story short, they had adjusted the sensitivity to make it less sensitive as actually checking every alarm was too inconvenient. And this is in a court house where often people coming in have motive or ill will towards either the judge, officer, defendant, etc. If it's possible for someone to unknowingly to get in with a possible weapon, it would be extremely easy for someone trying to. But if they put up an illusion of solving the problem. With cameras, (that magically weren't on when the footage is actually needed) or making it where you can't bring nail clippers on a plane (because you're going to cut someone's nails to the quick to take control of a plane?) you can claim you're solving the problem. As most of these issues are rare, so doing something that has no effect and doing nothing, both result in seemingly solving an issue, as most don't realize how rare the events are in the first place.

[@judgemoses9015]

I went on a bad grindr date that started at that ramen shop once!

[@ms2649]

I was expecting a rick roll or bad apple (since we must run it on everything) but definitely not scatman 😂

[@MudakTheMultiplier]

If someone were hypothetically going to mess with these, they should definitely add whatever they're gonna add at the *end* of the list.

[@jaimemunoz5920]

So the thing I've always found funny at least with the ones in my area is that when you do cross it gives you the sound and it sounds like like a gun like a machine gun type sound is at least what I associate it with. I've always found that funny

[@NewbGamingNetworks]

I’ve noticed certain crossings are programmed like this. Never sure if it was a bug or intentional.

[@Aviator747a]

I had one get angry at my in Boston. I hit the thing like 25 times and then all of sudden the tone changed and it went WAIT! instead of wait.

[@Dwigt_Rortugal]

WAIT YOUR TURN!

[@cassandra2860]

That's an accessibility feature, if you hold for a few seconds or press really fast, some will go from saying "wait" to saying "WAIT! TO CROSS TREMONT STREET AT PARK STREET."

[@SeattleRingHunter]

2:44 next will be the Rick Roll 🤣

[@beachcoww]

kzbin.infopVB4oZVXWpE

[@timbober1]

Dev, I won’t be playing in a poker tournament and if I did I’m wouldn’t be skilled enough to knock you out. An intelligent friend who unfortunately has since died told me we were deviants. Like a lot of the things we talked about I had to take time to figure out what he was trying to say to me. At first I was offended, but the more I thought about it I realized it was a compliment. You remind me of him and that is a compliment.

[@DeviantOllam]

Awe, that's such a nice thing to say

[@P_RO_]

"A genius is essentially a non-conformist"- Max Rafferty 1961

[@3nertia]

@@P_RO_ This seems to be apocryphal as I can't find anywhere he said that - good line though!

[@danlowe8684]

There are two brands: Polara and Campbell (both of which you featured in video).

[@ME98878]

I hear you can also hack drive thru frequencies with a CB radio and a 6.5536 MHz crystal from a toaster.

[@joshuawlawson]

this works, dude!

[@brwyatt]

Was not expecting to recognize the street corner... Haven't been out that way in... uh... a while, though.

[@Vorgto]

I've totally never messed with traffic signals before and most definitely don't have an old video of that on my account.

[@madnar9]

Ooo - a Rick roll sound would be amazing

[@Pystro]

2:41 I was not prepared... I thought I knew what was coming, but I didn't.

[@sloany1967]

And a whole new fun pastime just became popular. Excuse me while I step outside for a second :)

[@SOOKIE42069]

this has the same energy as back when all coke machines had the same admin code and we'd fuck with the prices on everything in the school cafeteria

[@Sammasambuddha]

No one thought of Bladerunner? Walk now.......walk now.... Dont walk.....Dont walk.... Or from Syndicate Wars: Move along.....move along....

[@MichaelBerthelsen]

Man, I miss Scatman... R.I.P.♥️

[@samal3196]

This IS funny, don't get me wrong- but the idea of someone screwing with a crosswalk like this and leaving it that way makes me very concerned for blind folks trying to use the crossing

[@packjackisback]

The one near me resets

[@samal3196]

@@packjackisback Oh that's good! Hope that's standard

[@senseisecurityschool9337]

Yeah a SMART person could think of a way to mess around without making it dangerous. Such as maybe uploading a Yoda voice saying the same things. An uncreative dumbass would just make things dangerous.

[@USBCORD11]

Often if you email the author of a paper they will send it for free

[@dannydaw59]

A lot of the crosswalk buttons don't do anything but give the user a placebo effect. Someone hack into it to make it actually turn the light red. It's safer that way.

[@Skunkhunt_42]

Pswd is NOT 1234....cause thats the default you must change during setup.

[@TRLTheRandomLab]

And if it’s not 1234…. It’s *definitely* not 4321 or 1111 😉

[@mgancarzjr]

The amount of apartment building phone/access panels with the default password is troubling.

[@irdmoose]

We need more Scatman John crossing buttons in the world.

[@Pseudomeaningful]

Scihub ftw

[@nsv674]

I missed the first two minutes of this video because all I could think was "I want a sci hub t-shirt!"

[@kpanic23]

Ooooh, somebody has to change the "go" one to the Super Mario invincibility star music!

[@itaylori]

Are you based in Seattle? The intersection looks oddly familiar.

[@TRD_Mike]

He's standing on the corner of SW Alaska Way and 42nd Ave in West Seattle.

[@DeviantOllam]

@@TRD_Mike 📍

[@RickEmc2]

He is in fact very based, wherever he goes!

[@prophetzarquon]

I've been through a _lot_ of intersections that run two full traffic-light cycles or never give a crosswalk signal at all, unless someone presses the button. The idea that these buttons are _only_ for visually impaired people, is not consistent with how they're actually functioning. If that were true, every button would have always been a speaking button; but use of these buttons, long pre-date the new speaking models.

[@pineappleroad]

In the country where i live, the buttons always affect the light sequence, but usually not in the way people expect (with some traffic lights where i live, pressing the button activates a dedicated pedestrian phase where all the road lights turn red in all directions, and then all of the pedestrian signals turn green)

[@mcdpoor]

Interesting stuff

[@kuukeli]

love these

[@sillygolf14]

KZbin’s algorithm is broken it took me four months to see this when it should’ve given my phone an amber alert about it

[@ghostdog9833]

Man, and the year I'm going to defcon is next year 😂, just my luck. Side note; do you know if the biohacking village still does implant installs?

[@adammorris8112]

You could check on the Dangerous Things forum, 1 to see who will be there, and 2 if they know. Definitely a good source for implant information.

[@brocktechnology]

Surely the old time prospector intersection was hacked, hard to imagine las Vegas public works did that at one intersection.

[@brocktechnology]

@@manzion7599 I concede a high probability that the hacker works for the relevant agency but I can't see it being approved by head office.

[@ZiggityPow]

You could pass someone 2 numbers, street numbers for the intersection of 2 numbered streets, and dead drop more information to them using this.

[@blizzyblake]

Hosting mini raves at an intersection 🎉

[@TRLTheRandomLab]

You should do a collab with TrafficLightDoctor on traffic signal security

[@drmathochist06]

How's that QFC looking?

[@wubster100]

Are the wifi / bluetooth networks always broadcasting?

[@bdm1019]

Yes

[@mgancarzjr]

I try to hit the button in rhythm to minimize the time between _Wait_

[@coreyman00]

Press and hold here, chirps for blind crossing

[@alvmahn]

I've never changed a traffic light by strobing my work light at the 'first responder sensor' (late at night, only vehicle at the intersection)

[@wade-potato6200]

Always wanted to do this, but can’t find any resources for it

[@biffhenderson1144]

Hint: It's not in the visible light range.

[@wobblysauce]

If a tree falls in a forest does it still give off visible light?

[@phillyphakename1255]

​@@wade-potato620014hz strobe infrared for emergency services, and 18hz for busses, if I recall correctly.

[@devicemodder]

@@wade-potato6200 dirtyMiRT, look it up.

[@Travelinmatt1976]

Oh every crossing should have the Scatman

[@vrpansy]

i frequently say "WAIT" in the traffic controls voice and get disappointed when people don't know that i'm referencing something

[@markfelt5650]

amazing