Hacker-artists can face three years in prison for fake nuclear blast on live TV

On June 17th last year Czech artistic group ZTOHOVEN (a pun meaning "out of it" when read or "a hundred turds" when spoken) interfered with Czech TV broadcast which innocently showed the weather, and altered the broadcast to show a "live" nuclear explosion. They simply hooked up their camera to the weathercast-camera and in real time broadcast their own shots, which showed nuclear explosion. The results seen below, were quite convincing. This was the art groups creative (and rather techie clever) way of warning about media manipulation.

Looks pretty real don't it? That would freak me the hell out. And that is the core of it BBC news reports:

But Czech Television, which broadcast the hacked Panorama programme, said the stunt was "very unsuitable and could have frightened a lot of people".

"Could have" is probably an understatement.

Spiegel online reports: "Mushroom Cloud Pranksters to Stand Trial"

A state prosecutor said on Thursday that six members of the group will now have to stand trial for the hack. They could face up to three years in jail.

aktualne.centrum.cz says this hoax won them awards last year...

How one's luck can change... Last month they were awarded for their daring exploits by the National Gallery and now they face up to 3 years in prison. For the same cutting edge hoax.

More here: Statement made by art group ZTOHOVEN
and An artistic group interfered with the Czech TV broadcast with fictitious nuclear explosion