Posted on 06/27/2013 1:02:15 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
Following the death of Rolling Stone and BuzzFeed contributor Michael Hastings in a fiery car crash, and the subsequent revelation of a panicked email he sent to his colleagues just before he died, this question has arisen: could someone have hacked his car? That's unlikely, and here's why. P
Hastings' 2013 Mercedes C250 coupe crashed into a tree on Highland Ave. in Los Angeles around 4:30 am on June 18. The car burst into flames, and it took the coroner two days to positively ID Hastings' body. P
It sounds like perfect fodder for a good conspiracy theory. After all, Hastings was a heavy hitter whose 2010 Rolling Stone piece on Gen. Stanley McChrystal ended the Afghan war chief's career and sent shockwaves through the defense community. He had enemies, and his final email implies he was working on something huge related to the NSA and FBI, and that "the Feds" were interviewing his associates. If you believe the government does that kind of thing, it almost sounds like Hastings was taken out somehow.P
But how exactly? Speaking to the Huffington Post, former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke claimed that "what is known about the single-vehicle crash is 'consistent with a car cyber attack.'"P
Clarke said, "There is reason to believe that intelligence agencies for major powers" — including the United States — know how to remotely seize control of a car.
"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."
"So if there were a cyber attack on the car — and I'm not saying there was," Clarke added, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."P Related
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Clarke also says that because the "dozen or so computers" on board the Mercedes melted, it's even harder to trace who may have committed such an act. That's true. University researchers have found ways to crash car computer systems in the lab and there's no reason to believe government agents haven't also figured out how to do the same thing.P
But there are many, many reasons we need to be stay away from this theory in this case for now. As the Los Angeles Times notes, law enforcement officials are "weeks away" from determining the exact cause of Hastings' death, including what happened to the car and how fast it was going. P
Moreover, car hacking seems to be the most in vogue fear du jour among Americans lately, what with AOL positing that terrorists are capable of seizing your car's computer remotely and turning it into a high-speed death machine. P Related
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Our own Jason Torchinsky did a thorough debunking of why this is so unlikely, including how modern cars' internal networks aren't normally equipped to receive wireless instructions and how it's absurd to think that mechanical systems can somehow be easily overridden by a remote signal. P
Put simply, car hacking isn't what people think it is. You most likely have to have access to a car, then install software, then break through the car's systems. If Clarke is basing his analysis on the university research and not some secret government information, then he should also know that right now this isn't easy.P
It's actually more plausible to think that someone could have physically tampered with Hastings' Mercedes rather than "hacked" it. You could argue that this would also be a form of "hacking," perhaps literally hacking at cables, but we'll have to wait and see if there's more evidence of this.P
We need to wait until all the facts are in before we start buying in to conspiracy theories because no one has been able to dismiss the most obvious theory: Hastings was working on a big story, as he often did, and then he was involved in a car crashed caused by driver error, speeding, alcohol or some other factor.P
It could just be a coincidence, and a very unfortunate one that cost the world an immensely talented and dogged reporter. It could also be the clever and malicious work of government agents.P
We simply don't know yet. And it's not fair to the memory of a man who dedicated his life to uncovering truth for us to blindly buy into the latest thing we're told to be afraid of.P
Alcohol... possible. The LOUDLABS cameraman focused on a beer bottle laying in the grassy knoll (I meant median) just prior to where the car crashed into the tree. But the bottle was probably there for hours.
Drugs... possible. Was Hastings a 'drugee' ? Was he an 'alcoholic' ? Since the body is to far gone for an autopsy, no one can prove it either way.
Falling asleep at the wheel... right. Because everyone driving at over 100 mph with the car bouncing in and out of potholes, sparks coming from the rear hitting the pavement, falls asleep at the wheel.
IIRC, the other articles that came out about this incident, you made EXACTLY the same comments. I find that interesting.
In a fully “drive by wire” car, everything can theoretically be overridden by the ECU. From the ignition to steering to individual braking of each wheel. It is not much of a stretch to assume hackers can take you for a ride in one of these cars. Especially if the hackers are government and OnStar gives them the keys.
I don't know about the Mercedes version of Onstar but I'm sure it is equally capable.
Chased by those armed guards of Holder and Obama
whose evil and unConstitutional acts he was whistleblowing.
So, it was a natural “accident” - JUST like
Hasan’s murders and the 911 Atrocities.
Ha ha!
I saw a video of the scene after the accident and it appeared that the car sheared off a fire hydrant before striking the tree. Someone speculated that the metal fire hydrant could have ruptured the fuel tank which allowed fuel vapors to ignite from a heat source such as the catalytic converter. I'm not suggesting that foul play was not involved.
Do you know how they update the car computer? It's done by popping a CD into the CD player. How 'impossible' is it for a government agent with billions of dollars in funding behind him to have a customized CD made and stick it into a CD player. You admit you know NOTHING of the specifics of automotive computing systems, which makes the rest of your statement 'preposterous' (and wrong).
You don't just decide that you're going to 'hack' a specific-purpose industrial computer into a perpetual motion machine or use it to spin straw into gold.
Because, as we all know, it's impossible to put a STUXNET virus on a thumb drive, load it into a computer, and have it override the software on a specific industrial computer that controls the speed of centrifuges in IRAN in hidden underground bases where they refine uranium to make it weapons grade... right. Couldn't happen.
": )
The last I saw - they confirmed he was poisoned and that was the end of that.
Utility poles are designed to ‘break off’ in the event of impact from a vehicle. Trees.... well.. GOD designed them to resist even tornadoes and (speaking from personal experience) unless they are very small, don’t break off.
That reminds me, any word lately on the suspicious death of Jack Wheeler?
Despite the fact that the videos have been available since day one, and there were eyewitnesses, what is almost never mentioned is that the car hit and removed a FIRE HYDRANT just before it hit the tree.
A bomb or missile strike would have been after the high speed crash into the tree.
It wasn't a missile strike.
Article about Hastings and alcohol/drug abuse, as well as other details about crash. Toxicology tests are being done, but take a lot of time.
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/06/michael_hastings_crash_engine_flew_speeding_recovery.php
First, he drove a long ways before crashing. If he was totally 'inebriated' , he couldn't have driven that far in a perfectly straight line down the middle of the road.
Second, a block of wood on the gas pedal would have instantly been detected by the driver and would be easily removed.
I sincerely doubt that alcohol or wood had anything to do with this.
Since the car ran over a FIRE HYDRANT before crashing into the tree, it is possible that the Fire Hydrant ripped the fuel tank wide open.
What about the fire hydrant he ran over just before he hit the tree ? Could such a large metal object have ripped open the fuel tank? Isn't the fuel tank usually located in the rear of the car behind the wheels at the bottom of the car?
Ah... I think they said it was a jogging accident. He was out jogging and fell into a dumpster.
Oh yeah, nothing to see there.
Thanks for the link. The article only gives credence to the idea that Hastings hasn’t been on drugs or excessively drinking for 10 years.
The QUESTION that no one wants to POSE (at least none of the so called ‘reporters’ or ‘journalists’) is WHERE WAS HE before he took off in his car ?
Can anyone explain what caused the small explosion that occurs while the car is on fire (from the loudlabs video)?
His car is burning and then the gas tank (or something) explodes. The people watching even know/say it was about to explode.
Does this suggest that the flames engulfing the car were from something other than the fuel tank?
There should be explosive residue on the car. Has anyone checked?!?!?
It didn’t have to be ‘wirelessly hacked’, Someone could have physically tampered with the car.
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