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Chuck Norris Fan Hacks Electronic Road Sign

'Chuck Norris for President' touted on tampered electronic message board.

A roadside electronic message board was tampered with on Monday by an unknown person and displayed "Chuck Norris for President" for several hours before it was fixed.

The Chico Enterprise Record newspaper reported Tuesday that the sign was alongside a road in Chico, a city north of Sacramento, Calif., in Butte County. It's known by many as the home of California State University, Chico.

In the article, a city public works supervisor said the unidentified culprit changed the message after breaking a lock behind the sign. Eventually highway workers changed it back to its proper message, "Lane Shift Ahead."

Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is a famous martial artist and actor who for decades has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows. His earliest credited performance is for a part in a 1972 film starring martial arts legend Bruce Lee, according to the Web site The Internet Movie Database.

The Huntsville Times reported Feb. 2, 2008, that then-Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee joked he would have appointed "his friend and supporter" Chuck Norris the Secretary of Defense if he won the election.

Other changeable message signs have been recently compromised in Illinois, Indiana and Maryland. A sign last week in Texas warned of "Zombies Ahead" after being infiltrated.

The hackers may have had help figuring how thanks to a blog post at i-hacked.com instructing readers on how to break into electronic road signs. Sign-tampering is a criminal offense.

 

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Hilton Collins is a former staff writer for Government Technology and Emergency Management magazines.