5 Crusading Trolls Who Pranked The Rich And Powerful

5

A Fake Bidder Pranked A Mining Auction And Stopped The Sale Of National Land

In 2008, during the waning days of the Bush administration, the Bureau of Land Management put energy lease rights on 130,000 acres of national land in Utah up for auction. Those acres included Nine Mile Canyon and Dinosaur National Monument, which have sensitive geological and cultural significance, but also oil and mining assets. The auction was considered a sweetheart deal for mining interests before the Obama administration took charge and fulfilled their promise to terminate national land sales, on the basis that it sounds like the scheme of a lesser Captain Planet villain. But as long as the fire sale was completed in time, there were no legal obstacles standing in the way. Enter Tim DeChristopher.

DeChristopher, a 27-year-old economics student, joined the auction and promptly drove up prices by "buying" $1.7 million worth of land parcels. The fact that he wasn't twirling a mustache or lighting a cigar with a hundred-dollar bill raised suspicion. After a break was called, he was taken into custody, and eventually charged with making a false statement and violating oil and gas leasing laws -- two of the weakest crimes on the books.

DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, but his scheme worked. The auction was suspended in the confusion, then withdrawn by the Obama administration. Thanks to DeChristopher raising their prices, Nile Mile Canyon and Dinosaur National Monument remain pristine homes of such treasured natural resources as miles and dinosaurs. Plus, DeChristopher got to appear on The Late Show after he was released, which we assume made jail worth it. Well, that and the whole "standing up for your principles" thing.

4

TripAdvisor's Crappy Review System Was Exposed By A Fake Restaurant

According to TripAdvisor, the site you consult in a lame effort to convince yourself you're not just eating at Buffalo Wild Wings again, the "Shed at Dulwich" was considered the hottest restaurant in London. Its immense popularity made it impossible to get a table -- a problem compounded by the fact that it didn't actually exist.

3

A Scientist Exposed A Publishing Scam With A Paper On Midi-Chlorians

If you try to hunt down the full research paper behind one of those suspiciously amazing scientific studies that come out seemingly every week, you usually hit a paywall. It's not a great system. But the alternative can be even worse, as some journals are free to read, but charge the authors for the privilege of being published. That means a lot of good scientists can't afford to get published, while predatory journals have every incentive to publish bad science so long as they get paid.

So exactly how low are these journals' standards? Do they carefully review each study's methodology and conclusions? Do they even give every study a quick once-over? One British neuroscientist tried to find out. He put together a paper titled "Mitochondria: Structure, Function and Clinical Relevance." Except instead of mitochondria, the paper discussed midi-chlorians, the magic microbes introduced in the most beloved Star Wars film.

2

An Email Prankster Revealed Massive Insecurities In White House Communications

James Linton's high-profile phishing targets have included British politicians and banking executives, and his goal is to cause no actual harm (beyond embarrassment) while exposing vulnerabilities. In 2017, he set his sights on the White House, where any kind of vulnerability can mean bad news for all of us. He started by contacting Homeland Security advisor Tom Bossert, claiming to be Jared Kushner inviting Tom to dinner. "Thanks, Jared," replied Bossert. "Also, if you ever need it, my personal email is [redacted, but presumably bossertbaby@yahoo.com]." Bossert was not supposed to be sharing or even using a personal email address for such matters, for reasons that we hope are more blindingly obvious to you than they were to him.

Linton's next mark was Anthony Scaramucci, whom he contacted while pretending to be Reince Priebus. "You know what you did," Scaramucci wrote in reply, "We all do. Even today. But rest assured we were prepared. A Man would apologize." Then: "Read Shakespeare. Particularly Othello. You are right there." Encouraged by such a hilarious answer, Linton went after Scaramucci again, this time posing as Jon Huntsman using a Gmail address. When Linton-Huntsman asked whose head "should roll first," Priebus' or Steve Bannon's, Scaramucci replied "both of them," which is exactly the sort of non-commitment that made him such an excellent communications director.

1

A Lockpicker Found Major Flaws In "High-Security" Locks

By 2004, lock breaker Marc Weber Tobias had become an expert in "bumping," a technique wherein one uses a file and hammer to easily pop the sort of locks that most people use to secure their bikes, gym lockers, and, uh, homes. Growing knowledge of the technique caused the media to scaremonger about a coming crimepocalypse, and Tobias was interviewed by dozens of local news outlets. Also interviewed was Clyde Roberson, a representative of Medeco, who saw a marketing opportunity.

Medeco is ostensibly the Rolls Royce of locks. Their clients include the Department of Defense, the White House, the United Nations, and the British Royal Family, all because their products are considered "high-security" -- which technically only means their locks take at least 10 minutes to crack. No lock is unsolvable, but by the time you've spent 10 minutes fiddling with one in the Pentagon, someone is hopefully going to notice you and arrest your fiddly ass.

Anyway, Medeco used these fears of a coming crime dystopia to advertise their locks as "bump-proof," even going so far as to start trademarking the term. This alarmed Tobias, who along with his Venezuelan colleague, uh, Tobias Bluzmanis, studied Medeco locks until they could open them in about a minute. They cracked one in eight seconds. Some lock companies improve and replace their products in response to such findings, but when they sent their results to Roberson, he began accusing the Tobiases of being liars and extortionists.