January 12th, 2008
It's all fun and games until someone gets banned from CES ...
Since a few people have asked me for comment on the whole Gizmodogate incident I’m willing to break my self-imposed vow of silence on the matter and say a few words …
This is how I look at it - someone decides it would be funny to run amok at a high-profile event pulling off a childish prank (and recording it) in order to get a lot of link love. That childish prank interferes with a huge amount of time, effort and money that companies have expended to be at the event. That video is then posted on the net along with snickering commentary, with those behind it feeling smug at having happy slapped major corporations and the event organizers.
Now ask yourself this - is the CEA going to just let this one slide? Noooooo. Why? Because this year there was only one group of induhviduals messing about, next year, things would be a free-for-all. Banning these behind the prank from CES was inevitable and personally if the retribution ends there, Gizmodo can count itself lucky.
Now yes, I did see the video, and there’s something hypnotic about watching all those glowing TVs wink out, and you can also see the funny side of people swarming around the lifeless TVs trying to resuscitate them. But I’m also mature enough to realize that a) your messing with someone else’s stuff, and you just don’t do that, and b) that you’re messing with the careers of people who are already highly stressed and don’t really need more stress. That’s not cool. What makes it worse is that this was random acts of vandalism carried out in order to make money. That’s not cool either. Doing what they did at CES isn’t something they should feel sorry for, it’s something they should feel ashamed for.
I also agree with Ed Bott, Gizmodo have labeled themselves as the clowns jokers in the pack, and that action has painted a giant bulls-eye on the outfit. As a bit of a prankster myself at times, I know that there’s nothing that people like more than getting the prankster back.
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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