Steve Jobs Dead: How The MacWorld Rumor Spread

Earlier this morning, the live feed of the MacWorld keynote was hacked, leading to the terse message "STEVE JOBS JUST DIED" getting publicly displayed on the internet. This led to all sorts of confusion and suspensions and Twitter feeds being pulled down. Basically, an epic mess, apparently brought to you by the den of internet rude mechanicals from 4chan.

The false rumors exploit the recent speculation circulating around Jobs' overall health. Yesterday, Jobs released a letter explaining that he is suffering from "a hormone imbalance that has been 'robbing' [him] of the proteins [his] body needs to be healthy." The whispers had been adversely affecting Apple stock -- Jobs' clarification sparked a rally in trading yesterday against the overall NASDAQ trend, as investors' confidence in Jobs' health was buoyed.

Twitter, which yesterday was the victim of similar hacks, impacting luminaries such as CNN's Rick Sanchez, Britney Spears, Barack Obama and others is typically abuzz with the news. If you want the latest back and forth and redundant debunking, click here. Or if you prefer, just go on using Twitter as your go-to tool to send out 140-character drunk texts to one another.

Via Mobodojo, here's a screenshot of the MacWorld live feed, before it was pulled down:

Comments

[manydicks]

"ˆ –ˆ –ˆ

[Stilts9]

OMG, Steverino is dead?

[MalloMel]

Seriously, who the he.ll is Steve Jobs?

[Bitsko]

Is this really worthy of a story?

[tobyjack]

I tunes just dropped prices and removed copy protection. Jobs must be dead. His greed would not allow such a thing to happen if he were still alive.

[dutchman]

What a thing to say.....

[bija]

That is just sick. Not funny at all.

[shadowgm]

Yeah, and I hear Bill Gates is giving away his fortune, too.

The story isn't Steve Jobs or Apple, it's Twitter's lousy security.

[flyingmonkey]

Correct headline: Steve Jobs still not dead, despite rumors.

[folderol]

Is it just me or is Twitter the lamest internet app ever?

[TheGigaShadow]

It's not you. It's totally lame.

[mero909]

Completely lame. Big waste of time.

[loki]

its a waste. Over promoted piece of wasted bandwidth that the creators and those jumping on the bandwagon are trying to falsely promote into the next You Tube type of success. Problem is, its not all that great.

[GuyFawkes]

I signed up 6 months ago, have looked at it about twice.

Internet version of the pet rock.

[Quaoar]

Possibly.
But I have no doubt that someone in the near future will invent a lamer one.

[auramac]

This is getting old. Hey- Ann Coulter's gonna be onm the Today Show! Why?

Talk amongst yourselves...

[filo]

Steve is the walrus

Goo-goo Ca Goo !

[RepugsOut08]

That's goo goo ca choo

Ah choo! Ah choo!

Bless you!

[GetoffMylawn]

This is a completely erroneous article. Apple had nothing at all to do with this 'hack'. Apple was NOT hacked in any way shape or form. Apple for that matter does not run MacWorld, it has simply been one of the many vendors that show up at MacWorld to show off their new stuff.

I was at MacWorld today and saw a man standing out front screaming about the world coming to a biblical end, yet where is everyone getting their panties up in a bunch about his equally idiotic comment.

[gotalifepost]

Microsoft did it.

[mero909]

No, they need Apple to stay alive to keep the government at bay with all the Monopoly charges.

[LetsGetDumbAmerica]

Like Apple isn't a monopoly?!

[MrHacks]

Not exactly as effective as the legedary "Paul Is Dead" rumor. Now if it had been Steve Wozniak I think I would have been a bit more serious.

[Enid]

What happened to Apple stock price and who bought ?

[MsLiz]

My thoughts exactly. If someone made big profits, they better be able to show clean hands (or fingers, in this case).