# Toronto GO Transit LED train signs reprogrammed with insulting message about PM

- Date: 2006-05-02
- Location: Toronto, Canada
- Type: Screen hijack
- Sector: Transit

Scrolling LED signs on GO Transit trains around Toronto showed an insulting message about Stephen Harper for several days in May 2006. A GO spokesman said the signs were programmed with an infrared remote and had no password protection when installed about six years earlier, and transport officials planned to password-protect 790 signs. The sign operator, Exclusive Advertising, said GO Trains had not authorized the message, and the perpetrator was not identified in the sources read.

## Sources

- [With a $25 remote, hacker was able to reprogram scrolling LED signs on local trains](https://www.computerworld.com/article/1689763/hacker-hits-toronto-transit-message-system-jabs-prime-minister.html) (Computerworld)
- [Canadian train sign hack](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/03/canadian_train_sign_hack/) (The Register)
- [Hacker hijacks Toronto trains' LED signs](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna12598242) (NBC News)

Page: https://signagelist.org/incidents/2006-05-toronto-go-transit-led-train-signs-reprogrammed/