This isn’t what this blog is about, but since none of the SLI editors seem to be in world, I’ll write about it myself.

Browsing through my Google Reader feeds today, I noticed that one of the links sent me to the Wikipedia entry on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. At first, I didn’t realize what sent me there, but looking carefully at the Reuters/Second Life feed, many of the article titles were linked to the Wikipedia page rather than the article themselves.

Since “Print Screen” gets rid of my cursor icon, I highlighted the ones that send me to Wikipedia. The same thing happens using Google Reader Widget.


However, looking at the original feed file, the links are correctly directed to the relevant articles.

So what happened? Did someone manage to hack the Reuters feed to mislead people to an extremely politically charged page? And if so, why only the Second Life feed (the other Reuters feeds seem completely intact)?

My friend (who is digging this article) verified on his Google Reader too, but neither of us has tested any other readers. Anyone else get the same results?

Update: Tateru Nino from SLI tested it on Sharpreader and Sage and noticed no errors. She then noticed the same results on Google Reader but investigated further and discovered something interesting. The articles that link to the Wikipedia article are duplicates of earlier articles that link to the correct pages.

The original posts in green links to the correct pages. So this means it’s actually Google Reader that got hacked? Either way, who ever planned this must be grinning, now that it’s been discovered.

Labels: hack, second life