April Fools Hack Makes Political Statement Regarding Yugoslav Conflict

The Art Bell website pulled an April Fools hack on itself. The page shown below replaced the normal entry page for www.artbell.com for 12 hours starting at midnight April 1st, until noon. Many were fooled and several news agencies tried to inquire about the situation. We were listed on www.2600.com, www.drudgereport.com and sightings.com as being hacked. And even a paragraph was added about us in the BBC story about the NATO web site problems. We were also featured in an MSNBC story which was edited an hour later to remove the report and later changed to report the April Fool's angle. We reprint the hacked page here, with comments we received during the twelve hour siege at the end of this page.

• Art's Comments the Situation in Kosovo
• Comments Received During the Hack
• Comments Received After the Hack
• Comments Received By Art Regarding Statement
• Concluding Remarks

NOTICE. The good people at beograd.com were NOT responsible for the hacked page, please do not bother them anymore.

IN OUR DEFENSE: I am wondering what some of these people who commented afterwards, are mad about; the fact that these web sites are offering an alternative viewpoint, or that we brought it to their attention? Everything posted on this hack page, is currently posted on those respective websites. We simply made you aware of it. We did not make fun of it. We made no joke of it. So hopefully we agree on one thing, it's no joke what NATO or SERBIA are doing to people.

BEOGRAD HACKERS RULE!! We Have Your Site!!

 

 

THE YUGOSLAV CITIZENS' MESSAGE TO NATO WORLD CRIMINALS

Yugoslavia is informing its listeners and Internet users throughout the world that the aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has dramatic proportions. Murderers and criminals, organized under the name of NATO, are shooting at civilian targets in our country. The reason for doing so is obviously to inflict material damage on the economy, roads and all other assets. Their desire is to destabilize our country and undermine the unity of our people, army and state leadership, and to try to conquer us.

Such an aggression and bestiality have not been seen since the time of concentration camps in World War II. The criminals' missiles are falling on schools full of children, hospitals with people being treated in them, roads are being destroyed so that many places are being left without food. They are bringing down transmission lines, so as to leave the people without electricity, and using chemical weapons in order to cause as great a pain and suffering of the population as possible. They are cutting the major waterworks and targeting factories using chemical raw materials.

It is the Serbs, Montenegrins, Albanians, Turks, Muslims, Gorancies, Romanies and all those living in our country that are suffering the consequences of the acts by NATO criminals.

Bill Clinton and his collaborator - Javier Solana, are justifying all this with the need to protect democracy. The message of all the citizens of Yugoslavia, the Serbs, Albanians and Montenegrins alike, to them is to stop protecting our democracy. Our state is eight centuries older than the United States. All Yugoslav citizens say to them that they will remain steadfast in support of their army, their state and their president, Slobodan Milosevic. And a message to them from all the citizens of Yugoslavia is that we never lost wars and that our retaliation against those who had attacked us, has always been painful.

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More Links

• REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA, MR. SLOBODAN MILOŠEVIC
• No to NATO Expansion-- NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ANTI-WAR PROTESTS AGAINST U.S. BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA
• A letter from a 13 year old girl.
• More News in ENGLISH

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Demonstrations in Washington, April 4th

Please come to Serbian demonstrations in front of the White House on Sunday, April 4, starting at 2 p.m. People will come in an organized fashion by buses from cities from the entire Eastern Coast of the U.S. - from New York (8 buses booked already); Pittsburgh; Cleveland; and many other cities.

Pozivam vas da u sto vecem broju dodjemo u Vasington na velike srpske demonstracije ispred Bele Kuce u Nedelju, 4. aprila, sa pocetkom u 14.00h. Doci ce organizovano ljudi autobusima iz gradova sirom istocne Amerike - iz Njujorka (za sada bukirano 8 autobusa); Pitsburga; Klivlenda; i mnogo drugih gradova sa cele istocne obale Amerike.

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Beograd, 24.marta 1999 Generalstab Vojske Jugoslavije obavestava jugoslovensku i medjunarodnu javnost da je veceras u 20.00 casova NATO pakt izvrsio agresiju na Saveznu Republiku Jugoslaviju. Vojne snage Severnoatlanske alijanse, po diktatu i interesu svetskog policajca, Sjedinjenih Americkih Drzava, a za racun siptarskih separatista i terorista, grubo su narusile teritoriju suverene Jugoslavije i brutalno ugrozile zivote njenih gradjana, saopstila je informativna sluzba Generalstaba VJ. Borbeni efektivi sistema protivvazdusne odbrane koji su pravovremeno otkrili agresorske projektile i efikasno dejstvovali nisu osteceni i ostaju u borbenom rasporedu i spremnosti za dalja dejstva. U prvom naletu svetskih agresora gadjano je preko dvadeset objekata, a dejstva jos traju. Vojska Jugoslavije preduzima sve mere odbrane i zastite. Operativna spremnost i borbena gotovost su na najvisem nivou, a raspolozenje i motivisanost vojnika i oficira je besprimerno visoka. U jedinice Vojske Jugoslavije masovno se javljaju dobrovoljci za odbranu otadzbine. Prve eksplozije do kojih je doslo posle napada NATO pakta oznacile su kraj medjunarodnog prava, suspendovale Povelju Ujedinjenih nacija i otvorile novu stranicu svetske istorije, zakljucuje se u saopstenju.

-- END OF April Fools HACKED PAGE --

E-Mail Comments Received This Year on Our April Fools Page for 1999

I tried to access the Art Bell website at 12:10 A.M. on April 1st, but found that the homepage was 'taken over' by Yugoslavian hackers. Is this an April Fool's joke? If so, it's a pretty good way to play into the conspiracists' fears, especially since Art is on vacation and cannot comment on this. If it happens to be a real takeover, I hope that you can regain control of the site and hopefully respond to the message of the "Beograd Hackers." Please do what you can to let us know about this 'incident' as soon as possible. If it is an April Fool's joke, all I have to say is that it's a good one!

I do believe Art's web site has been either ransacked or the address manipulated by pro - Yugoslav hackers pushing their point of view.

You'd better see this, I read about this happening to other sites.

What's up with the yugoslav propaganda on artbell.com? What a crock. Those pictures could be from anywhere. I am really writing because I am interested in this hack. How did they steal the site? I am just curious because I am a sys admin and don't want that foolishness taking over our site!

This is really crazy. I was listening to the program that you had with the Hackers last night and figured that after they went threw your system that you where secure. I would just like to express my condolences and hope that you get back on before you come back to work.

You probably already know this or if it's stagged (april 1) its cool, but it appears the art bell site has been (hi)jacked. With you guys its hard to tell weather its a joke or not.

The BEOGRAD HACKERS have hacked artbell.com and replaced all of Keith's work with their own political message about NATO and the attack on Yugoslavia.

You got hacked buddy... I hate to say it... Even though you run a unix with apache there are some serious backdoors and the Beograd have been using them,, be careful putting the site back up because the same holes will still be there.....

PLEASE check out the ART BELL WEB SITE.. It looks as if you have been hacked. Track the perpetrators down and --- well you know what to do -- Call the FBI, or CIA but get the cyber hackers. PLEASE !!!

I dont know if you have been informed but, when I tried to get to Arts website I got this Against Nato Site for Support of Yugoslavia and it also said.Beograd Hackers Rule! We have your site. And then there was a page of propaganda. This is very scarey!!! I didnt like what I read!!!! I am glad Art will be back tomorrow...

Quick! Get up, not time for sleepy by!!!!! listen has the art bell site really been hacked by beograd? it all my browser gets?

Unable to access Art's site; apparent takeover in progress.

I was trying access Art Bells web page on Wednesday night at about 11pm and everytime I tried I got this "Beograd Hackers Rule. We have your web site." Then there was a couple of political pages on Yugoslavia. Why is this happening? Can this happen and did someone really take over the web site. I got on line with an AOL tech and they said they tried to go to his site and they had no problem.???? They said to contact the web site directly but I can't go there. The web address is correct on my browser.

In case you didn't already know... artbell.com has been hacked. Of all webmasters, how could that happen to you ... I know for a fact you know your shit. Please tell us all what happened to comprimise your system, and hopefully how us other Linux webmasters can avoid that in the future.

Hey, those serbs are a crafty bunch. I thought all the vulnerabilities in Apache were addressed with the last upgrade. How'd they do that?

It looks like some Yugoslavian hackers have invaded your system and changed the index.htm file. You might want to tighten up the security a little man.

A bunch of dirty Serbian Communist Hackers have overrun the Art Bell Website (www.artbell.com) and are bad-mouthing both us and our allies. Please give these Commie War-criminal Bastards the electronic boot, and give us back our Art Bell.

When I tried to return to the Art Bell site I ended up on a Yugoslavian website that presents anti-NATO information. Now I support free speech, but I don't want anybody else's ideas forced on me. And I certainly don't want those ideas paving over my favorite website. This intruder website is probably the one I heard about earlier on the news. The operators of this site take control of other websites and substitute the Yugoslavian stuff.

I have seen this hack recently on other sites too. at www.2600.com , they have other very similar examples of this.

The weirdest thing is happening with the Art Bell website. When the main page is loaded, www.artbell.com, it is being re-directed to other websites. Pictures from Yugoslavia and sentiments are vividly expressed. Has the artbell.com site been hijacked? I've made note of the graphics filenames and am clearing them out of my cache. Do I need to be concerned about any data (cookies) stored on my PC from being re-directed to what appeared to be a Yugoslavian site entitled "Yugoslav Message to NATO World Criminals"?

Well, is it an April fool joke or did someone really hack the home page for artbell.com? If it's an April fool prank, it is a good one because after glancing over it, I saw nothing to indicate that it wasn't real. In fact, the links check out as legit sites and pages. I discovered it at a little after 2 AM EST on 4/1 and figured right away that it was a joke, but the more I looked into it, the more it looks like someone really took over the page.

I did go to the page expecting to see something out of the ordinary, but this one takes the cake for its realism.

Is someone pulling OUR leg, or yours, went to Art's site to check on tonight's show, and a message there claims it has been hacked by Yugoslav hackers. Is this true, or is Art pulling one over on us?

As I was reading the page linked to on your "hacked" site, I happened to notice that April 1st is yet 1/2 hour away (in PST). I was RUBED! You should be both ashamed and proud of yourself at the same time, usually I see right through this stuff...

Somebody has screwed with Art's site. They say that they are Yugoslavian hackers. Go check it out.. I hope this isn't some kind of stunt that Art put you up to....

It seems that your site has been hacked. (I flipping through your pages when it occurred) I hope the damage is not irreparable and that you are back on line soon!

I'm sure I'll hear about this tommorrow night but this sucks. I know they hacked you....did they get in from the radio yugoslavia

What's up with the site? What's this Yugoslavian stuff? Did Art Bell move?

The site for Art keeps coming up a hacker's site about Yugolavia....is this dangerous and what should I do?

Have the serbs really "hacked" art's site? If true this brings an interesting spin to modern day warfare.

I was trying to access the Art Bell web site what I got was anything but his home page. Could you tell me how they infiltrated his web site.

I was checking out some older archives and came back to the home page and noticed it had been hacked. Viewing the source info it seems that they took over your index at: 10:54pm. This is a big bummer. I hope that you can get up and running soon. I personally fear this problem with my site, but so far the Hackers have not got in. (knock on wood) I was just checking out the show last night that art did w/the Hackers and tonight the site get hacked. Wow!

though i'm sure you're already aware... the "www.artbell.com" site has been "commandered" by yugoslavian hackers... seems they've taken over the ip address for artbell.com.... you enter it in your browser and it takes you to their site...

I hope I'm not the first one to tell you, but hackers seem to have taken over artbell@aol.com with an anti NATO message from Yugaslovia. I don't see how the hell they could have possible done it without someone inside AOL helping ??

Heads up! I just tried to look at Art Bell's webpage and to my horror discovered that some anti-NATO pro Yugoslavia hackers have taken over the website. Check it out. I hope you can do something about it. They sure knew who's site would get enought hits to make it worthwhile, didn't they?

Guess your security wasn't that great after all. ;)

Here are the responses AFTER they found out it was a April Fools Prank.

UNDER THE CURRENT CONDITIONS THE WAS A SICK JOKE. I AGREE WITH ART WE SHOULD NOT BE THEIR BUT THIS ISN'T FUNNY AND REALLY IN BAD TASTE. SHAME ON YOU

You sick bastard! This April fools joke has got to be one of the most horrible ones I've seen yet! How dare you make fun of all the suffering? My God! Posting pictures of people with legs torn off, etc. That was not funny. You should be ashamed of yourself! You are a horrible person! All respect I've had for you and Art is now gone. Keith, what the hell were you thinking?

Hi Keith, You got me. I checked the web site early this morning as I normally do, and fell for it hook line and sinker. You continue to out-do yourself. Keep up the good work.

Congratulations are indeed in order! I was one of those "fools" You'd make a good terrorist/hacker. Everyone was in fine form this morning as WTAM your Cleveland AB connection went to "COUNTRY" format this morning. Not so hard to believe considering Jacor owns WTAM and WMMS whose format they tried to change before ! Thanks for the laughs !

I do not know you. I know of you. I want to tell you that your Hacking April fools day joke was not too funny. When the lives of American lives are in harms way that is no joking matter. Your prank was sick. Your views can be expressed without insighting fear into people. I look foward to your jokes on the three Americans taken hostage. You sir need to think about that.

Well I tried to look at the site this morning! I forgot it was the first, Duh.. Well I could not believe it I already was not having a good day anyway. So I went on about my day just went back & read all the things that people mailed you about it! Good Work I must say That made my day Ha Ha.

Got a kick out of the April fool's joke on Art's web page. I read the two responses from the people that found out it was a joke. They need to lighten up!

I had such respect for you as a webmaster. After last night and the sick joke you thought of I no longer have respect for you. I am angry not because I was fooled but at the lengths you went to to trick the fans. The pictures were disturbing. I was in the grassy knoll chat room and some people were upset. My favorite line was "retaliation...has always been painful." Nice touch. This was very irresponsible.

I SHOWED EVERYONE AT WORK THE PRINT OUT OF THE HACK AT ART BELL!!! SOMEONE HAS HACKED ART BELL'S WEBSITE!!! Doesn't that Keith Rowland have any security? we all mumbled... what's this world coming to?

April Fools JOKE? YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO AND I WOULD SUPPORT YOU TO THE END. BUT THIS IS THE WRONG SUBJECT TO BE JOKEING ABOUT.I don't think they should be there EITHER but they are and we should support the TROUPS.

KICK ASSSS! Way to go Mr Rowland on pulling the wool over everyones eyes. In this time of seriousness, it is nice to lighten things up a bit. Kudos to a job well done fooling as many people as you did! Can't wait until next year! Maybe do it a little early and pull off a biggie on Jan, 1, 2000. And don't tell Art about it!:)

The NATO (and US involvement) bombing is TOO SERIOUS a subject to be used as an April Fool's joke. . Shame on your organization and shame on Art Bell. Your sense of humor leaves much to be desired.

I was wondering how you would outdo the "FBI" April Fool's joke, I am glad that you and Art have the BALLS to show a different viewpoint of what is truely going on. Hopefully most true "patriots" of our FREE lifestyle will appreciate the courage that your organization has exhibited. Best of luck and God speed Mr. Rowland-keep it up!!

I do thak you for this change, because it was thought-provoking to find something that I was not expecting. I read Art's comments, and I agree that we (as a nation) should not be over there, especially with the vague goal of "peace-keeping" and "stopping the atrocities". (I think our actions are making some of the attrocities worse, i.e. we bomb the Serbs, the Serbs attack the Albanians, the Albanians become war refugees.) I hate to think that this might become our generations' Vietnam (not to make light of your service, Art), where a few million of our sons and daughters come home in body-bags before our leaders realize that this wasn't a good decision after all.

You did a great job on the April Fool's "take down". People need to be made aware of what's actually happening out there - I believe the anger felt by some was due to underlying fear of the possibility of retribution. Their fear/anger is misplaced. They should be yelling at their Senators and Congressmen since "they" are actually the ones responsible for the mess over there and can change the situation if they had any sense. Keep up the good work, when people get stirred up they start paying attention.

Your "joke" left me in tears...but that is not why I am writing. The power of the web is awesome...and I thank you for bringing this reality to those who are in denial! What a sad, sick, frightening time we live in!

Nice work on the "hacked" site and the useful information provided therein. You both tweaked us all and exposed us to the relevancy of what's going on in Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia and why we should not be there unless we mean to help and not just boss those people around. Keith, if anyone still doubts how wrong we are after your eye-opening "prank" and the capture of our three soldiers, then there is no reaching them. Keep up the fine work.

Great April Fool's Day prank. It made people think and hopefully realize that they neeed to engage their minds before they engage their mouths (or fingers on the keyboard.)

Good job!!! I hope you woke some people up to the fact we are killing human beings for a political game. Thanks for the links, want to check them out.

With all the letters you got condemning your actions today ( I guess I expected more from those who join me in faithfully listening to Art's show), I thought you'd like to know some of us appreciated it. I remembered the prank from last year, and found it difficult to believe the hackers would take Art's site since he has expressed that he is against the NATO air strikes. I also understood it was not a joke to make light of the situation. For God;s sake, Art was in Vietnam! I'm sure he knows first hand what "not supporting the troops" is, and I don't see his actions as not supporting them. You and Art deserve a big pat on the back for presenting the public with facts and ideas in a way that makes us think and act with the freedom of being adults, rather than spoon feeding us what you think we should hear. In my opinion, that's what really seperates Art from most main stream media and keeps me coming back. Both of you, keep up the good work!

IN OUR DEFENSE: I am wondering what some of these people are mad about; the fact that these web sites are offering an alternative viewpoint, or that we brought it to their attention? Everything posted on this hack page, is currently posted on those respective websites. We simply made you aware of it. We did not make fun of it. We made no joke of it. So hopefully we agree on one thing, it's no joke what NATO or SERBIA is doing to people. -- Keith

Here are some comments received by Art....

I was very impressed with your April Fool's Joke and also very unimpressed by some of the critics. We should be able to handle viewing the other side of an issue objectivly without the need for hateful remarks and questions of patriotism. American involvement in this issue strengthens our need for knowledge about this crisis. Though some my say 'ignorance is bliss', I believe that America should never enter or continue a policy, especially one that endangers our soldiers, with our eyes shut.

Yours and Keith's idea for an April Fool's joke was masterfully conceived and executed. Vacations seem to be good for you. You actually get a chance to stop and think about things and to develop incident in your own life - to "get a life" in other words. I want to thank you especially for putting your thoughts about the NATO bombing up on you website. You made your point in a very effective way. I would not have noticed the Web information coming out of Yugoslavia otherwise, though I was well aware of the problem from the Serb's perspective. While I too do not agree with the so called ethnic cleansing going on in Yugoslavia, I agree with your point of view exactly on this issue of the NATO bombings and I wish we had more enlightened men and women guiding the world.

Orson Wells did something similar on radio "the Martians invading". Some panicked. Some laughed. Some got ticked off. So, people don't change, just the media format.

You proved if there is one thing Americans do well and that is jumping the gun, like with the bombings in Yugoslavia. You go and have a little fun on April Fool's Day and some of your listeners get upset with you. Well, shame on them you got the right to make a political statement on your own website. If they used a little common sense and waited till your show tonight the listeners would have heard either A. The artbell website has been hacked or B. April Fools. Bravo Mr. Bell

Art, thank you, thank you, thank you for having the guts to post what you did about the attack. I am sick as I see our nation grotesquely whipped down the path to fascism.

Great April Fool's Day prank. It made people think and hopefully realize that they neeed to engage their minds before they engage their mouths (or fingers on the keyboard.)

You April Fool prank is one of the more creative ways I've seen anyone use a combination of the medium and the world-known "fool" date for social action. I do not doubt your good intentions.

I agree with you on your views on our bombing of the Serbs. What the hell are we doing? These views of some that this is to start the NWO are starting to get just a little to close to home.

I just want you to know I knew almost immediately when looking at your site this morning what was going on, and I applaud you for it. The idea that they had actually hacked your site was ludicrous to me, as you have expressed that you are AGAINST the NATO air strikes. If the powers that be had listened to you and others like you, three of our men might not be prisoners right now. I didn't feel you were making light of the situation, but merely taking advantage of today being April Fools Day to make an important message hit home for many people. I have written letter to the President, my governor, both my senators, and my state representative expressing how disgusted I am with our part in this war. I know letters may not change their minds, but at least they know some of the people who put them in office can take them back out if they continue to make these assinine decisions. I thank you for presenting information the way you do, treating your listeners like free thinking adults, and asking us to consider the higher implications of things.

I liked what you put on your website about NATO. Do not let anyone Bully you into having to agree with them. Why is it that most Americans support NATO everytime they attack someone and then attack you when you refuse to agree with them. I am sick of it all.

Right On Art Bell: I don't know if your site was hacked into or not. I didn't see it and so what? But whatever the case it sure generated a lot of gossip, which is what people seem to like doing the most... There are many more basic issues that people should strive to understand better so that they can take collective, intelligent, action... But they don't....

In the Navy the "Flag" would either pass along a BRAVO ZULU or have you thrown in chains... I choose BZ. Good April Fool, Art.

Art and Keith you really fooled me. That Wednesday night, I was hearing you over shortwave radio "3830 Mhz", when you mentioned about your hacked web page. I was extremely furious. As a Sergeant with the Sheriff's Dept., I could not believe I was taken by the one thats admired for his honesty and integrity. But your still cool Art, 73's......

The best outcome of the April Fool hack is that in the end it tends to keep journalists honest. It reminds them to research a story before they report it. Thanks for the entertainment, and also for the reality check.

In conclusion:

You got me! Man, even though the subject matter is a bit sensative, I have to say that was a killer April Fools joke. I work at night, and I went to work excitedly telling my co-workers about the "elite beograd hackers" who had taken over Art's site. I'm a big fan of Art's, and you are doing a great job on the web page! How are you going to top this next year?

Dear Keith: I realize that you and Art are getting a bit of a backlash. I just want to show some support for what you did. People do not realize that you were not 'having fun' but making a political statement. I think it was in good taste. You were exhibiting another point of view on the NATO action. You are a #1 first class webmaster. Kudos. 73's

And with that we end this years April Fools event. Maybe not funny this year, but the most memorable, for we are ALL fools in the grand scheme of things. Why do we blow each other up and attack one other, it seems us human fools just can't get along! - KR