UFC Tapped Out By Internet Tough Guys

UFC Executive Vice President Lawrence Epstein posted an editorial piece in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in support of the Stop Online Piracy Act. It’s the kind of thing Vice Presidents Of Things do to share their side of the story (their side: “shut up, give us more money”), but usually they avoid making themselves sound like a taskforce of old man Sarahs Palin and skip the parts where they equate promoting MMA fights to “[fighting] real-world criminal activity”. Sometimes they type in Comic Sans MS, for extra lulz.

Replace “consumer” with “soul” and “websites” with “Satanists” and this thing could be a religious tract.

One of the worst things about this hidden problem is the American consumer is being snookered. These criminal sites look legitimate. Deceptive and sophisticated, rogue websites carry legitimate-looking logos and seals of approval. It’s often almost impossible to know what is real and what is fake … often until it is too late.

Well, it looks like the snookered have become the snookerers. Snookees? That can’t be right.

One thing you’d know if you were actually a part of today’s Internet climate and not shaking your fist at it from down the road is that major corporations who come out in support of anti-Internet freedom legislation often get snookerized in the swiftest, most Internet ways possible. Example: In retaliation to Epstein’s column (we’re assuming), the “Underground Nazi H4ck3rGr0up” sprang into action, snookering UFC.com by hacking it and replacing its content with an anime drawing of Adolf Hitler. Cage Potato captured what the site looked like for most of yesterday, and as of Monday morning UFC.com still sorta looks like you’ve accidentally typed UFC.corm.

Lesson learned, I guess: If you want to continue your life peacefully, never f**k with a guy who calls himself “JoshTheGod”.

×