Hacked? Limbaugh’s Wild Story on Getting Freaky iPhone Message About Obama & ‘Minions’
- Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:01pm by
Liz Klimas
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(Image: Apple)
Rush Limbaugh has an iPhone and finds the features of Siri — Apple’s voice-activated personal assistant — useful, especially while he‘s driving in the car and shouldn’t be texting with his hand. Siri allows users to create texts with their voice and Apple converts it into a written message. And until this morning, Siri “worked flawlessly.”
On his radio show Tuesday, Limbaugh told the incredible, creepy, and funny story of how his phone recently started talking to him about Obama, wind power, and even the president’s “minions.”
Here’s how it happened.
When Limbaugh hit the microphone icon, which either begins or ends an action with Siri, he heard the three iconic beeps — but nothing happened. He continued to trying to establish a connection, at one point reciting the text response he was hoping to send to his wife Kathryn.
What he got back in return when the device began to work was nothing like what he claims to have said. What he saw on the screen was “Obama’s minions are taking over and there is nothing you can do about it.”
Listen to the full broadcast from Daily Rushbo:
Before sharing this story, he explained earlier in the broadcast how the system in his car is set up.
“My system is my phone paired with the car’s bluetooth, provided by the manufacturer, and it is also connected via wi-fi to a Verizon LTE hotspot,” he explained. When he prepares to use Siri and pushes the microphone button, if he was listening to the radio at the time, the radio becomes muted to allow for action with the smartphone to take place. When that action is complete the radio would come back on.
Rush says that after he saw the disturbing message on his phone, the radio didn’t come back as it usually did. “The whole system was discombobulated,” he said. Switching from satellite radio to AM, in case that would make a difference, Rush found it worked.
He then deleted the message and attempted to send his answer to Kathryn again via text message and received another unrelated message to what he had allegedly dictated to Siri. It was about “wind power and Obama and you don’t have a chance.”
“I am not making this up,” Rush said, speculating someone had hacked Apple’s servers. Even when Rush tried a third time to dictate a text through Siri what he received as a transcript in return wasn‘t about Obama or politics but it still wasn’t close to what he had said.
He tried several other tests to no avail. He explains that when he reached his office and connected to that wi-fi network, all systems operated as they should. “It was only in the car,” he said.
Going to computer experts, Rush explains the answers as to what could have happened ranged from being hacked or someone tampering with the bluetooth. “Somebody’s done something,” he said. “They’re sending you a message that they can do it.” He was also told there could have been something wrong with his LTE hotspot or that his bluetooth was defective.
All of these answers he considers unsatisfactory. Rush says his experts’ most suggested option, even though they still couldn’t believe what transpired, was that it was a bluetooth problem. Rush, though, is adamant that he didn’t say “Obama” or any of the text that appeared on his phone, leading him to believe it was Apple’s servers that were hacked.
Now, Rush points out that he can’t prove this story actually happened. He deleted the messages that appeared on his screen and didn’t send them on to Kathryn as his response to her questions. He does note that he’s going to see if the problem continued this afternoon.
While a quick search of Twitter and Google didn’t turn up any viable information, some Twitter users were speculating on Limbaugh’s situation:
We’re going to call Apple, Siri’s dictation service company Nuance and Verizon to see if they can shed light if this is even possible and, if so, how. But we’ll also be listening to Limbaugh later this week to see if he figures it out, too.
[H/T: Daily Rushbo]
Update: A Blaze reader who is a self-proclaimed “IT Generalist” emailed us to propose a potential “very sneaky” hack for a phone. He writes: It sounds if he keeps his Bluetooth on all the time on the iPhone, which sometimes allows someone to “slurp” the data off of the phone. One of those pieces of information it can steal is the MEID, which is the unique ID for the phone. Some could then compromise the phone with all the network ID information ascertained from the data slurp. Along with Apple store ID’s and passwords that were on the phone. Once cloned they can “push” software to the phone unbeknownst to the user essentially “owning” the phone. Since the phone has an always on data connection it is almost limitless what you can do with the device. Imagine being able to turn on the microphone of the phone without the user knowing through a pure data connection and just “listen” to everything going on?
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Comments (195)
AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:53pmIf Beck is crazy ENCIDIOT I’d like to be as crazy and rich as he is today. That’s my kind of crazy. So in light of that …who should anyone give credence to? A bottom feeding lefty shill like you? Or a success like Beck?
Report Post »barber2
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:51pmLove the Left talking about ” integrity of the press.“ That is almost as much of an oxymoron as ” the integrity of Alinsky ‘s Rules for Radicals . ” Mutually exclusive . Troll on. None of us buy your parroted, 99% Baloney.
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:57pmThey’re a bunch of obama zombies brain washed candyass freaks the lot of them.
Report Post »JohnLarson
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:00pmNot an oxymoron, just a moron on oxy.
Ailisnky!!! lol
Report Post »Baikonur
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:02pmBarber2,
Report Post »Did Murdoch approve an editorial policy that had his employees hacking murder victims’ cell phones or not? Very simple.
waring850
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:09pmNot “Zombies” their “Minions”!
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:14pmBAIKONUR…spare us your “Murdoch is evil” routine. MSNBC routinely manufactures stories. The alphabet networks virtually lynched George Zimmerman at the altar of racial politics. Get some better material chump.
Report Post »99oxymoron
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 11:16amJust felt compelled to post something here.., not sure why.
Report Post »Good point tho.
JohnLarson
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:50pmWe all know what highway Rush was on when he saw this… the Oxycontin Express.
When you’re nodding off strange things happen.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:09pmWe have a Connecticut Legislator named John Larson, DEMOCRAT. He’s an idiot just like you. All you got is the Oxy claim?? Pathetic.
Report Post »BuzzardSays
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 5:32pmJohnLarson, Get thee behind me Satan. Unless you know Jesus you will never know truth.
Report Post »RebelYell1862
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 7:24pm@JOHNLARSON You need a good old Southern ass whipping. Then maybe you’ll run back to the huffy puffy post and stay there.
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:48pm@Larson and Encinom… so by your logic, Barry O, your idol, is probably huffing crack…I mean he admitted to it. So thats his excuse to be gaunt and crazy as of late…
Report Post »barber2
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:46pmWow. Major Troll Alert. Code Orange . This topic sure grabbed their attention since so many of them are busy Occupying the Blaze on this one ! Rush and Glenn get them almost as stirred up as “religion ! “
Report Post »Baikonur
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:56pmYou know, Rush is overripe fruit already, and that fruit tree just keeps on giving:
Report Post »-4 wives, each one younger than the next, yet no kids. Are his wives beards :) ? In case this is a mysterious word to you, it means women who cover for a gay man by marrying or dating them)
-Hateful, racist speech that fires up criminal, uneducated classes.
-Prescription drug addiction, as well as conspiracy to obtain hard drugs illegally. Rush, a synthetic heroin addict who used his money and power to get hard drugs, while condemoning pot sokers on his radio show as degenerates.
-Limp rooster who smuggled illegal viagra through customs. LOL! That’s your hero.
AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:19pmLOL…Let me get this straight BAIKONUR…Limbaugh has had four wives and is a resounding business success which makes him attractive to women younger than him..and you believe he’s a homosexual? That’s the best you could muster? Seriously? You’re a joke kid.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:27pmBAIKONUR..the leaps and hysterics you just offered betray your very unsettled mind. Perhaps you should have taken your medication today? Poor wretch…
Report Post »infortheride
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:38pmBaikonur, You probably have named your hands Mutt and Jeff. Get a life LOSER!!
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:46pmBARBER2, BAKEDNUTZ is just a provocateur who shows up ever so often and makes a few hits, then runs. Don’t give him a second thought.
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:44pmYou got it all figured out don’t ya idiot.
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:43pmI‘m sure there won’t be any “gotcha’s” in Rush’s hacked account(if that’s what happened).I‘m more sure that any liberal account’s will have Tons of interesting crap if they are ever Hacked.
Report Post »Baikonur
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:04pmLOL gotcha‘s in Rush’s account? The man is a renowned heroin addict and illegal viagra smuggler on his 4th marriage. I think this is pretty damning.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:29pmWhat about cocaine use BAIKONUR? Oh wait..that’s your buddy Barry.
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 6:32pm@Baikonur—Only in your world.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:41pmthe British Labour Party, our Lefty’s international friends, is continuing their War On Conservative Murdoch’ s media outlets by trying to bring it across the pond. Thus , I would not be a bit surprised if, in addition to trying to close down Fox, the Left will try to ( “ anonymously ”/ Guy Fawkes style ) garner every other means of communication ! Hey, these guys have not only studied their Alinsky , they have majored in the Joseph Goebbels’ Propaganda methods ! Can’ t you tell already ?? The Dominant media ? NPR ? BBC ? Look at the Martin case in Florida and the media heat and long shelf life that provided the Democrats with ! Our Soros funded Lefties : Masters of Media Manipulation . They’ve got The Whole World In their Far Left pockets !
Report Post »Baikonur
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:45pmIn order to preserve freedom of the Press, we need to preserve integrity in the press. Murdoch’s editorial policy directly caused criminal actions by his employees. They hacked murder victims’ cell phones to get juicy stories.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:49pmI’m sorry BAIKONUR..would you try a different lefty talking point today? The “Murdoch is evil” one is a bit stale isn’t it? There’s a good lefty git.
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:58pm@Baikonur…and Barry,his wookie wife and his corrupt administration give out free appearances and taxpaper money to the MSM and corporations to help brainwash idiots like you to support them…you realize your points can be shot down by a 1st grader…sad, really.
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:39pmHow are the Desert Steppes of Kazakhstan this time of year?…Is Yuri still an Idol over there? Oh thats right, he smashed his Mig into the earth and slaughtered himself and his ‘Comrade’…The drunken pilot that he was. I p**sed on his ashes in the Wall at the Kremlin, when I visited Moscow years ago, by the way…;-)
Report Post »encinom
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:38pmJohnLarson
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:33pm
Too much oxycontin for Rushbo… seriously.
At least he has an excuse for his delusions, what‘s The Blaze’s excuse?
Report Post »_______________________
Beck is crazy
bikerr
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 6:53pm@ encinom—-Was the break-up with your Girl/guy photo difficult.?
Report Post »Baikonur
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:37pmWhen will you mutants get contrite and ashamed? You advocate for war, discrimination against women, black people and gay people. You view Muslims as agents of the devil. The moment it looks like the Jews aren’t thanking you enough for fawking everything up, you turn Nazi on the Jews.
Chill.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:42pmHow is the kool-aid today
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:45pmYou only show up when one of your ‘pet ideas’ comes up…you do realize that you and Encinom are always on the ‘thread’ together…like clockwork…your defense and rhetoric are laughable, childish and predictable…must be fun to be an ‘employed’ imbecile….
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:47pmDidn’t take your meds today BAIKONUR? Poor wretch.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:20pmMy Iphone just rang and said: Allah commands that you go away!
Report Post »Locked
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:34pmSounds about as valid as people who thought Furbies were used as recording devices or were possessed by demons.
Always leery of these “Really guys! It totally happened until other people were around and could verify it!” kind of stories. Of course, he should be able to verify it if there were in fact written messages. Maybe they’ll be added to the article if Limbaugh wants to prove it?
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:47pm@Locked—You are the reason Rush is right!.Lol,
Report Post »thanks for today’s laugh!.
13th Imam
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:54pmJust another Conservative bashing from the self proclaimed “Christian Conservative” Locked.
Report Post »Locked
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:13pm@13th imam
I’m not sure what being a Christian has to do with being cynical of a story like this. A device that sends out trick messages, but mysteriously starts working fine as soon as he’s around other people? He doesn’t bring it in to scan for viruses, nor are there posted pictures of the messages that appeared on the screen.
Come now. Limbaugh is a talking head, and it’s a great story. I don’t trust anything implicitly from the media, right or left. Only trust God’s Word… I guess that’s all my religion has to do with it :-)
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 6:30pm@Locked—-Stop! your killing me.lol,lol,lol,lol,
Report Post »qpwillie
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:34pmFew people alive know more about Apple products and technology than Rush Limbaugh. Perhaps you should make sure you know what the hell you’re talking about before you publicly embarrass yourself.
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:31pmI’ve had electronic equipment do things that they were never designed to do. And was considered impossible by my electrical engineer friends. Once hooked a guitar to a stereo unit and heard “have mercy” when I began playing. I don‘t know if it was encouragement or they couldn’t stand the noise.
Report Post »BenInNY
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:01pmPossessed by Uncle Jesse?
Report Post »barber2
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:31pm“ came back with some nonsense ” … Sounds like one of our Trolls like JUSTTIM is branching out !
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:30pmWi-fi is inhernetly insecure by it’s nature. Somebody got into your hotspot, they didn‘t hack apple’s servers. This would be childs play for anyone even remotely familiar.
Report Post »bglick3
Posted on April 18, 2012 at 1:30pmNo it isn’t. WPA2 is secure and I would hope Rush’s car uses at this. I’m sure that it at least uses WPA. WPA can be hacked, but it takes a while. Even if his in-car wifi was not secured, the hacker would have to be driving real close to Rush if indeed this was his entry point. Bluetooth isn’t particularly secure, but the hacker would have to be sitting next to him. If he was hacked, the attack would have come from a remote site and would have gone in through his LTE connection. In some Android mods you can set combinations of letters to auto correct to any word you want. You can have a lot of fun with someone if they are naive enough to give you unsupervised access to their smart phone. I’ve never seen anything that will do this with voice, however.
Report Post »lawrench
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:30pmit sounds to me like Bluetooth was hacked. Lets be honest, a 4 digit code is very hackable by almost anyone. The first question I would ask Rush is if he noticed anyone mirroring his movements in the vehicle? while the range of Bluetooth is not a great distance so someone would have been following him or shadowing his movements closely, and should have been noticed. As far as the Wi-Fi, it may be time to change the encryption and password. I have a 29 character password to access my Wi-Fi and it bugs my wife that I can remember that password without an issue. If the Apple servers were hacked, it should have not worked normally when he arrived at the office. But keep in mind that technology is not hacker proof no matter what companies like Microsoft or Apple may tell you. Everyone should be aware about kids hacking Wi-Fis and “War Driving”, protect your home network as best as you can. Try to stay off of Bluetooth as much as possible, the only Bluetooth active in my home is for my PlayStation3 remotes. I would advise the same for everyone.
Report Post »scruffycat
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:45pmI think he was still listening to something on the car radio and the text to speech app simply heard it and converted it into text.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:27pmPeople think that technology is so good. But now we all have to worry about privacy especially on computers.
Report Post »MittensKittens
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:24pmX-files now!
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:18pmMaybe one of the Apples’ sweat shop employees in China did it… they deify Commie Leaders, just like Barry O’s minions do.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:17pmAm I the only one who has had their computer doing some pretty strange things? Sounds like typical Obama cr*p to me .. control control control.
Report Post »Baikonur
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:20pmYes, your ignorance of how Windows works, or your drunken regretted postings are an Internet conspiracy by Obama.
barber2
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:32pmCATB: Our Arrogant Troll is now loose with his/ her appointed theme for the day…
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:39pm@CatB – my own notebook goes crazy now and then, the most recent one was solved with the finding of a Microsoft bulletin on the situation and a change on one control fixed it. The majority of the time, a glitch or goof on the machine is just that.
In the case of Limbaugh, could it be a hacker or someone cracking his account? Possible.
Could it be Obama, or even Annonymous? Possible.
Right now there is not enough information for me to come to a conclusion reliably.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:41pmLOL .. I guess that computer degree I have was for naught.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:41pmSIRI:
Report Post »Sorry
Its
Rush’s
Imagination
Baikonur
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:43pm@barber2
Report Post »Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:32pm
‘Our Arrogant Troll is now loose with his/ her appointed theme for the day…’
*******************
Programmed theme? You guys believe in demons and Revelations, and ghosts.
You people believe that the Democartic party is communist.
You toy with the belief in ‘Fema Camps.’
My aim is truth, what’s yours?
CatB
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:00pmOh and all the years I have spent in IT including beta testing. I’m telling you … if you don’t think things are being followed and noted you are not paying attention.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:14pmBAIK:
Report Post »So your mom made $47 on the deal?
AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:25pmBAIKONUR..you seem to be suffering a case of Obamaitis. Much like Obama’s “I don’t know the facts, the police acted stupidly”. You‘ve never diagnosed CATB’s computer for any problems, physical or software..yet you‘re ready to put her computer’s problems down to lack of understanding Windows? Is this what daddy’s child support checks bought? An idiot who bleats before he thinks?
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 4:43pmCome on BAIKONUR…“Truth” to lefty robots like you is an amorphous thing, it smoke…it can be bent and twisted at a whim to suit your agenda. Look at Obamcare…Obama crowed about Obamacare costing under $1trillion dollars….the CBO just recently reviewed it and the cost has already ballooned to $1.76 trillion. That‘s nearly doubled in less than three years and the treats haven’t even kicked in yet. And then we’ve got…”it’s not a tax per se” from Obama about the individual mandate, while it’s indeed a tax before the SCOTUS. While Obama was pushing the monstrosity through congress he first said that 45 million additional people would be covered by Medicaid. When reminded that he’s included illegals..all of sudden it’s 30 million additional people. Come on BAIKONUR..“truth” is subjective to lefty idiots like you. You change it at a whim. Please..spare us your pious stupidity.
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 9:21pmCATB. I have asked this question so many times here and no one has responded to it. I have trouble here and on most conservative sights. I use FB ( ALLOT OF PEOPLE HATE ME FOR POSTING NEWS RATHER THAN THINGS LIKE “I GOT UP THIS MORNING AND HAD MY CUP OF COFFEE….BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BUT i DON’T CARE) to post allot of articles that people need to be made aware of. I have trouble there as well. My emails from conservative siteds are also strange.
Report Post »Azalea
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:17pmAll I know is I turned my Siri off, because, the last few times a friend of mine tried to make a call using it, It not only didn’t work, it came back with some nonsense he never even said, and kept telling him that it couldn’t find that person in the contact. What came back was not political, though. Then, I tried mine, and sure enough, it did something very similar. So, off it went. Hope someone lets us know when Apple fixes it.
Report Post »Baikonur
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:22pmIt is probably either posessed or programmed by demons.
AvengerK
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:55pmOr it could be like you BAIKONUR..faulty and not working properly.
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:15pmBarry‘s bastards brigade obviously hacked Limbaugh’s account,he‘s a marked man and they’ll be more of this stuff and worse up into the election.
Report Post »TEARS FOR AMERICA
Posted on April 17, 2012 at 3:14pmFreaky and not just a conincidence I am sure…too far out there…
Report Post »