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January 11, 2008 2:50 PM PST

CEA's take on CES Gizmodo prank: Banned!

Posted by Rafe Needleman

In reaction to "Gizmodogate," the gadget blog's prank of shutting down flat-screen displays on the show floor and during demos at CES (see Bloggers behaving badly), the conference's organizer, the Consumer Electronics Association, sent me this statement:

We have been informed of inappropriate behavior on the show floor by a credentialed media attendee from the Web site Gizmodo, owned by Gawker Media. Specifically, the Gizmodo staffer interfered with the exhibitor booth operations of numerous companies, including disrupting at least one press event. The Gizmodo staffer violated the terms of CES media credentials and caused harm to CES exhibitors. This Gizmodo staffer has been identified and will be barred from attending any future CES events. Additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker Media are under discussion.

See also: Gizmodo editor Brian Lam's argument against my position on Valleywag (comment No. 7).

Originally posted at Webware
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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 17 comments (Page 1 of 2)
seriously..
by mastercko January 11, 2008 3:41 PM PST
You're exactly right about this whole thing. Being fun in what you do as a job is one thing. But what they did was stupid, plain and simple. Their complete and total lack of understanding of WHY it's stupid (as evinced by Lam's and Gizmodo's official responses) makes me shake my head in wonder.
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What a light punishment!
by thrawn562 January 11, 2008 6:47 PM PST
They only banned one person, the one with the remote? The entire organization supported the behavior by posting it on their site. The entire organization should be banned for at least the next year.
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Brian Lam. He's no Woz.
by Urkel. January 11, 2008 11:34 PM PST
Comment 7 on Valleywag Article from Gizmodo's Head Prankster, Brian Lam. "Relax. It was a joke." "Motorola, well that was a mistake, as my explicit orders to my video person were to not interrupt press conferences." I hope he offers night classes on his comedy. I was trying to figure out whats funnier. Stealing his AC adapter during a charge or hacking up a cough into his morning coffee.
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Good
by Xocide January 11, 2008 11:45 PM PST
People who like to do things like that are a menace to society and deserve to be banned from any and all events.
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kiddy mentality
by stockyjoe January 12, 2008 2:14 AM PST
This is a sad example of the kiddy mentality of the internet culture.
Reply to this comment
Difference
by pablo Dante January 12, 2008 6:52 AM PST
Gizmodo kids created their news, something a journalist wouldn't do. A journalist can even give a funny treatment to information, not what happened this time.
Reply to this comment
All Gizmodo should be banned for life
by W2Kuser January 12, 2008 9:55 AM PST
The entire Gizmodo team should be banned for life from the event, not just one retard for next year. CES is a make-or-break event for many companies who make a massive (for them) investment in the show. If the show organizers won't take serious steps to protect their customer's investments, they will end up encouraging ever escalating disruptions from these kinds of infantile "pranks".
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At first I wasn't sure...
by Tomasu January 12, 2008 1:19 PM PST
At first I wasn't sure if Gizmodo should be banned or punished - this could have been just the one person acting on his own. However, now after learning more and understanding that this activity was planned, sanctioned, and is being "explained away" by Gozmodo, I feel that Gizmodo should be banned from all future CES and any other events presented by the same people. It wouldn't hurt to see Gizmodo possibly in litigation for their disruptive behavior with some rather large companies - it might (just might) cause them to reconsider future sophomoric pranks that can affect others' bottom lines. Bad form, Gizmodo! Regardless of the final outcome of this, you have lost MY respect. May someone DOS you right into a smoking crater - just as a prank, of course... Tomas
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As someone who works very hard on tradeshows...
by moofer January 12, 2008 1:50 PM PST
This really pisses me off. Gizmodo has lost a reader for life here. Those people aren't just winging it for laughs. They work very hard on this stuff. Companies spend lots of time, effort and money on getting their demos "just right" - this ass clown comes along and messes it all up. Unreal. I'd like to see some lawsuits as a result of this - being that it was willful maliciousness.
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?relax, it?s just a joke? doesn?t justify it
by minimalist January 12, 2008 2:13 PM PST
If you want to be perceived as being more professionally than some snarky kid with a blog then you've got to ACT like you?re more professional than some snarky kid with a blog. If you want your journalistic credibility to sink to collegehumor.com levels then by all means pull all the pranks you desire.
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