Porn clip on Metro TV has officials in a tizzy
new delhi — Last week, the mercury in Delhi shot past 40 degree C. The Met office said, Delhiites should brace for a week of heat wave. In the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station (named after the late Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi) at Connaught Place at the heart of Delhi, it was degrees hotter during the evening peak hours on April 9 as one of the LED screens was showing a porn clip.
Many walked past as if nothing beyond the ordinary was happening. It was after all India. Not everything could be easily explained. But a few stopped, gawping.
A few others recorded the transaction on the screen on their mobiles. Those who walked past may have ignored the screen, perhaps secretly happy they are not part of the scene on the screen. “These days,” a commuter said, “you have no idea when you might turn up as a stand-up comedian or sex worker in some one else’s mobile feed.”
A few duty-bound citizens informed the DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) authorities, who immediately shut down the system. They were quick to say, though no one had implicated them, that they had nothing to do with the projecting of the porn. The delicacy of the situation explains why the news was released officially 5 days later.
Later, once when the guilty LED screen had been shut down, they said, the suspect system was just in the process of being installed. “As the work is not complete yet, no password has been assigned to it. Anyone can access the screen and project anything on it,” an official said.
Some commuters said they rather enjoyed the break. Life was dull on a summer’s day, and a little bit of porn in the Metro was welcome, they said. “I have been to Frankfurt in Germany. Porn is on public display there,” one of them said.
The DMRC officials have ordered a probe. “We will scan the CCTV footage and see who was tampering with our system.”
To a rather cynical media, a DMRC spokesperson, Anuj Dayal, said, “The LED TV system was in the process of being commissioned on April 9. Its Wi-Fi port was accessible. As at now, all we can say is that we suspect three commuters played the porn clip on their mobile through the TV.”
Only a day after the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the visiting Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, had turned up for a ride on the Metro, for selfies and photo opportunities.
A porn show on that day in the Metro would have had meaner consequences.
What seems clear so far though, is that the Delhi Metro, like most other chip-programmed public utilities, is vulnerable to hacking and subversion. A porn clip on a hot day is not likely to be in itself a danger to the civilisation. But it shows the possibilities of disruption that technologies gift to those who have an inclination for misusing it.
The lEd TV system was in the process of being commissioned on april 9. its Wi-Fi port was accessible. as at now, all we can say is that we suspect three commuters played the porn clip on their mobile through the TV. Anuj Dayal, DMRC spokesperson