Hackers seem to have "teased" Lime's electric skates, causing them to start cursing riders. The company, obviously annoyed, described the event as "not at all smart" and "not at all funny".
Lime's wireless electric scooters, which have flooded the world and can be found in Athens and Thessaloniki, appear to have been the victims of a humorous hacker in Brisbane, Australia. The hacker managed to modify them to reproduce inappropriate voice recordings, a hack that the company did not enjoy at all.
The voice messages heard from the e-scooters were recorded through their mobile phones by the users who went to use them and uploaded them on social media networks. In these you will hear the skates say “Do not take me. I do not like to run ”(through one video on twitter from 7News Brisbane), or "If you are going to drive my ass, then please pull my hair, OK?", (via a video posted on YouTube).
Skaters normally reproduce sounds when they work, for example when are unlocked. Last year, the Guardian said that a Lime skate in Oakland was scheduled to shout, "Unlock me to drive me, or I'll call the police," if anyone just bothered.
According to the company, the hacker violated the physical port of the audio files, locally in every skate, and did not gain access to their operating system. Eight scooters in total were affected and are now withdrawn from use.
