Mamma Mia! Italian Olympics Broadcaster Announces His Computer Password On Live TV
In the past, there have been some big slip-ups when commentators did not know that they were on-air and began speaking their mind to other people. This seems to have happened again at the Tokyo Olympics when an Italian TV announcer did not realize he was live on-air when he asked for his computer password.
Posted to Twitter yesterday by cybersecurity associate professor Stefano Zanero from the Polytechnic University of Milan, the clip has amassed thousands of likes, retweets, and views. In the video during the Turkey-China volleyball game, the announcer asked, in Italian, "Do you know the password for the computer in this commentator booth?"
La prossima volta che sentite chiacchierare di sofisticatissime policy e prodotti di security, potete commentare con questo video: pic.twitter.com/ny9L0xGTCr
— Stefano Zanero (@raistolo) July 26, 2021
We loosely translated the rest of the interaction, in which the announcer was complaining about the password. "It was too hard to call the password Pippo? Pippo, Pluto or Topolino?" in reference to the Italian names for Goofy, Pluto, and Mickey Mouse. Once he found out the password, which turned out to be "Booth.03", the announcer exasperatedly complained about the password, "as if it was NASA's computer."
After this tirade against password strength, the announcer ended with "Ma porca miseria," which translates to "pork's misery," but means "for God's sake." Thankfully, the cybersecurity people at the Tokyo Olympics do not have to say the same thing. This likely has a low impact considering there are no spectators at the event who could use this password in the booth. However, it is still amusing to see happen, as many security and privacy issues begin between the chair and keyboard.
