CEA to Gizmodo Crew: Gizmo-B-Gone

By now, you’ve probably heard or read about Gizmodo’s CES crew, who brought a universal IR remote control called TV-B-Gone, and then worked themselves into a giggle-fest by covertly shutting down some devices on the show floor, thereby sabotaging some demos and displays. The Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) take on them? Banned.

In a blog posting at CNET staffer Rafe Needleman posts CEA's official response:

"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."

I myself am somehow embarrassed with the actions of the Gizmodo staff, especially with the Motorola presentation. If this is a scene in a Hollywood flick, it would probably be hilarious. But it's not. Most of the participants here worked hard and prepared for weeks, even months just to make their presentations as smooth as possible. Maybe shutting down one or two wall displays is tolerable, just for the sake of fun.. but with what they did with Motorola, as what gizmodo editor Brian Lam admitted.. is over the line.

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technorati tags: CES 2008, gizmodo prank, gizmodo banned