Paris Hilton / T-Mobile Sidekick Hacked

Well, the forums are abuzz with voyeurs and conspiracy theorists trying to figure out the latest T-Mobile Sidekick hack.

It's a hoax or a twisted PR move. I looked at the pictures. Ya, all of them. I don't think these are all Sidekick pictures. In fact, I not sure any are. Here's why.

1) EVERY picture is of Paris. Where are the pictures of friends at an event, or at a bar? Also, her makeup and hair are perfect in every picture. Where are the no makeup, hair down, pictures? She would have to be as self centered as the "media" says she is for me to believe these.

2) The topless pictures seem to have a fog around the edges. I know there is a special lens that does this, but I've never seen it on a Sidekick.

It's real.

1) I've read too many forum entries of people gutsy, err inconsiderate, enough to call some of the phone numbers. Filled mail boxes, real people hanging up on the caller, and disconnected numbers all point at these being real numbers. Even if these aren't the numbers to the stars, it is unlikely a planned PR stunt would include the phone numbers and e-mails of real people.

2) If T-Mobile was complicit in this "stunt", it would be like staging a train wreck in hopes of getting your railroad some additional press. Unfortunately, celebrities who wish to stay in the spotlight DO stage train wrecks in search of publicity. Maybe this point should go under "undecided".

Undecided. That's where I'm at today. Some things look mighty fishy, but this is just too ugly to be a stunt or a hoax.

Now for the Wireless take on this.

This is not the first news of T-Mobile's Sidekick users getting hacked. I blogged this same issue a month ago. I also posted some precautions to take.

My recommendation: If you are a T-Mobile customer, be assured that all indications are that your personal information is safe. That being said, I would recommend that all T-Mobile subscribers who use My T-Mobile or the SideKick services change their account passwords, more for piece of mind than necessity. Besides, it is always a good practice to change passwords periodically anyway.

I would also add that as long as you are not a publicity starved model, or absent minded Secret Service agent, you shouldn't need to worry too much. But again, it's better to side on the safe side, and change your passwords more than once in a lifetime, don't use your dog's name for your password, and if security is at all a concern, get a BlackBerry. Some of the media outlets have referred to Paris' phone as a BlackBerry. This is wrong. It was a Sidekick.

I though T-Mobile dodged a bullet with the deafening silence around the last hacking story. I think people will pay a little more attention to this shot.