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Comment by DanBC | Hacker News Reader

The linked prank call is a sad case. It's the kind of call that I would have said was harmless before it happened.

The callers thought that they were being ridiculous - they thought that their accents and use of language and so on were so obviously daft that they had no idea they would actually get as far as they did. They thoguht they'd call, say some silly things, and have people laugh at them for being so inept at impersonating royalty.

Tragically, working for the modern NHS is for many people a stressful unpleasant experience with a lot of management and bureaucracy.

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No, that's not the case. They had a large staff meeting, and at least one of the radio announcers expressed misgivings. These were completely ignored. It was an absolute travesty what happened next. The female DJ's career has ended, whilst the male DJ's career has bloomed.

I note this is the station that had a massive boycott due to one announcers finally going too far. You might want to look up "Sack Vile Kyle". [1]

There is no doubt that 2DayFM we're hoping for massive shock and outrage. That is their modes operandi.

1. http://sackvilekyle.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/vile-kyle-bad-be...

This is the first I'd heard of it, being an American (if that's an OK excuse.) It is sad, and also would have seemed relatively harmless beforehand to me.

To change from my original tone a bit, perhaps it is best to generalize the idea, that having fun at a stranger's confusion, behind the anonymity of a phone, is just too cruel and dangerous. You can't know what's going on in the lives of the people you call, and the consequences move out of your control when you hang up.

It was big in the media in Aus and the UK, but no real reason for it to be in the US. Radio prank calls are always painfully unfunny and usually humiliating. In this case the humiliation hit a person who was mentally ill and stressed.

The fallout here in Australia was utterly predictable; contrite and teary disc jockeys, people baying for their blood, current affairs shows doing segments left, right, and center. Equally predictably, the hospital was trying to shift responsibility for improperly managing patient privacy.

The annoying thing is that it took someone's death to show just how humiliating and terrifying being on the receiving end of these things is.

The nurse referred to in the linked prank call was working in a private hospital, not the NHS. I agree with your comment though.

Ah, right, thanks for the clarification.

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