I’m almost positive that this is a hoax but it’s worth posting anyway, for three reasons. One: As hoaxes go, it’s plenty slick. Two: Online media has gone bonkers for it. And three: I figure there might be some “tell” in the clip that our more tech-minded viewers will recognize. Oh, and here’s a fourth: If this is a hoax, tell me — which company is doing the hoaxing? It has to be a company, I suspect, since the hoaxers obviously had help from whoever owns those Times Square video screens and that probably required a little compensation. So it may well be a viral ad, but … for whom? It doesn’t look like an Apple spot; they don’t need to bother with viral online ads, needless to say, and they’d only get grief for suggesting a capability for the iPhone that the device doesn’t really possess.

Note that when he hacks the big screen via balloon, the CNN chyron remains onscreen even as the pirate video airs above it. Hmmmmmm.