Are French spies creating mysterious YouTube videos? Bizarre 11-second shorts could be encrypted codes, claim conspiracy theorists


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For almost eight months, a YouTube user posted a series of bizarre videos one after the other in quick succession before suddenly stopping.

Almost every clip on the Webdriver Torso channel lasts for 11 seconds and features ten slides, each one showing a blue and red rectangle of different sizes and shapes.

These were posted approximately every hour until three weeks ago, when the user was approaching the 80,000 mark, they just stopped – causing conspiracy theorists to speculate on what the clips were.  

The clips, pictured, began appearing on Webdriver Torso's account in September. They were posted every hour or so for seven months until they stopped three weeks ago. Each upload features slides with blue and red rectangles and a report suggests the videos were likely uploaded in France

THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH SPY THEORY

Stephen Beckett from BBC Click used the YouTube API platform to discover two videos that suggest the user is from France.

These videos were the only ones in the collection that didn't follow the usual formula; the first was a cartoon clip from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which is only viewable in France.

The second was a film of the Eiffel Tower light show followed by a brief shot of a person's face with the description: 'Matei is highly intelligent.'

These marry up with the fact the videos use the colours of the French flag.

The spy part of the theory comes from the similarity the videos have with numbers stations used during the Cold War. 

Numbers station are shortwave radio frequencies used to post unusual code-style broadcasts.

The broadcasts were made using typically female voices often created by speech synthesis.

It is widely assumed they were used to send encrypted messages to spies.

Boing Boing reader Enkidu was among the first to suggest the videos were a code of some sorts.

Enkidu said they were modern-day equivalents of the radio 'numbers stations' used during the Cold War.

A numbers station is a shortwave radio frequency used to post unusual broadcasts of lists of numbers or morse code-style messages.

 

They were first used shortly after the Second World War and the broadcasts were made using typically female voices, often created by speech synthesis, and transmitted in a range of languages. 

It is widely assumed they were used to send encrypted messages to spies.

In addition to the changing shapes and sizes of the rectangles, each YouTube clip has a soundtrack of different notes that change pitch.

Taking it a step further, Stephen Beckett from BBC Click used the YouTube platform to discover that two of the videos suggest the user is from France.

These videos were the only ones in the collection that didn't follow the usual formula; the first was a cartoon clip from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which is only viewable in France.

In addition to the changing shapes and sizes of the rectangles, each YouTube clip on the account, pictured, has a soundtrack of different notes that change pitch. Wired magazine was the first to report on the clips in February

In addition to the changing shapes and sizes of the rectangles, each YouTube clip on the account, pictured, has a soundtrack of different notes that change pitch. Wired magazine was the first to report on the clips in February

The second was a film of the Eiffel Tower light show followed by a brief shot of a person's face and the description: 'Matei is highly intelligent.'

These marry up with the fact the videos use the colours of the French flag, and some theorists have suggested it could have been used as a way of French spies to communicate.

Wired magazine was the first to report on the clips in February. Soon after readers began to suggest Webdriver was related in some way to the Selenium WebDriver tool used to test websites. 

A Boing Boing reader was among the first to suggest the videos were a code and claimed the clips, pictured, resembled modern-day 'numbers station' used during the Cold War supposedly by spies to send secret messages. Links to France led reports to suggest the spies were French

A numbers station is a shortwave radio frequency used to post unusual broadcasts of lists of numbers or morse code-style messages. The broadcasts were made using typically female voices often created by speech synthesis and morse generators, like the one pictured, in a range of languages

A numbers station is a shortwave radio frequency used to post unusual broadcasts of lists of numbers or morse code-style messages. The broadcasts were made using typically female voices often created by speech synthesis and morse generators, like the one pictured, in a range of languages

But a member of the development team has since denied these claims.

Another theory suggests the channel could be a code breaking challenge in which difficult puzzles are created by anonymous groups, designed to test and recruit cryptographers.

The first 420 videos are entitled 'aqua' before the names switch to a mix of number and letters, such as 'tmput21k0' – the first code posted on 1 October 2013.

MailOnline has attempted to contact Webdriver Torse using his Google+ account.


 



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