Suspitious Devices Found In Boston, MA

Arlington man arrested in marketing scheme

Several illuminated electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. Most if not all of the devices depict a character giving the finger.

Peter Berdovsky, 29, of Arlington, was arrested on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said later Wednesday. He had been hired to place the devices, she said.

Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.
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Joshua Korosi said:
Yeah, let's stick something electronic and unfamiliar in sensitive places, like bridge substructures and subway platforms. Great idea, shmucks.

If I watched this crap "cartoon" I'd probably stop just because of this, but I don't, so I can't.
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It's actually a very good show. I hope they don't cancel it because the advertising was stupidly crazy. It's not like the writers or actors or animators were responsible.
 
American said:
The company will be given a pass on the crime.

They may have even known very well that it would cause the reaction it did from law enforcement.

Prepared with the knowledge that they would be able to claim it's an innocent stunt - they eagerly went ahead with the plan, and thought themselves geniuses for it.

That's my theory.
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i don't agree.

the "devices" (electronic signs) had been up in 10 other cities for 3+ weeks, suggesting that most people figured they were signs, not bombs. i'd suspect that had the marketing company wanted to create a stir by purposely hoaxing the public, they'd have changed things up when their first attempts failed.

furthermore, i've watched adult swim for some number of years now, and this sort of "marketing" is common. references to the shows from adult swim are posted in random, public places, and photographed. many of the shows are so inherently odd that it's quite humorous to imagine folk stumbling into these completely absurd signs/etc.

Joshua Korosi said:
Yeah, let's stick something electronic and unfamiliar in sensitive places, like bridge substructures and subway platforms. Great idea, shmucks.
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i don't think it was a great idea, BUT...

the "devices" look nothing like any sort of terrorist bomb ever has, ever, ever, ever... and they look an awful lot like promotional signs (aka: beer signs hanging in windows of shops, etc.)

furthermore, as i noted above, the fact that these signs had been in place in 10 cities for 3+ weeks suggests that most folk understood that the "devices" were not terrorist in nature.

If I watched this crap "cartoon" I'd probably stop just because of this, but I don't, so I can't.
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if you watched the cartoon, then you'd be qualified call it crap-- but that would still be your opinion only.
 
Shouldn't it be a rule that if you're going to start any thread that you should check your spelling particularly of the topic heading - hmmm?

Just an idea ;-)

There was a suspicious package found under a car in a suburb of Dublin late last night/early this morning. It turned out to be an elaborate hoax. But not before an embarrassing amount of fuss and attention had been given to the hoax.

Suspicious packages under cars or nearly anywhere used to a daily occurrence in Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland, happily, not so much these days though.

A side-by-side pic comparison is available on Boing Boing today with a so-called 'safe' photoshop pic of one of the LEDs in Boston. Silly sensitivity!
 
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The amazing thing is that these things stayed up for any length of time without being stolen by ATHF fans. If I was back in my college days, you can bet that they would have been decorating my dorm room.
 
Tmy said:
They were freaking light bright boxes promoting Cartoonetworks Aqua Teen Hunger Force show.
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When they were talking about this on the radio last night, I was picturing an ominous looking black box with exposed wires and maybe a clock face, but you're right. It's a freaking Light Bright with a cartoon character on it.

The placement and timing kinda sucked, but come on. Lets lose our heads a little more, shall we?
 
Boston's mayor wants not only criminal charges filed but a civil complaint brought as well. He thinks Turner Broadcasting should pay for all the expenses incurred. Estimates range into the millions.
 
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/302011_devices01.html

To us, they're so obviously not suspicious," said King County (Seattle area) sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart. "They're not suspicious devices or packages. We don't consider them dangerous."

Seattle=Smart
Boston=Um, well...

Reminds me of the little old ladies getting frisked at the airports for terrorism. Now, of course, the terrorists will set up bombs on our streets diguised as cartoon characters. (Boy who cried wolf.) Good going, Boston.
:p
 
Ladewig said:
Boston's mayor wants not only criminal charges filed but a civil complaint brought as well. He thinks Turner Broadcasting should pay for all the expenses incurred. Estimates range into the millions.
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The mayor of Boston is an ass, and may actually be stoopid. But then the War on Terror apparently necessitates taking people who have committed no crime, and because other people are hysterical ninnies, throwing the book at them. The mayor has to justify why his city ground to a halt and huge costs were incurred for no good reason whatsoever. This is not a good start.
 
TragicMonkey said:
It's actually a very good show. I hope they don't cancel it because the advertising was stupidly crazy. It's not like the writers or actors or animators were responsible.
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Are you kidding, it will likely become far more popular because of this. You just can't beat this much free publicity.
 
I think some people are making the Hindsight fallacy here. We know it's a light brite because now we've all seen what it is on the news. But what about the people on the street? What they saw was an object with flickering lights where it wasn't supposed to be. I say they had reasonable doubt to call the police.
 
Pardalis said:
I think some people are making the Hindsight fallacy here. We know it's a light brite because now we've all seen what it is on the news. But what about the people on the street? What they saw was an object with flickering lights where it wasn't supposed to be. I say they had reasonable doubt to call the police.
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??? I really don't see that, how can they not have seen it and seen it at the same time? They had to have seen it to report it and it is clearly a sign and not a bomb.

It would be like calling the police for every beer sign you see as it has suspicious flickering lights.
 
Well, if you're passing by really fast in a car, I could see why you might not recognise it as a sign. Besides, they were placed in very unusual and inconspicuous places for signs to be.

But you're right, when the police got on the scene, they would have seen it for what it is. But then again, who knows what the terrorist's plans are? Maybe the fact that it looks harmless and ridiculous was their plan. ;)
 
Pardalis said:
I think some people are making the Hindsight fallacy here. We know it's a light brite because now we've all seen what it is on the news. But what about the people on the street? What they saw was an object with flickering lights where it wasn't supposed to be. I say they had reasonable doubt to call the police.
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Uhh, you should look at the pictures. There is NOTHING threatening about these:

http://zebbler.com/friends/ATHF/mission1/mission1.html
 
Did anybody look at the conference these guys did? They are talking about haircuts in the 70's. So funny.
 
Pardalis said:
I think some people are making the Hindsight fallacy here. We know it's a light brite because now we've all seen what it is on the news. But what about the people on the street? What they saw was an object with flickering lights where it wasn't supposed to be. I say they had reasonable doubt to call the police.
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And yet, "they [the magnetic devices] have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia." No other city felt the need to have the police bomb squad blow up one of the devices; notice that the devices had wires, batteries, and a ciruit board; and conclude that because bombs had wires, batteries, and circuit boards, these devices should be considered improvised explosive devices.
 
Ladewig said:
And yet, "they [the magnetic devices] have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia." No other city felt the need to have the police bomb squad blow up one of the devices; notice that the devices had wires, batteries, and a ciruit board; and conclude that because bombs had wires, batteries, and circuit boards, these devices should be considered improvised explosive devices.
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Oh no, my cell phone must be a bomb then, and I should call the police, but what should I call on, ANY phone might very well be a cleverly hidden bomb.
 
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