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This was stupid prank and BPD did the right thing.

Cyberstrike wrote:This was stupid prank and BPD did the right thing.

This wasn't a prank.

It was an advertising campaign. It would be like a bunch of us putting Optimus Prime busts around town in anticipation of the new movie.

The only people that caused a panic were the "fine" officers of the BPD.

Do I smell another hit episode for ATHF? MOONINITTES FOR PRESIDENT 2008!!!!!!!!!!

It's always predictable that some people will just rush to make fun of other people without looking at the whole picture.

First off it is illegal to just put advertising devices wherever you want. This isn't an issue of a private citizen accidently leaving something somewhere or putting up a lost dog paper on a telephone pole. This a a cooperation knowing putting electronic devices in public places for the purpose of advertising themselves. Also these advertisements featured a character flipping people off which probably wouldn't be allowed even if they had used a billboard legally. Also these devices, dumb as the people may have been for thinking they were bombs, did cause a public disturbance.

Next off, does anyone else think that is really convenient that Aqua Teen Hunger Force is now getting national publicity? Also when the people responsible for this have serious charges put on them, they only make jokes? It may be near impossible to prove in court, but it's a big possibility that this was the intent to cause panic or controversy in order to get on the national news and get a ton of advertising.

Have those Optimus Prime busts flip people off so it can at least offend someone enough to drag the Transformer movie into the news. Someone could also hook it up to batteries and put it on a bridge. People that don't know what the heck a Transformer actually is, might assume the worst. Why doesn't someone wave a G1 Megatron in gun mode around too? Transformer fans all know it's only a toy, why shouldn't the general public? When that person gets shot and is put on the news it'll be great publicity for the movie!

People are stupid... so what. They did nothing wrong. Overreacted... sure. It's the world we live in where terrorists can hide bombs in shoes and in water bottles, antrax can be put in letters, and terrorists can kill people and take over planes with box cutters.

Philcom wrote:stuff

So, is there a main point to what you just said?

The Mad Asshatter wrote:

Philcom wrote:stuff

So, is there a main point to what you just said?

In a nutshell...

The blame should only be placed squarly on the shoulders of the ones responsible for setting up these devices. The best intentions they had, they still illegally placed advertisements in public places that featured obsene gestures. Most likely they intended a public disturbance of some sort for publicity purposes.

There are laws against this kind of thing for a reason. Yes one of those reasons is that some people don't know an LED panel from a bomb or something that could possibly contain a bomb. People may have big imaginations and may jump to a conclusion that a harmless device could be a bomb, but we also know, however, that terrorists have big imaginations as well and can make a bomb appear to be a harmless device.

Philcom wrote:

The Mad Asshatter wrote:

Philcom wrote:stuff

So, is there a main point to what you just said?

In a nutshell...

The blame should only be placed squarly on the shoulders of the ones responsible for setting up these devices. The best intentions they had, they still illegally placed advertisements in public places that featured obsene gestures. Most likely they intended a public disturbance of some sort for publicity purposes.

There are laws against this kind of thing for a reason. Yes one of those reasons is that some people don't know an LED panel from a bomb or something that could possibly contain a bomb. People may have big imaginations and may jump to a conclusion that a harmless device could be a bomb, but we also know, however, that terrorists have big imaginations as well and can make a bomb appear to be a harmless device.

Well that settles it then.

The next time I see someone drop something in a street corner mailbox, I'm calling the FBI because anything could be a bomb and anybody could be a terrorist.

After all, it is my civic duty.

The Mad Asshatter wrote:

Philcom wrote:

The Mad Asshatter wrote:

Philcom wrote:stuff

So, is there a main point to what you just said?

In a nutshell...

The blame should only be placed squarly on the shoulders of the ones responsible for setting up these devices. The best intentions they had, they still illegally placed advertisements in public places that featured obsene gestures. Most likely they intended a public disturbance of some sort for publicity purposes.

There are laws against this kind of thing for a reason. Yes one of those reasons is that some people don't know an LED panel from a bomb or something that could possibly contain a bomb. People may have big imaginations and may jump to a conclusion that a harmless device could be a bomb, but we also know, however, that terrorists have big imaginations as well and can make a bomb appear to be a harmless device.

Well that settles it then.

The next time I see someone drop something in a street corner mailbox, I'm calling the FBI because anything could be a bomb and anybody could be a terrorist.

After all, it is my civic duty.

The person dropping mail in a corner post box isn't breaking the law in the first place. However if you see that person drop something other then mail that you may not reconize it may very well be you civic duty to inform the authorities. Because at the very least, that person is breaking the law but putting something other then mail in a mail box.

If the thing the person put in the mail box is unfamilar to the police/ post workers it's better to use some basic saftey measures until they can get some experts in to be sure, instead of running the risk that it might blow up in their faces.

People being paranoid about people being paranoid... it doesn't help very much.

If the fact that people (Even ones that don't know LEDs from bombs) are on the look out for suspicious devices means that a couple people who put harmless advertising devices in public places illegally (most likely for the purpose of causing a public disturbance in the end) get arrested, I'm fine with that. Today it maybe harmless LED board, tomorrow it may be something actually dangerous in another situation.

Should people panic... no that often does harm as well. Real threat or imagined it should always be approached with a clear head. The police were doing their job, and theres no indication that they were screaming out that these devices were bombs and people had to run for their lives.

Philcom wrote:The person dropping mail in a corner post box isn't breaking the law in the first place. However if you see that person drop something other then mail that you may not reconize it may very well be you civic duty to inform the authorities. Because at the very least, that person is breaking the law but putting something other then mail in a mail box.

But what if someone wants to mail a bomb? It is mail.

Philcom wrote:If the thing the person put in the mail box is unfamilar to the police/ post workers it's better to use some basic saftey measures until they can get some experts in to be sure, instead of running the risk that it might blow up in their faces.

True. However, that doesn't mean that they should go OMFG SOMBODY SET US UP TEH BOMB!11!!!1 and then blame someone else for causing a local panic.

Yes, these gentlemen went about presenting this advertisement in the wrong way.

They did not, however, initiate any sort of "Bomb" hoax. The BPD and the city of Boston did. These guys never reported a bomb(s) to the BPD or even pretended to do so. Therefore, they can't be charged for such a crime.

As far as a civil suit goes, Boston f'ed up. The city should hold itself accountable for its own stupidity.

The Mad Asshatter wrote:But what if someone wants to mail a bomb? It is mail.

As the observer it would be completely kosher from your perspective. Though is you have any clue that the person might be breaking the law (by putting a bomb inside a mail package) yes, you report it.

Had the guys from cartoon network has paid for advertising space on a billboard or such they would have been subject to laws on what you can put on advertising spaces, which would have meant any devices uses would have been inspected and put in an area the city approves for advertising it.

There no way I can prove that they intended to cause a panic and you can't really prove that they did not. That means that in our justice system they can not be held accountable for causing any panic without proof that they did. However they still intended to break the law by advertising in the wrong way knowingly, and through that caused a public disturbance. They should be held accountable for that.

The police, city, and media did add to the situation, but they didn't wake up the the morning thinking, "Hey, let's cause a panic today." While the people from Cartoon Network responsible for this, assuming their best possible intention, did think, "Hey, let's break the law today!"

Philcom wrote:While the people from Cartoon Network responsible for this, assuming their best possible intention, did think, "Hey, let's break the law today!"

Somehow, I doubt that was their intention either.

The Mad Asshatter wrote:

Philcom wrote:While the people from Cartoon Network responsible for this, assuming their best possible intention, did think, "Hey, let's break the law today!"

Somehow, I doubt that was their intention either.

I don't think they're naive enough to think they can put electronic advertising devices in public places without permission. Advertising is (at least in part) their profession, they would have to know that was illegal. They may have shifted the thought to the back of their mind or gave excuses, but they did have to know better.

The law (regarding advertsing and such) is there for a reason, and one of those reasons is to let the public and authorites know, for certain, that any devices used are for the purpose of advertising and are safe. They overstepped the bounds and took a risk, knowingly or not, that something like this would happen, and should take some resposibilty and most of the blame for this.

Hopefully they will think twice before cluttering up a public area with their trash again. People like that give professional advertising a bad name.

Paranoia Paranoia, everybody is coming to get me~

A few years ago (2004 or so) one of the professors at my university boarded the trolley at the on-campus trolley station and forgot his leather briefcase. Did the people coming to catch the next trolley who discovered it bring it to the lost-and-found? Noooo. That wouldn't be the safe thing to do. Instead they panicked, shut the station down, and had the bomb-squad come out and DESTROY HIS BRIEFCASE.

You can try to validate fear-mongering and paranoia all you like, but thinking that terrorists are going to plant bombs made from a flat magnetic board, a battery, and tiny lights shaped like a cartoon character isn't rational. It's stupid. It's the sort of thinking that leads to innocent foreigners being chased down and shot in the head on subways and incompetent leaders getting the public support to launch strategically flawed wars against countries based on weak and incorrect intel.

If anything those wankers should be prosecuted for littering with their crap 'guerilla advertising'. Considering that the devices in question look absolutely nothing like a bomb and lacked even the depth to conceal C4 I don't see how a prosecutor can actually prove it was a 'hoax'.

And this was done in a couple major cities, including NYC, but has anyone heard of a panic in those cities? no

and there comes a point where safety isn't a good enough excuse, and we can go too far for a relative feeling of 'safety' too, for those who try taking that line

AbsumZer0 wrote:A few years ago (2004 or so) one of the professors at my university boarded the trolley at the on-campus trolley station and forgot his leather briefcase. Did the people coming to catch the next trolley who discovered it bring it to the lost-and-found? Noooo. That wouldn't be the safe thing to do. Instead they panicked, shut the station down, and had the bomb-squad come out and DESTROY HIS BRIEFCASE.

You can try to validate fear-mongering and paranoia all you like, but thinking that terrorists are going to plant bombs made from a flat magnetic board, a battery, and tiny lights shaped like a cartoon character isn't rational. It's stupid. It's the sort of thinking that leads to innocent foreigners being chased down and shot in the head on subways and incompetent leaders getting the public support to launch strategically flawed wars against countries based on weak and incorrect intel.

If anything those wankers should be prosecuted for littering with their crap 'guerilla advertising'. Considering that the devices in question look absolutely nothing like a bomb and lacked even the depth to conceal C4 I don't see how a prosecutor can actually prove it was a 'hoax'.

Your professor made a simple mistake, the advertisers willingly placed these devices in public places.

Having a chance to see pictures of these devices myself let me expand my opinion being a student in advertising...

There is no mention of Aqua Teen Hunger Force or Cartoon Network on the devices. The LED pattern is simplistic. Never seeing the show myself I could never tell you what show this character is from. Unless there was a planned out follow up campaign (which you can prove by going through the ad company's records... but they refuse to talk to anyone) there would be nothing pointing to the show due to these devices. Therefore I believe these devices had to be created for the express purpose of getting on the news due to causing a public disturbance, knowing the media would dig up the name of the show. What they probably planned on was causing controversy (someone getting offended by the character giving the viewer the finger) not on causing a panic.

Had this not been their plan it would have been limited only a few local people recognizing the character and getting a small laugh out of it. That would have not been worth the expense (a simple print or billboard ad would have been much more effective as a strait advertisement) They needed to get on the news to be effective with those devices at all.

They should probably be charged with the public disturbance, littering, but not with setting a hoax device IMO. They still got what they wanted though... publicity.

Philcom wrote:

AbsumZer0 wrote:A few years ago (2004 or so) one of the professors at my university boarded the trolley at the on-campus trolley station and forgot his leather briefcase. Did the people coming to catch the next trolley who discovered it bring it to the lost-and-found? Noooo. That wouldn't be the safe thing to do. Instead they panicked, shut the station down, and had the bomb-squad come out and DESTROY HIS BRIEFCASE.

You can try to validate fear-mongering and paranoia all you like, but thinking that terrorists are going to plant bombs made from a flat magnetic board, a battery, and tiny lights shaped like a cartoon character isn't rational. It's stupid. It's the sort of thinking that leads to innocent foreigners being chased down and shot in the head on subways and incompetent leaders getting the public support to launch strategically flawed wars against countries based on weak and incorrect intel.

If anything those wankers should be prosecuted for littering with their crap 'guerilla advertising'. Considering that the devices in question look absolutely nothing like a bomb and lacked even the depth to conceal C4 I don't see how a prosecutor can actually prove it was a 'hoax'.

Your professor made a simple mistake, the advertisers willingly placed these devices in public places.

Having a chance to see pictures of these devices myself let me expand my opinion being a student in advertising...

There is no mention of Aqua Teen Hunger Force or Cartoon Network on the devices. The LED pattern is simplistic. Never seeing the show myself I could never tell you what show this character is from. Unless there was a planned out follow up campaign (which you can prove by going through the ad company's records... but they refuse to talk to anyone) there would be nothing pointing to the show due to these devices. Therefore I believe these devices had to be created for the express purpose of getting on the news due to causing a public disturbance, knowing the media would dig up the name of the show. What they probably planned on was causing controversy (someone getting offended by the character giving the viewer the finger) not on causing a panic.

Had this not been their plan it would have been limited only a few local people recognizing the character and getting a small laugh out of it. That would have not been worth the expense (a simple print or billboard ad would have been much more effective as a strait advertisement) They needed to get on the news to be effective with those devices at all.

They should probably be charged with the public disturbance, littering, but not with setting a hoax device IMO. They still got what they wanted though... publicity.

Exactly. They were obviously meant to get media attention by being obnoxious and 'mysterious'. That sort of thing has been done before. But for it to be a hoax they would have had to assume the public would be gullible enough to mistake them for explosive devices where in reality they're guilty of the opposite. It was still a dumb thing to place them where they did but the intent to cause panic wasn't there. They only did so in Boston and instead of admitting to blowing the whole incident out of proportion the public officials are trying to save face.

Spoon wrote:Paranoia Paranoia, everybody is coming to get me~

Yup.

The Mad Asshatter wrote:

Spoon wrote:Paranoia Paranoia, everybody is coming to get me~

Yup.

You know these things were placed in at least 10 other cities for weeks with no Incident I stick to guns the people of Boston are DUMB!.

Everybody is fixated on the idea that these things could have been bombs. And they very well could have.

Placed as the devices were, their design could have been to deliver a biological or chemical agent. They are plenty big enough to do that.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the BP/FD, Boston did not face such a threat. Because when the devices were first encountered they did not know it was a hoax.

An unintentional hoax.

Turner should have know better.

ATHF is a retarded show anyways.

http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/ ... frame=true
Yeah, people like that report bombs when they see cartoon advertising adds.
A triangle has 4 sides!

Spoon wrote:http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/01/30/why-people-think-americans-are-stupid/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shoutfile.com%2Fv%2FgSfSsCpR&frame=true
Yeah, people like that report bombs when they see cartoon advertising adds.
A triangle has 4 sides!

Yay, I love videos like this. Lets spend 10 days filming as many people as we can and then only show the bottom 1% and use that brush to paint an entire country of people.

Hey, that sounds firmiliar. Yeah, I know. It's kinda like that logic that says 'Hey, here's a video of some Arabs blowing up a building. ARABS = TERRORIST!' that so many of the high-and-mighty non-American's in their lovely ivory towers love to bitch about.

Remind me to film a few drunk, beligerant assholes next time I'm in England, and arrogant, head up their asses morons next time I'm in Italy and put it on the intertubes. I'm sure we'll all laugh then!

This video has nothing to do with the thread and exists only to paint an incredibly ignorant picture of a country you know nothing about. Within the context of comedy it might be cute and entertaining. Here you're trying to use it to reinforce a point and it's just making you look as ignorant as those you're trying to ridicule. Next plz.

As for the topic at hand, yes a few people in Boston are idiots for reporting this and deserve to be ridiculed. Yes the police/fbi/whoever else should've acted a bit more reasonably, but given the situation and time frame I can't really blame them for doing what they thought best.

And yes, it does show how horribly out of touch the people in charge of the world(yes, the world. These things being reported would've been met with the same response in England, France, Canada, Spain, or any other 1st world country. Get off your high horses) are with young culture today, but thats nothing new.

Archibald Witwicky wrote:This video has nothing to do with the thread and exists only to paint an incredibly ignorant picture of a country you know nothing about.

lmao, thanks for proving my point Witwicky. I believe this is called... irony?

Spoon wrote:

Archibald Witwicky wrote:This video has nothing to do with the thread and exists only to paint an incredibly ignorant picture of a country you know nothing about.

lmao, thanks for proving my point Witwicky. I believe this is called... irony?

Your point was that you're a giant hypocrit? Awesome.

LuckytheWonderLlama wrote:Everybody is fixated on the idea that these things could have been bombs. And they very well could have.

Placed as the devices were, their design could have been to deliver a biological or chemical agent. They are plenty big enough to do that.

No. They couldn't have. The magnetic board was completely flat and the led lights, battery, and wires were clearly exposed. Nothing was hidden. In order to deliver a biological or chemical agent you would have needed something to contain said agent, something to disperse it, and it would have to be a quantity big enough to cause immediate infection or illness rather than briefly floating around and dying from exposure or simply causing eye irritation. The only way these could have delivered a biological or chemical agent was if they were rubbed-up against some disease-ridden hobo prior to installation and people were invited to touch them.

LuckytheWonderLlama wrote:Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the BP/FD, Boston did not face such a threat. Because when the devices were first encountered they did not know it was a hoax.

An unintentional hoax.

hoax (hōks)
n.
An act intended to deceive or trick.