k wrote:
A hoax involves purposeful deception; in this case the implication is that the devices were intended to be seen as bombs, or, minimally, as some kind of real threat. Obviously no one intended for these to be seen that way... it's so far from the truth that it's offensive. Call it what it is: a somewhat ill-advised marketing campaign which was misinterpreted -- though not so unreasonably -- by the public and the authorities.

I think its clear that the authorities over reacted. The politicians were on T.V. calling for someone's head before they even knew what was going on and the police where saying that the picture was an attempt to mock investigators. They're all on a power trip. The fact that they now know that it was a marketing campaign hasn't slowed them down one bit. The mayor called for the FCC to pull Turner's license!

The people who installed the signs shouldn't have used electric tape to attach the batteries, and 4 D cells to run a few LEDs is overkill. Its a bad design and I can see how that would look suspicious. They'd have gotten a lot of life out of 3 AAs and no one would have thought it was a bomb.

I understand the need for the police to be safe rather than sorry. What I don't understand is the need to demand someone's head on a pike every time they decide to do it. Its no one else's fault that they do this. Its their policy. They should be responsible for its implications.

Mayor Thomas Menino said the security scare may have cost the city more than $500,000.

Are the bomb squads hired on a fee-for-service basis? I would have thought they were part of the salaried police force, in which case they didn't "cost" anything we weren't already paying. In real terms of additional expenditures, it sounds like we're mostly talking about overtime pay.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke praised Boston authorities for sharing their knowledge quickly with Washington officials and the public.

In other words, Knocke praised the city for its fearmongering and rumor-spreading? I think calling it "knowledge" is a bit rich.

"Hoaxes are a tremendous burden on local law enforcement and counter-terrorism resources and there's absolutely no place for them in a post-9/11 world," Knocke said.

The officials who continue to call them "hoax devices" would seem to be having serious problems with perspective. The definition of hoax, "an act intended to trick or dupe", makes it clear that the suitability of the term rests on the question of intent.

It is quite obvious that Turner did not intend to instill fear in the hearts of city police, the mayor's office, etc. To continue to misapply the term suggests that not only were they duped initially, but that they still don't understand.

An envelope full of white talcum powder, delivered by mail along with a menacingly worded letter to the White House or a member of Congress ... that's a "hoax device".

On Turner's part, a key error was the (apparent) decision not to label the devices with any kind of identifying information. In retrospect, a simple little sticker on the device, saying "Property of Turner Broadcasting System, Managed by Mooninite Outdoor Advertising Inc. Call 800-555-MOON" would have done wonders.

Of course, at this point $500k may be a small price to pay for the publicity that the incident has garnered for ATHF.