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Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

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Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#51

Post by atbtoacb »

So I agree that it would be outrageous for to throw these folks in jail for this.

But it does seem worth following up on. Not because they did bad, but because it's important to learn how they did what they did. And demonstrating to potential terrorists that you're capable of finding people who breach security at landmarks seems like a good thing to do.

The Brooklyn Bridge would be a reasonable terrorist target. We collectively spend a lot of money to try to make it secure, just like we do with basically all large buildings. And that feels reasonable to me, and I imagine to a lot of other people. (e.g., I'm not sad some of my tax dollars go to protecting the Golden Gate Bridge[1])

And, so, I dunno, NYPD hasn't thrown 'em in jail yet, and they've only said "It is a matter of concern... I am not particularly happy about the event." So I guess I think it's a bit unfair or unhelpful to judge everyone's handling of it quite yet, everything seems sorta fine to me as of now.

Also what an awesome prank, I love it.

[1] http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Protecting-Our-National...

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#52

Post by deciplex »

suprgeek wrote: post #50

Rig up a couple of motion triggered IR camera's at critical points not commonly accessed, disguised and tamper proof. Check it once every so often just to make sure it works. Next time some jokester tries a stunt like this go check, find their pic, locate & throw his/her dumbass in jail (if so desired). And please stop with this "terrorist" scare mongering! We as a society (or the media portrayal) are becoming a bunc…

>And please stop with this "terrorist" scare mongering! We as a society (or the media portrayal) are becoming a bunch of paranoid jerks parroting this nonsense and wasting taxpayer funds when the NY cops have many more important issues to deal with.

Yeah, I heard we're nearly at the point now where we're going to go around putting hidden motion-triggered cameras literally everywhere.

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#53

Post by deciplex »

josho wrote: post #20
s_q_b wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's highly symbolic from a police perspective. We may see it as some kids who watched too many documentaries playing a harmless prank. But let me rephrase that to put that in the frame of mind of the investigators. "Unknown individuals infiltrated a heavily guarded and highly visible piece of crucial infrastructure undetected. Once present, they defaced the public property by removing two American flags, and replaci…

Your comment suggests that there is an expectation that police should have the ability to catch these guys. I find that ridiculous. Have you all really become that paranoid that a harmless prank needs to find justice because 'what if it was a terrorist'. Listen folks, you can't stop terrorism. A determined attacker will just find an easier target. You can't guard everything all the time.

>You can't guard everything all the time.

No, but you can put everyone under the constant threat of imprisonment for nebulous reasons, or no reason at all, and there is some glitch in human reasoning that conflates the two.

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#54

Post by frogpelt »

Someone1234 wrote: post #12

> while sparking terror fears in the process That's just pathetic. You have to have a pretty addled mind in order to find an obvious prank such as this "terrifying." But that's what our society is now, everything is measured by the lowest-common-denominator, and fear is a commodity sold to you every evening on the news.

If someone could do this without being caught what would stop someone else from doing something sinister and deadly? That's how I took it.

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#55

Post by dang »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #44

Aaaaand it's gone from the frontpage. The very symbol of hacking is gone from the Hacker News in less than 5 hours. In regards the topic the flag turned into a symbol of surrendering of ones freedoms to the state. Now let's spend hundreds of thousands to catch them, put them to the jail and budget for consultants who will help closing such threats in future.

Five hours is plenty of time on the front page, and the second page has good stuff too.

Neither the article nor the thread sheds much light on the story, so it doesn't seem surprising that this post didn't reach the top tier.

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#56

Post by lotsofmangos »

frogpelt wrote: post #54
Someone1234 wrote: post #12

> while sparking terror fears in the process That's just pathetic. You have to have a pretty addled mind in order to find an obvious prank such as this "terrifying." But that's what our society is now, everything is measured by the lowest-common-denominator, and fear is a commodity sold to you every evening on the news.

If someone could do this without being caught what would stop someone else from doing something sinister and deadly? That's how I took it.

People have always been able to do sinister and deadly things. The reason that they do not happen more often is largely not because of people stopping them, but is rather because not many people are really that nuts.

The ability of pranksters to switch flags on a bridge does not make your world more risky. A heavy handed state triggering paranoid reactions from the mentally ill may well do.

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#57

Post by rotten »

Terr_ wrote: post #5

Wouldn't it be funny if they are the same flags, and instead the perpetrators bleached them "remotely"? Like with a quad-copter hauling loads of liquid bleach, or a laser with the right wavelength to destroy the dyes. Edit: Ah, never mind, the spotlights are also up on top, not down below as I had thought. It'd take quite a lot of robo-dexterity to cover them up so quickly, so if a person is already up there they mig…

Or some nearby industrial plant belched a cloud of toxic bleaching gas that drifted by and as a side effect reacted with the cheap chinese dyes in the flags.

Corporate terrorism? It would never happen...

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#58

Post by oh_sigh »

Crito wrote: post #33
pyre wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my read as well. That 'people' were afraid it was a terrorist attack because the lights on a landmark went dark. On the other hand, why didn't people just assume it was a black-out, or technical issues?

Yeah, my first thought would have been "Dumbasses should change the lights during the day, not the night" . "Terrorists must be terrorizing us by breaking our lightbulbs" would have never occurred to me; it is far more plausible that somebody was working on them.

Well, the biggest terrorist attack on American soil did happen about a mile away from there. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#59

Post by Crito »

oh_sigh wrote: post #58
Crito wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, my first thought would have been "Dumbasses should change the lights during the day, not the night" . "Terrorists must be terrorizing us by breaking our lightbulbs" would have never occurred to me; it is far more plausible that somebody was working on them.

Well, the biggest terrorist attack on American soil did happen about a mile away from there. Maybe that has something to do with it.

I considered that, and I think it might excuse "Boston mooninite" sorts of paranoia, but seeing lights turn off on a landmark and jumping to the "terrorists" conclusion? Nearly 13 years later? This wasn't a low-flying plane or an odd device with blinking lights, this was just some lightbulbs going out.

Re: Digital-age detective work can’t crack Brooklyn Bridge caper

#60

Post by s_q_b »

megablast wrote: post #43
s_q_b wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's highly symbolic from a police perspective. We may see it as some kids who watched too many documentaries playing a harmless prank. But let me rephrase that to put that in the frame of mind of the investigators. "Unknown individuals infiltrated a heavily guarded and highly visible piece of crucial infrastructure undetected. Once present, they defaced the public property by removing two American flags, and replaci…

> Unknown individuals infiltrated a heavily guarded and highly visible piece of crucial infrastructure undetected. 100,000s of people do that every single day. It is a bridge. That is what bridges do. They carry largely unknown people across a highly visible structure. I think you are blowing this out of proportion. Or maybe I shouldn't use the word blowing.

Not me. That quote is that of a hypothetical law enforcement officer's view. It doesn't represent my personal opinions. It's an attempt to place ourselves in their shoes to understand their thinking.
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