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Department of Homeland Security Devices on SF Streets
- runjake 11y agoSpoiler: they are air sampling units. Vendor page: http://www.hi-q.net/products/continuous-duty-air-samplers/psu-series-outdoor-mobile-continuous-duty-samplers/default.html http://www.hi-q.net/products/continuous-duty-air-samplers/ps...
- ucaetano 11y agoAhhh, don't spoil the conspiracy theories. But maybe it's something else DISGUISED as an air sampling unit!
- kafkaesq 11y agoYou never know: http://www.businessinsider.com/army-sprayed-st-louis-with-toxic-dust-2012-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/army-sprayed-st-louis-with-to...
- blakesterz 11y agoBig metal box in a very public place? I feel like I'm channeling Bruce Schnier here but I'll say it anyways... If I was a bad guy and wanted to plant something very bad in plain site, this is exactly how I'd do it. How long do you think it would take the good guys to figure out it's evil? I'd think hours at least. This is something like I'd expect to read in that Movie Plot contest he runs every year.
- gist 11y agoI once installed a construction cam and made up a label which indicated it was from the local township and even put a phone number on it. Nobody every questioned it (but it was on a residential street).
- shostack 11y agoAt least they were smart enough not to have LED Mooninites on it. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic
- Mo3 11y agoThe three exclamation marks in "Do not unplug!!!" made me suspicious immediately. I know this is kinda funny coming from a German but seriously, the department of homeland security can't type properly? I would've called 911 on that box immediately.
- pkinsky 11y agoI'm guessing that, if unplugged, they continue to run off battery power and send an alert to the nearest homeland office.
- Mo3 11y agoSure and I would very much hope so considering how much your government spent on these things but I was replying to that guy who said that they could be fakes set out by malicious people. And, judging by the very unprofessional sign and the fact that it is sitting completely by itself in a public street connected to a street light, that's not a very far-fetched thought..
- ryanlol 11y agoYou would have called 911... on a box? What the fuck?
- Mo3 11y agoA box sitting completely by itself in a public street connected to a street light, with an unprofessional sign on it? Hell yeah! Every 12 year old could build that box, print the sign and connect it to the street light. And thousands of people walk right by it, see the fancy Homeland Security badge that you can find within seconds on the internet and assume that the person who used a standard tool to open a street light had every right to do so. This might sound a bit paranoid I assume but remember we're talking about a hot zone for potential attack plans right now.. And where I'm from, official things are marked very clearly and undeniably, not with random phone numbers on it that no one bothers to cross-check anyway.. But with 911 (our equivalent at least) on it to be called in case of an emergency. And not with three god damn exclamation marks in the header. 13 year old Call of Duty players and our 14 year old intern do that..
- tlrobinson 11y ago"How long do you think it would take the good guys to figure out it's evil? I'd think hours at least." Indeed... "there are about 20 sub-divisions of Homeland Security it might belong to"
- fnordfnordfnord 11y agoHours? You're giving them far too much credit.
- tn13 11y agoThe fact that the reporter called up Homeland security and they could not figure it out is far more scary. I wonder how the local law enforcement allowed this.
- ryanlol 11y agoWhy would they not? If it was an actual bomb they'd undoubtedly try to make it look much less obnoxious, and nobody would notice.
- DonHopkins 11y agoIt's a PST-JITB: Portable Security Theatre Jack-In-The-Box.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- protomyth 11y ago"This extremely popular, outdoor rated continuous duty air sampling system is intended for secure outdoor ambient particulate and/or gaseous air sampling." extremely popular? I wonder what sales figures constitute popular in this category. I wonder if there is a magazine that covers this area?
- __jal 11y agoA long time ago, I discovered that there was a publication called Potato World Weekly. (No idea if it still exists.) It was a tabloid-size glossy, not terribly skinny, a weekly (as it said), and, perhaps not surprisingly, really expensive. I still find it pretty funny, but the wider point is that I would not be at all surprised by a trade journal for continuous-duty air samplers and continuous-duty air sampler accessories. Or more likely, a subscription site.
- paulajohnson 11y agoOver here in the UK we have a comedy news quiz called "Have I Got News For You". Each episode features a "guest publication" which is always along the lines of "Air Quality Professional" or "Snail Breeders Monthly". OK, so I made those up, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them.
- Animats 11y agoThat device is just a sample collector. It doesn't measure or detect anything. It just deposits particulates on filter paper, to be removed periodically and analyzed elsewhere. It's mostly for long-term cumulative hazards. To be useful for Super Bowl City, someone should be servicing the device every few hours. Has anyone seen people doing that? Homeland Security has deployed bio-warfare detectors at previous Super Bowls.[1] Those have an annoying false-alarm rate. But at least they report immediately if they detect something. [1] http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/08/nation/la-na-biowatch-20120708 http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/08/nation/la-na-biowatc...
- wavefunction 11y agoAh, when you put it like that, the NSA bulk collection of records is just a sample collector, and it doesn't measure or detect anything.
- Karunamon 11y agoThere might be something to this if there was a protocol for delivering secure data over diffuse particulate matter...
- avn2109 11y agoHonestly, is there something stopping you from encoding a signal by modulating the airborne concentration of some particle? Maybe something that doesn't occur commonly - use e.g. helium instead of nitrogen or something like that.
- Animats 11y agoIf you're being attacked, you'd like to know about it. This thing is more of a forensic device to figure out how you were attacked afterwards.
- tlrobinson 11y agoOr security theater.
- jonah 11y ago...which makes them great for long-term air quality studies but since my prayers have to go around to each device retrieve the filter media and take it back to the lab for analysis, is pretty useless for any acute airborne hazards.
- nickodell 11y agoMaybe the DoHS is trying to go around to various cities and establish a baseline for particulates, so that when there's a suspected attack, they can quickly tell what's normal and what's new.
- pbhjpbhj 11y agoThe device seems like it's a lot more than a piece of filter paper and an air intake - surely there's much more going on in there than just particulate collection.
- pbhjpbhj 11y agoThe one in the OP has a different collector. Presumably they're sampling for explosives/radioactive matter/ ...? Of course it would be a great way to hide something like license plate cameras, in plain sight, with the assumption that they're air-quality sampling systems. As someone else pointed out, wouldn't these very quickly get stolen? OT: Couldn't help but chuckle at http://www.hi-q.net/products/size-selective-particulate-sampling-inlets/default.html http://www.hi-q.net/products/size-selective-particulate-samp... with the juxtaposition of the ISO9001 quality mark and the forgotten "lorem ipsum" placeholder text ...
- BHSPitMonkey 11y agoLicense plate cameras aren't new to the bay area: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/your-car-tracked-the-rapid-rise-of-license-plate-readers/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/your-car-tracked-... (and that's to say nothing of the ones being put into patrol cars, or the data collected on the bridges coming into the city)
- remarkEon 11y agoI'm having a hard time looking at that box on the corner of a reasonably busy intersection, ostensibly there as some kind of early warning device, and that sign that says "Do not unplug"...and thinking "so all I have to do to defeat this is...unplug it?" Seriously?
- knorby 11y agoFor a device meant to detect a something like a weaponized airborne agent over an area, I'm guessing Homeland Security would more likely detect all monitors being unplugged simultaneously than an actual airborne attack.
- frandroid 11y agoUnplug the box, you'll figure out quickly who owns it...
- darkstar999 11y agoThere was never a question of who owns it.
- kazazes 11y agoThese have been in New York City for years, but are labeled as EPA devices here. You can always find them on the block of a police precinct (sometimes right next to the front door) and in other major tourists spots (I've noticed them in Times Square and Grand Central).
- xkcd-sucks 11y agoLooks like several thousand dollars worth of salvageable parts!
- amitparikh 11y ago"The Super Bowl is designated a SEAR (Special Events Assessment Rating) level 1, an event that’s considered of national importance..." [1] Ultimate authority over law enforcement coordination during such events goes to the Department of Homeland Security. [1] http://abcnews.go.com/US/law-enforcement-high-alert-super-bowl-50/story?id=36698694 http://abcnews.go.com/US/law-enforcement-high-alert-super-bo...
- pmorici 11y agoSomeone with a SDR should go out there and see what there is to see.
- jrwoodruff 11y agoI've seen in these inside Cobo Hall during the North American International Auto Show as well.
- cornchips 11y agoOne can only hope this isn't a modern day version of bio-warfare games/tests. See: http://www.rense.com/general15/ofmicrobesandmock.htm http://www.rense.com/general15/ofmicrobesandmock.htm
- ck2 11y agoWhen a president or VIP comes into town, they even remove usps blue mailboxes (which are federal and a felony to tamper with in the first place). They also weld sewer lids to their holes. I feel everyone in the public deserves that kind of detailed attention to security, there should not be any mysterious boxes left around to train people to ignore mysterious boxes which may be bombs.
- andrewmlevy 11y agoDHS isn't trying to hide what they are, I saw a man wearing what looked like a construction vest standing next to that exact unit. On the back it read something like "Air Purity Inspector"
- ethanbond 11y agoDHS isn't trying to hide a grocery cart sized steel box with "Property of DHS" stamped on it? Welp, I'm shocked. But really, I get your point. Why is it that everyone is acting like this was some shady move? I'm sure DHS is more than capable of installing whatever without anyone knowing.
- etiam 11y agoFollowup on the bacterial weapons tests? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9862410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9862410
- j1o1h1n 11y agoSpoiler, it's a swibble, and the reason that the DHOS dosen't know about them now, is because they are from the future. > SWIBBLE: some kind of device to control the 'politically correct behaviour' of citizens. It is "an artifically evolved telpathic metazoan." It's purpose was to stop war by ensuring that everyone maintained the same ideology, that everyone agreed. The last war was fought between those who wanted swibbles and those who didn't. When the main character asks the wrongly directed time-traveled repairman what happened to those who lost the war, the answer is wonderfully simple, "Why," the repairman said gently, "the swibbles got them.":Service Call, vol 4.
- bgentry 11y agoI can see this street corner from my office window. The box is still there: https://cl.ly/3O271Q3r2n3w https://cl.ly/3O271Q3r2n3w
- tn13 11y agoI think someone must be held accountable here. So the reporter actually made good efforts to find out what it was and he could not. This goes to show that tomorrow some bad guys would put some harmful machines there with labels (Homeland Security Device, touching or unplugging will attract charges, asking questions will lend you in jail) how are citizens supposed to deal with it ?
- late2part 11y agoIf you see something, say something! Call it in if it is suspicious to you!
- EvanPlaice 11y agoThey's trying to get an accurate measurement on the concentration of smug in San Francisco. http://southpark.cc.com/clips/104282/smuggy-san-francisco-town http://southpark.cc.com/clips/104282/smuggy-san-francisco-to...
- dsauss 11y agoI've seen them on platforms occasionally throughout the NYC subway system - the first time maybe a year or two ago although I can't be sure when exactly.
- unclebucknasty 11y agoIf this is truly from DHS, then it is completely insane. For one, if it is for some important security function that presumably merits three exclamation points from DHS, then having it vulnerable to disablement by any casual passerby is ridiculous at best. At a minimum, the sign should carry some legal warning or threat of penalty. Secondly, training people to think it normal that odd devices would randomly appear in public places (with no advanced notice or explanation and amateur signage) is a horrible idea. Coming from DHS, it's even worse.
- leichtgewicht 11y agoI'd suggest to call an authority other than Homeland Security and tell them a suspicious big box is standing there. Lets see how that plays out.
- yepnopemaybe 11y agoI see these around NYC relatively frequently. Sometimes I generally also see gas canisters apparently slightly open in subways and street corners at the same time I see the gas detectors. I have always assumed that whoever is responsible for placing the devices is releasing a benign (but distinct) gas and measuring it in several places downwind. By doing so, the DHS could use the data they gather to triangulate the source of a chemical weapon, or to predict its most likely path of destruction for quick aid and response.
- deet 11y agoAre you referring to gas canisters other than the liquid nitrogen tanks that litter the sidewalks to cool underground infrastructure?
- MertsA 11y agoI'm not aware of any use of liquid nitrogen to keep general infrastructure cool but it sounds like you're referring to the gas tanks that keep wiring under a positive pressure to keep moisture out. http://gothamist.com/2008/01/31/nitrogen_tanks.php http://gothamist.com/2008/01/31/nitrogen_tanks.php
- deet 11y agoI stand corrected! That use makes more sense, since sometimes they seem to come and go transiently.
- yepnopemaybe 11y agoI haven't looked to closely into it, but some of the canisters I have seen have seemed to be slowly releasing gas into the air.
- kriro 11y agoThis seems like the typical device that would instantly make its way from the streets of (typically) NYC to the home (or remote place not related to home at all) of a security hobbyist in ca. 1990s NYC. Said hobbyist would probably think that this is a phreaking awesome gift from the state. Or someone would call the number and watch the device to see what happens. At the very least a couple of these devices would get unplugged. I can't help but chuckle at the "don't unplug" sign...surely this is some sort of social experiment to see how long it takes until n% are unplugged?
- free2rhyme214 11y agoI know a Matt Scully...lol no way does he work for the DHS
- ddp 11y agoThey're probably empty. It's mostly security theater to perpetuate the myth that the police state will look after you.
- nuclearreactor 11y agoDiscreet Oculus