Spoiler: they are air sampling units.<p>Vendor page: <a href="http://www.hi-q.net/products/continuous-duty-air-samplers/psu-series-outdoor-mobile-continuous-duty-samplers/default.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.hi-q.net/products/continuous-duty-air-samplers/ps...</a>
These 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).
"The Super Bowl is designated a SEAR (Special Events Assessment Rating) level 1, an event that’s considered of national importance..." [1]<p>Ultimate authority over law enforcement coordination during such events goes to the Department of Homeland Security.<p>[1] <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/law-enforcement-high-alert-super-bowl-50/story?id=36698694" rel="nofollow">http://abcnews.go.com/US/law-enforcement-high-alert-super-bo...</a>
I can see this street corner from my office window. The box is still there: <a href="https://cl.ly/3O271Q3r2n3w" rel="nofollow">https://cl.ly/3O271Q3r2n3w</a>
I'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 <i>sign</i> that says "Do not unplug"...and thinking "so all I have to do to defeat this is...unplug it?"<p>Seriously?
If 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.<p>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.
When 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.<p>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.
DHS 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"
I think someone must be held accountable here. So the reporter actually made good efforts to find out what it was and he could not.<p>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 ?
One can only hope this isn't a modern day version of bio-warfare games/tests. See: <a href="http://www.rense.com/general15/ofmicrobesandmock.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.rense.com/general15/ofmicrobesandmock.htm</a>
This 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.<p>Or someone would call the number and watch the device to see what happens.<p>At the very least a couple of these devices would get unplugged.<p>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?
I 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.<p>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.<p>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.
They's trying to get an accurate measurement on the concentration of smug
in San Francisco.<p><a href="http://southpark.cc.com/clips/104282/smuggy-san-francisco-town" rel="nofollow">http://southpark.cc.com/clips/104282/smuggy-san-francisco-to...</a>
Followup on the bacterial weapons tests?
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9862410" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9862410</a>
I'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.
Spoiler, it's a swibble, and the reason that the DHOS dosen't know about them <i>now</i>, is because they are from the future.<p>> 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.