[Ramius]

This was gross overreaction and nearing pure stupidity both on the part of those who reported it, and even more-so, the authorities and media who made it out to be something huge.

Looking at these gizmos, I don't know that I'd have thought they were all that suspicious. But what policy message to we send about this?

Should we publicly humiliate everybody that reports something out of place if it turns out to be a false alarm? Should we not expect bomb squads to respond unless the caller says it "really, really" looks like a bomb, and ignore the ones that say it just looks "sorta" like a bomb?

We don't get to have it both ways. If *you* are walking along the mall and you see something *you* think is suspicious... and you call 911... what do you want them to do? Take you seriously or just blow it off? Should they take your name and say "if it turns out to be nothing serious we'll be able to publicly blame you for it". or maybe: "Walk up and kick it and tell us if anything happens. We don't respond to false alarms".

I don't think we'd like it if the motto of the bomb squad was "we only go out for real bombs". :-)

[wizecrakker]

Should we publicly humiliate everybody that reports something out of place if it turns out to be a false alarm? Should we not expect bomb squads to respond unless the caller says it "really, really" looks like a bomb, and ignore the ones that say it just looks "sorta" like a bomb?

Here's a question:
Do we arrest these marketers because someone got the willies over some LEDs?

And how much commonsense does it take to realize that 'IEDs' would be less conspicuous, not blinkie cartoon characters making obscene gestures.