Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Wired looks at the law under which Peter Beredovsky was charged regarding the Boston Mooninite lights: Whoever possesses, transports, uses or places or causes another to knowingly or unknowingly possess, transport, use or place any hoax device or hoax substance with the intent to cause anxiety, unrest, fear or personal discomfort to any person or group of persons shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than two and one-half years or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.Note the requirement of intent, which should be impossible to prove–it’s clear the intent was to promote the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, not to cause panic. But this law also requires that the object being planted be a “hoax device,” which is defined as: For the purposes of this section, the term “hoax device” shall mean any device that would cause a person reasonably to believe that such device is an infernal machine. For the purposes of this section, the term “infernal machine” shall mean any device for endangering life or doing unusual damage to property, or both, by fire or explosion, whether or not contrived to ignite or explode automatically. For the purposes of this section, the words “hoax substance” shall mean any substance that would cause a person reasonably to believe that such substance is a harmful chemical or biological agent, a poison, a harmful radioactive substance or any other substance for causing serious bodily injury, endangering life or doing unusual damage to property, or both.That’s a nice term, “infernal machine”–it sounds like something demonic, perhaps appropriate for a state that still has blasphemy laws on the books. Here again, the law is clearly in Beredovsky’s favor. There is no way that a person would reasonably believe that the magnetic lights depicting Mooninite characters were “infernal machines”–devices designed to ignite or explode. I predict the authorities will drop the charges rather than go through the further embarrassment of a trial.

Bruce Schneier has commented on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force nonsense in Boston: Now the police look stupid, but they’re trying really not hard not to act humiliated: Governor Deval Patrick told the Associated Press: “It’s a hoax – and it’s not funny." Unfortunately, it is funny. What isn’t funny is now the Boston government is trying to prosecute the artist and the network instead of owning up to their own stupidity. The police now claim that they were “hoax” explosive devices. I don’t think you can claim they are hoax explosive devices unless they were intended to look like explosive devices, which merely a cursory look at any of them shows that they weren’t. ...

Boston authorities have now escalated their response to the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” movie publicity campaign, by arresting two of the men who put up magnetic lights showing the Mooninite characters Ignignokt and Err, on charges of “placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic." But this is absurd–it wasn’t a “hoax device”–they were lighted pictures of characters from a movie. It was not designed to look like anything remotely dangerous. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said, “It had a very sinister appearance. … It had a battery behind it, and wires.” So anything with a battery and wires (like, say, an iPod) is now a threatening, sinister appearing device? Massachusetts is trying to cover its stupidity with more stupidity. Nine other cities didn’t find this remotely threatening, and nobody saw the ones in Boston as threatening for the first 2-3 weeks they were up. (For photos and my initial report, see here.)

The strange objects that set off a scare in Boston and caused at least one of them to be blown up were magnetic lights set up by Turner Broadcasting to promote the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. They had been in place for weeks before being mistaken for something dangerous and causing authorities to shut down bridges and access into the Charles River. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a usually entertaining short cartoon that appears on the Cartoon Network’s adult swim. This isn’t the first time that a movie marketing campaign has resulted in this kind of hysterical over-reaction. In April of last year, a device that played the “Mission: Impossible” theme was placed into Los Angeles Times newspaper vending machines. One of the devices in Santa Clarita had exposed wires, was mistaken for a bomb, and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office arson squad blew it up. UPDATE: CNN has a photo of one of the Aqua Teen light boards, which depicts the Mooninite named Err (the smaller one), extending his middle finger. (Correction–it’s the bigger one, Ignignokt, in the picture above, though there are some of Err as well.) UPDATE (February 1, 2007): Here’s how an Associated Press story in the Arizona Republic described these devices: “The exact nature of the objects was not disclosed. But authorities said some looked like circuit boards or had wires hanging from them." That sounds a lot scarier than the reality, doesn’t it? It conveniently omits the fact that there’s a clear pattern of lights depicting a cartoon character. That article goes on to say “At least some of the devices resemble one of the villains on “Aqua Teen,” part of Cartoon Network’s late-night Adult Swim lineup.” Is there any evidence that any of them did not? Nine of ten cities where these devices were put in place did not have a panicked overreaction, and the one that did waited two to three weeks before jumping into a panic. Had they been actual malicious devices, their reaction would have been too late. One word of advice for future marketeers: put a label on your devices with a phone number that can be called so you can explain what you’re doing before the authorities blow up your equipment. Here’s another picture of one of the devices in place. ...