"... Take the lowly subject of 'manhole covers'. The humble manhole cover reproduces many of the dilemmas of computer-security in miniature. Manhole covers are, of course, technological artifacts, access-points to our buried urban infrastructure. To the vast majority of us, manhole covers are invisible. They are also vulnerable. For many years now, the Secret Service has made a point of caulking manhole covers along all routes of the Presidential motorcade. This is, of course, to deter terrorists from leaping out of underground ambush or, more likely, planting remote-control car- smashing bombs beneath the street. ..."
I remembered this bit reading the "Hacker Crackdown" by Bruce Stirling ~ http://www.mit.edu/hacker/part3.html The caulking involved bolting the manhole covers down with a super glue adhesive to secure the thread to the bolt to the concrete & steel forming a very secure join. Anyone ever seen one of these?
A few years ago, before the anti-capitalism movement ran out of steam, before May Day you would see crews spot-welding manholes in the City, London's financial district. The eco-terrorists liked to tear up the cables, I suppose if they were still around today they'd be carrying (petrol-powered!) angle grinders to get at them.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 23.7 ms ] threadI remembered this bit reading the "Hacker Crackdown" by Bruce Stirling ~ http://www.mit.edu/hacker/part3.html The caulking involved bolting the manhole covers down with a super glue adhesive to secure the thread to the bolt to the concrete & steel forming a very secure join. Anyone ever seen one of these?
You can listen to it here ~ http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/13/podcast-of-bruce-ste.ht...