

Hundreds of manhole covers disappear - cglee
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_missing_manhole_covers

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bootload
_"... 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?

You can listen to it here ~ [http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/13/podcast-of-
bruce-ste.ht...](http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/13/podcast-of-bruce-
ste.html)

~~~
gaius
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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dfranke
Disgruntled Microsoft interviewers are the prime suspects.

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cglee
This is relevant for context:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole_cover_theft>

