Manhole security barriers flying off the shelves
Very few pitches instill a sense of urgency, even duty in me. But when I received an e-mail pitch on Monday about a gaping hole in the country's security infrastructure, I felt compelled to share.
You don't know, it but every time you walk or drive down the street potential threats to your safety are literally under your feet. Those round portals to the sewers are veritable open doors for anyone with a nasty plan and the means of moving 100 pounds of solid metal.
The September 11 attacks illustrated how vulnerable the country was to terrorism, prompted a marketing campaign by merchants encouraging people to just keep shopping, and also launched a wave of companies seeking to address both of those concerns.
One of them was Manhole Barrier Security Systems, commonly referred to as MBSS. The company's flagship product is the Manhole Barrier Device (MBD), for which it has a utility patent. The MBD, a self-contained locking cover, has attracted customers from the telecom and cable industries, prisons, ports and energy plants, among others with holes in the ground they need to secure.
Here's what it looks like:
(Credit:
Manhole Barrier Security Systems)
MBSS is urging cities to lock up their manholes to prevent terrorism as well as to avoid liability if sued by someone who falls in one.
You might ask, what's the tech angle to this story? There is none, really. It's a blog and I'm taking my liberties.
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor. 
access to sensitive areas via going underground, and to protect
against "copper thieves" which are really starting to cause havoc
around the USA, ripping out infrastructure and selling it to
unscrupulous scrap metal dealers.
This is why prisons, utilities, etc. are interested in the product as
much as anything. Public safety is only one part of it?
Let's continue to scare the taxpayer so they'll make their
government buy more post-911 crap (or a lid for it in this case !!)
to spend our tax money on.
What happened on 09/11 was horrible. But lets face it, the goal was to cripple the USA economy. I think they did a good job at it so far. No major attacks on the USA before 9/11. None after 9/11. Yet, we put so many new restrictions on airlines that they are going bankrupt. People afraid to fly because or Torrist.. oh evil. Billions pumped into crap like locking man hole covers instead of fixing the roads and bridges because of Terrorist... oh evil.
We need locking man hole covers. We really do. Just not the kind sold in the artical. Something has to keep people from putting their heads in their *****.
punishment from God in whatever form He desires.
You do know that more unborn children died that day in
American than those killed in the 9-11 attacks.
GNoter
covers. So you get the bad with the good I guess.
Most people aren't responding to fear mongering anymore, but it doesn't stop corporations or Bush from using it everyday.
I guess there are always a few cowards that will buy into it.
Another poster put it best: why put another lock on the back door when the front door is wide open?
I think this company is a marketing genius. Convince people that they need something that they really do not need.
I highly doubt that these things would stop a determined terrorist. For instance, WTC 1993 was bombed from a parking garage. How about that massive blackout in 2003? That wasn't underground, wasn't terrorist related and that was HUGE.
Of course now that this is public, I am sure there are some terror cells out there thinking how easy this would be can't believe they didn't think of it first.
- Slow News Day?
- by brodie657 May 7, 2008 9:47 AM PDT
- Apparently so.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(17 Comments)