No suspicious package or device found after scare at Facebook in Menlo Park | Hacker News Reader

No suspicious package or device found after scare at Facebook in Menlo Park

abc7news.com

47 pointstomkit32 comments

At the same time, somebody blocked off the main road with a truck. https://i.imgur.com/IvmuPl3.jpg

That’s actually not funny. If those activities were coordinated its a chilling message.

Agree, that's pretty scary to see someone go to that extent of planning. This is our peers that are being targeted for violence over the general state of the technology industry.

Google tells me that truck is associated with an existing campaign against Facebook by vpn.com.

https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/04/09/1466758/0/...

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22deletefacebook%22+%22truc...

Seems like they would be the first people to contact about a bomb threat then.

Maybe, at the same time, given these trucks are everywhere, I have no idea whether the photo in the parent is a truck blocking the highway out or a random picture of truck somewhere.

Do we have confirmation this was indeed at the same time? A comment below seems to indicate this truck was there previously.

how many times has a "bomb threat" that's been called in, actually resolved into finding a bomb?

It seems odd to me that one would go to the trouble of making a bomb, placing it, then calling it in...

Enough that nobody wants to take that chance.

oh yeah, I wouldn't suggest that they ignore the threat. It just seems puzzling behaviour to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey%27s_Resort_Hotel_bombin...

right. fair enough, good example.

I consider myself quite well versed in crazy bombings and shootings in American history. I have watched probably hundreds of hours of footage from 9/11, Waco, Ruby Ridge, Columbine etc.

But never once have I heard about this bombing, and never once in my 26 years on this earth have I ever imagined that a state fire marshall would be willing to stand next to a live bomb to examine it.

1980 must have been a different time!

Any that don't involve something along the lines of "give me money and it won't go off"?

The IRA usually (plenty of exceptions and changes over time) phoned ahead, they wanted the impact of terrorism without the bad press of civilian killings. Not a particular relevant example in modern times though.

I wonder if it's more about phsycology, someone making a bomb threat is seeking attention for some reason and ignoring it might make their behavior escalate.

Sam Melville?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Melville#Bombings

The IRA also phoned about many of their bombs. The Omagh bombing is mostly notable because their phone-call didn't accurately identify where the bomb would detonate, and so got people killed.

Plenty of terrorist groups have recognized that killing innocent bystanders isn't good PR.

Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground

Is it terrorism if they take active steps to prevent terror?

Attacking the enemy and avoiding collateral damage is usually called making war.

The Weather Underground planned one of its bombings to take place at night to minimise casualties, although they ended up killing some poor grad student who was working late.

That's not limited to any one bombing -- it was pretty typical of them to time their bombs would go off at night, as well as phone them in. They would also locate the bombs in places where they were relatively unlikely to hurt people: in the floor drain of a restroom, in a disused room, up in the ceiling.

There's a fascinating history of the militant revolutionary movements that cropped up around 60s, Days of Rage by Bryan Burrough.

Nowadays Facebook has so many enemies, State and non-State actors, that it is even impossible to determine who is behind this, unless the ones behind it, are willing to tell us. There is even an interesting opportunity to falsely accuse. Who are we going to appoint as being responsible? This is an excellent opportunity to black mouth a political adversary. Who are we going to pick?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com