I don't think it's fair to point a finger at Boston authorities for overreacting. They were getting reports of suspicious devices. What are they supposed to do? They've got no choice but to react to the report, until they learn otherwise. We sure don't want them to start ignoring reports because of... what? They don't know what they have until they go out.
What's curious to me is that these gizmos were sitting in place for something like three weeks without anybody taking much notice of them, or raising any particular suspicion... then all of a sudden one day some six or more of them are simultaneously reported as "suspicious devices"??
There's your hoax. The publicity gimmick wasn't working. I'd bet money that it was the guys that put them up that had people call in and make reports of "suspicious" devices. They needed to nudge their project into public view... and that's how they did it.
I'm not criticizing the Boston cops. It's the governor there who does not know what a "hoax device" is, after he should have been fully briefed on the issue.
I knew who jackpot123 was around noon (3 in Boston), and the governor still does not get it?
He's protecting his ego.
I'd like to know who made the four almost simultaneous calls and what was said. Many people in the area knew about the signs; livejournal, youtube, flikr, photobucket, and myspace posts make that clear. It was common knowlege in the target audience.