The Biggest Pranks in Geek History

In 2007, authorities arrested an MIT student at gunpoint in Boston's Logan International Airport. Her alleged crime? In truth, it was one for the fashion police: the sophomore, a member of the MIT Electronic Research Society who went to the airport to meet her boyfriend, arrived wearing a black sweatshirt decorated with a battery-powered circuit board. To authorities, the contraption looked like it might possibly be a bomb. The student, who was initially charged with possessing a hoax device, reportedly claimed she had no such thing in mind: "She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day," a spokesman for the airport police said at the time. The hoax-device charge was dropped in June 2008. A judge ordered the student to publicly apologize and to complete 50 hours of community service.

Correction appended, 11/30/2009: The original version of this story contained misinformation and did not note that the hoax-device charge was dropped.