Originally Posted by
FBinNY
Maybe vandals take things apart. I've never seen the Torx with pin in anything but the bike stuff.
OTOH- lots of public stuff in the NYC area is assembled with Prison Bolts, so vandalism or theft must be issues. People take anything, NYC subways buy special lightbulbs made with left hand threads.
Vandalism is the big issue in bathrooms. You've got a guy (or gal) sitting in private, and bored. Whatcha gonn do? I know, lets take the bolts loose! (Related: a bar I used to frequent had a picture above one of the urinals. It was screwed into the wall with 5" wood screws (the wall was 1 1/2 plywood, because they got sick of replacing the drywall, and were too cheap to tile to the ceiling). I watched, over the course of about six months, as one of the screws (square head) was worked out, probably half a turn at a time.
Security torx fasteners are pretty common on electronic stuff, and not unheard of on automobiles. All of my torx bits are of this sort, and the kit most of them are from isn't a "security" bit set.
I'm given to believe the MTA's light bulbs were not to keep the public from stealing them, but to keep them from disappearing by the case.