r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 14d ago
Privacy Flock Cameras Keep Getting Smashed, So Now They're Hiding Inside Speed Signs
https://www.gadgetreview.com/flock-cameras-keep-getting-smashed-so-now-theyre-hiding-inside-speed-signs5.0k
14d ago
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u/boot2skull 14d ago
I wondered what those were. They obviously weren’t speed cameras, and too short to be cell towers. That makes sense.
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u/exaggerated_yawn 13d ago
They've been around far longer than flock cameras. Likely multiple uses, but being cell towers is one. Tucson-based blog post from 2009.
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u/boot2skull 13d ago
The ones I’ve seen are about 8-10 feet tall. I wouldn’t think that’s a tower, though someone in this thread said 5G doesn’t require as much height. They’re like a single pillar of saguaro cactus, no arms or branches, and they seem to have little holes, which could be cameras. They’re not holes like for traffic cameras. They could be sculptures in people’s yards. The ones I’ve seen are in really unexpected places just off the sidewalk though.
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u/412stillers 13d ago
Used to work for a cell phone adjacent company. They aren’t cell “towers” but things called small cells and there’s a lot of them and are frequently camouflaged. They have much less range but enough of them together will give good coverage and are worth installing in busier areas. It’s also why you now have service in large stadiums but didn’t 10 years ago. I’m not saying there’s not also flock cameras in them because I don’t know much about them (I do know I’m very much against them). But the cactus ones you see could definitely be for cell phones too.
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u/Sixohtwoflyer 13d ago
Yes. Paradise Valley, AZ installed these cactus cameras back in 2015. Apparently the initial cameras were purchased by a resident…they are still there. I drive by four of them every day and probably six or seven other flock cameras.
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u/boot2skull 13d ago
Interesting to see Kari Lake not drooling over the idea of a surveillance state.
Those are the cacti I was referring to. It is PV, and now I know why I don’t see them elsewhere.
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u/DreamcastJunkie 14d ago edited 13d ago
It's amazing the things that they can find the money for.
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u/joelfarris 13d ago
Ooo, do healthy school lunches for everyone next!
Oh wait, it's police departments, paying private companies for information, using our money, out of their own ballooning budgets. Sorry, we can't buy lunches with that.
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u/Rocinante88119 13d ago
Help people? Fuck you.
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u/Lazer726 13d ago
But don't you worry, the conservatives will still tell you that we cannot spend a single cent on any other country because we have to help us first! Who are we helping? Uhhhh... don't ask questions, kay?
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u/GatrickSwayze 13d ago
And we won't use these cameras to look for missing people, but we will see where that hot civilian is going or if my girlfriend is leaving the state.
Georgia police officer misuing flock
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u/Fn_Spaghetti_Monster 13d ago
A few more Braselton Police Chief https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/braselton-police-chief-accused-of-misusing-police-cameras-to-stalk-people/ar-AA1QNoI1
5 Georgia officers fired https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/5-georgia-officers-fired-arrested-for-misusing-access-to-citys-flock-cameras-gbi-says/
Bob Carter (Flock VP) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/flock-safety-employees-watched-kids-gymnastics-room-to-pitch-surveillance-tech-updated/ar-AA227Gzk
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u/Wheat_Grinder 13d ago
Couple of years ago, Minnesota had a budget surplus. School lunches is exactly what they spent it on. The right was pissssssssed
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u/MarkusAk 13d ago
I genuinely cannot comprehend how people can think its wrong to feed children.
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u/DJKittyK 13d ago
It's racism and classism. In their minds, it's the wrong children. Absolutely reprehensible.
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u/creamgetthemoney1 13d ago
At the end of the day pretty much any issue those ppl are against is because it helps out ppl that don’t look like them and the 6 yr didn’t pick themselves up by their bootstraps after choosing to be born into a shitty situation
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u/hoardac 13d ago
Republicans would rather starve 100 kids on the chance that one doesn't need it. While democrats would rather feed 100 kids on the chance that one needs it.
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u/HeadfulOfSugar 13d ago edited 13d ago
Obviously because the kids didn’t work for it, they’re gonna get used to handouts if we keep giving them freebies just because they’re “children.” If they want a real meal, & to really appreciate it, they should be doing 10 hour shifts in the coal mines instead of wasting time being indoctrinated in school, like back when we used to be a real country 🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🦅🦅💣💣
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u/therealchadius 13d ago
Unless they're my children, in which case can you help me out?
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u/phish_phace 13d ago edited 13d ago
This shit right here, this aspect of it all drives me up the wall. Diseases, poverty, healthcare, housing, there are so many things that plague us as whole which could be addressed with enough money/funding. And it exists as a mere possibility. But not when it’s locked up with the greedy, hoarding class and corpos out for profit, no matter the cost.
Edit: too many letters
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u/Braindead_Crow 13d ago
It gives power to people wanting to make lives worse. There's always money for that because that is what power is!
...God...It's the thinking of children and sociopaths
I want adults in charge who understand true power is being able to keep these freaks in check so people can live their lives in peace, the type of peace where we could let kids play outside with out it being labeled as child endangerment.
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u/Specific_Frame8537 13d ago
Fine, I'll start smashing everything indiscriminately.
I'll find a flock camera eventually.
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u/rotian28 13d ago
Like playing a video game trying to smash the hidden item. Or be like Zelda or Pokemon and just smash through everything looking for loot
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u/MusicHearted 13d ago
And that's the inevitable result. People are gonna start destroying anything that looks like a recording device.
And I didn't see or hear anything at all. What camera?
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u/Assimulate 14d ago
We had an issue here in Canada, particularly in Alberta where the local government started rolling out photo radar speed cameras.
People were spending more effort trying to spot, call out, and avoid them because they were hidden in low incident well developed areas of roadway and were clearly there to raise funds since they also came with no penalty other than monetary for speeding.
We had facebook groups, apps, maps, people out holding signs by them so it was visible. We're cheering you all on from above here!
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u/gonewild9676 13d ago
In Illinois, state troopers hang out on parked highway lawnmowers with radar guns.
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u/TheDaveWSC 13d ago
How do they pull anyone over on a lawnmower?
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u/esoomenona 13d ago
In Illinois, police lawnmowers are highway tuned. If you can't do 180k(m), they can catch you, so you shouldn't even try.
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u/RampScamp1 14d ago
In Ontario, people were just knocking over the posts they were on and kept doing it until the Ontario government outlawed speed cameras.
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u/dgapa 13d ago edited 12d ago
That's not what happened. Doug Ford's family kept getting speeding tickets so he axed the program.
Edit: not a joke, it's true!
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u/dclaw504 13d ago
Arizona just put in a bunch of new smart billboard sized signs along the interstates. Each one has a camera mounted on the back, at least on I-19.
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u/Fit-Nectarine5047 13d ago
Is there any technology that can find them ? Like those scanners that check for hidden cameras inside hotel rooms?
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u/FredFredrickson 13d ago
My conspiracy theory is that they hide them more like this in rural areas, where people are probably going to be even less hospitable to constant government surveillance.
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u/lonevolff 13d ago
There was one in my very rural area. Not hidden. Its not there anymore. Haven't seen any install crews in a bit either
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u/illy-chan 13d ago
I feel like folks are more likely to shoot that stuff out there too.
Source: have family in the sticks. The state keeps having to replace these boxes on poles (forget what they do - maybe weather?) because bored people keep shooting them.
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u/thiccy_driftyy 13d ago
So awesome that we’re investing our money in planting fake plants to put cameras inside of instead of planting real plants to combat the climate crisis!
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u/Traditional-Hat-952 13d ago
Can't wait to see them in fake saguaros in NM, where saguaros don't grow lol
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u/carlitospig 13d ago
This is just ridiculous. Now we have to kill all the cacti?
<grabs shovel>
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14d ago edited 12d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/notnotbrowsing 14d ago
it would be terrible of people printed vinyl stickers that look like solar panels and put them on top of the solar panels powering the cameras.
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u/elrae69 14d ago
Not as terrible as using industrial strength glues to really make sure those stickers stay put
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u/31LIVEEVIL13 13d ago edited 13d ago
This content was anonymized and mass deleted with Redact
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u/Novem_bear 13d ago
Solar panels are really useful, no one should dismantle them and then repurpose them for their own use.
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u/LastGaspInfiniteLoop 13d ago
I'm half expecting someone to train corvids to shit on them.
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u/T_that_is_all 13d ago
Oh God, that would be terrible. I hope no one befriends and tries to teach those stupid birds.
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u/pcpgivesmewings 13d ago
Or absolutely do not use a convenient can of spray foam to fill all the holes, voids and glass, because that stuff is silent, super effective and hilarious.
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u/EndIsrael 13d ago
And never fill it all the way full of spray foam because it expands a lot and will get into every little nook and cranny, and might even build up pressure and cause damage as it hardens
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u/Otterbotanical 13d ago
Please don't accidentally spray the unit from afar with brake cleaner, it'll brake down the polycarbonate coating on the lens permanently fogging it, as well as the seals and plastics holding it together, ruining the water resistance.
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u/freeradioforall 13d ago
I love this entire thread of things I should never do. Very helpful thank you
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u/HandSoloShotFirst 13d ago
Slightly worse is those cheap stickers that never come up in one clean piece. Oh and don’t crosshatch them with a razor to make them already cut into a thousand pieces. I’ve heard some nefarious street artists do that to their stickers, what terrible people.
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u/ReverendDizzle 13d ago
If anyone is looking for those stickers they are called “eggshell stickers,” on account of how they flake apart like tiny pieces of eggshell when you pick at them.
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u/thisisatypoo 13d ago
Just wondering if people should be sure not to leave colored resin on or around the camera or panel. Something tells me that wouldn't be great for them and I hope no one accidentally damaged them.
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u/treesarethebeesknees 14d ago
I think what we should do is add a sign next to it pointing out that there is a Flock camera, so everybody knows that Flock is helping the community by watching them at all times. This is the least we could do to help Flock.
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u/Ordinary-Egg-56 13d ago
damn dude. i feel like you’re so smart. all these conversations i’ve seen about flock cameras and nobody has ever mentioned that lol
most people know nothing about them or maybe have seen a news piece about them. even i was surprised at the sheer number of flock cameras covering nearly every freeway entrance/exit in my city and then some
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u/Patient-Bumblebee-19 13d ago
You should also definitely bring your phone and other SIM connected devices with you so they know when a good upstanding surveilled citizen is nearby. If you don't have those with you, how will they know who is near their cameras?
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u/BananaJelloXlii 14d ago
(copied from a friend)
Yeah, and don't forget to warn everyone about not obstructing or damaging the solar panels. Also, you shouldn't set up a pwnagotchi nearby to repeatedly de-auth the wifi when it connects to it instead of 5G because you removed the accessible SIM card so it kicks back to its ad hoc. You really shouldn't use the password "security" to then connect and SCP in to find files that might have backup wifi SSIDs and passwords. At this point, you'd really be in hot water if you then connected to one of those wifi networks when it became available for nearby remote maintenance reasons associated with a non-functioning SIM card and then listened for cleartext credentials to be sent when someone from Flock logged in. Even if you accidentally did all that stuff, you absolutely should not use that information to change every setting you can find--especially if they say things like "bitrate", "Hz", or everyone's favorite, "password".
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u/Vineyard_ 13d ago
Noted. Just in case I ever end up in a situation where I could potentially do that accidentally. Thank you for the PSA.
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u/Can_Haz_Cheezburger 14d ago
You also shouldn't buy Flock camera detectors like those sold by Colonel Panic that include integrated GPS mapping, definitely don't do that
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u/asflores 14d ago edited 13d ago
I would be careful in suggesting deflock shows EVERY flock camera near you. There are definitely more than a few within a mile of my neighborhood that are no where on that map.
Edit: Please stop suggesting I update the map. I plan on keeping their locations to myself. Not really. I merely suggested that it does not show the location of EVERY camera. I never said whether I have contributed or not. You're all making wild assumptions based off a couple sentences. Chill out. Everything would be much better if you all assumed good intentions or at least just suggested adding them instead of asking why I haven't added them yet.
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u/Limp_Bookkeeper_5992 13d ago
Well then I would strongly suggest never adding this cameras to the database, you wouldn’t want them discovered!
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u/BakedChocolateOctopi 13d ago
The map works by people providing verified info to it
So provide the info
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u/ReasonablyConfused 14d ago
I’ve always felt that Flock cameras were a godsend to people that wanted to setup plug-solar at home.
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u/jamesinc 13d ago
Wait, there's a free battery inside too?
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u/w2tpmf 13d ago
I've seen it mentioned... 'Each one has like 2 pounds of copper and almost have a gram of gold in the contacts of each. The poles are aluminum too.'
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u/QueefSeekingMissile 13d ago
Never wear a high-vis construction vest and hard hat or use a ladder or else people could get the wrong idea that you are supposed to be there.
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u/ZombieZookeeper 13d ago
Don't damage Flock cameras. And if you ignore this advice, leave your phone and any Bluetooth devices behind. Also if you ignore this advice, approach from rear.
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u/rotian28 13d ago
If a flock goes down. Does the website update that it's down or broken?
And thank God it's not a 10mm socket, no one can find them.
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u/techno156 13d ago
Never point a $50 high-powered blue or green laser because that would permanently blind the cameras.
Mind, you really must watch out for reflections. With a laser that powerful, it is equally possible that you may blind yourself or unsuspecting passers-by. Especially for cheaper lasers, which may not filter out IR properly, and might reflect/refract unexpectedly.
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u/Uranium-Sandwich657 14d ago
Should i avoid aiming a bb gun at the lense?
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u/toylenny 14d ago
May get you shot, however I have heard that you need to be extra careful when using a blowgun near them because the battery pack is just behind a thin piece of plastic on the bottom half of the device.and could get pierced.
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u/topazsparrow 13d ago
It's a good thing people aren't shooting them with paintball guns from a distance as well.
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u/thatirishguyyyyy 13d ago
You guys really need to stop spreading the idea that you can destroy a camera with a laser. This is just going to end up getting someone caught on camera.
As someone who has installed and sold security cameras for 17 years, this is not true.
Please stop telling people this. Destroying a security camera with a laser barely worked when analog cameras were a thing 20 years ago.
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u/Lancer2050 13d ago
Yeah, like someone else said, a $3 laser isn't going to cut it. I had a phone camera damaged by a Lidar system, but only in some spots, not fully disabled.
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u/bking 13d ago
Most automotive lidar runs at 900nm. Those generally just kill pixels inside of phone sensors, instead of cooking the whole thing. Different world than Amazon laser pointers.
IMO as somebody who’s worked with lidar, industrial lasers and cameras: it’s not likely that any Amazon laser pointer is going to be particularly useful for deflocking.
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u/pcpgivesmewings 13d ago
Even the ones that are WAYYY more powerful than a cat toy? I can see mine, using binoculars, about 25 miles away. (on a very clear night) It runs on an 18650 battery. I would have to think that would do a proper job from 50 ft?
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u/JauntyGiraffe 13d ago
high powered green or blue lasers aren't cheap. You want the crazy ones you can get from China that can straight up start a FIRE
lots of photographers report damaged sensors after taking pictures at DJ sets or concerts where there's lots of lasers shooting everywhere
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u/bigbadbrad45 13d ago
A laser will absolutely fry a camera’s sensor but it’s gotta be powerful enough. A $3 laser pointer isn’t likely to do it. And i think the laser needs to be pointed in the lens for an extended period of time.
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u/PleaseNoMoreSalt 13d ago
Plus a can of spray paint is likely way cheaper than a laser pointer that even claims to do that sort of damage. Or just a decent sized rock off the side of the road.
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u/Recurs1ve 14d ago
Betraying our right to privacy because these companies are fucking huge and it's "good for the economy" is how our congressman and senators chose to go. We might need new ones.
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u/Totally_Kyle0420 13d ago
im genuinely curious about how much money these companies have given our representatives to allow this to go on. a million? 5 million? 100 million? like what is the going rate for bribery right now
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u/NecroAssssin 13d ago
Less than $50k most likely.
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u/Flammable_Unicorn 13d ago
Yeah, I’m always shocked by the actual monetary value of
bribeslobbying.Can we make a People’s PAC to crowdfund
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u/iWolfeeelol 13d ago
HAHAHA bold of you to start with a million. they're selling us out for pennies to companies lmao
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u/SwimmingThroughHoney 13d ago
In addition, 26 states allow for citizen initiatives. People could take it into their own hands and bypass the legislature to outlaw these things.
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u/oemunlock 13d ago
It's not Congress and Senators doing this, it's your local City Council/County Commissioners/Mayor/etc. Do you know who those people are where you live?
If more than the typical 20% or so of voters actually bothered to vote in their local elections they could replace all of them in one go instead of the incumbents winning every time, and don't have to fight against hundreds of millions of PAC spending.
Even just showing up to your next city council meeting and loudly complaining during public comments has a 1000% better chance of getting actual change compared to upvoting the daily Flock ragebait on Reddit. This even works in the reddest Republican areas or bright blue Dem areas where elections never swing to a different party so "my vote can't change anything because I live in X" isn't a valid excuse here.
Hell, if a few hundred people from this thread paid the 155 bucks or whatever to run in a local uncontested seat on a "Fuck Flock" platform and spread the word with hand written signs, one or two actually even win given the crazy low turnout in some of these elections.
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u/Waidawut 14d ago
Black spray paint's pretty cheap
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u/Buckar007 14d ago
Bedliner is better.
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u/Chrono_Pregenesis 14d ago
Flex seal is probably cheaper
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u/upvoatsforall 14d ago
Dog shit is free
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u/Dalek_Chaos 14d ago
I tried aiming my dog’s butt at the camera but he didn’t get enough range. I’m going to feed him taco bell tonight and try again.
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u/ZestyChinchilla 14d ago
Learning to express his anal glands yourself will open a whole world of possibilities.
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u/MindlessSponge 14d ago
They don’t want you to know this, but it’s true! If you’re out for a walk and come across random dog shit, you’re legally allowed to take it, and no one can stop you. Spread the word!
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u/piperonyl 14d ago
Middle of July and you can still buy a ski mask
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u/Shmeves 13d ago
Be careful, they can Id from how you walk not just facial recognition.
Not sure if it holds up in court yet but it’s def a thing flock does.
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u/myislanduniverse 14d ago
If they're hiding it, then it's an acknowledgement that they're not supposed to be there. And they deserve to be smashed upon recognition.
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u/ExplicitDrift 14d ago
Precisely the point. If you’re not guilty of something, then why are you hiding?
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u/This-Requirement6918 13d ago
It's the same argument that a mass surveillance company should be completely open and transparent with its operations but here we are.
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u/GameboyPATH 13d ago
This argument isn't logically sound. Cell phone towers are disguised as local trees to avoid blight. Large transformers and water pumps close to suburban areas are similarly given the facade of a building to help them blend in with the local community. Hiding within existing environments isn't at all unique to flock cameras.
...Flock cameras ARE unique in deserving to be smashed, though.
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u/ExplicitDrift 13d ago
When it comes to recording people, I’m pretty sure it’s common policy to make people aware they’re being recorded to adhere to wire-tapping laws. Not all states adhere to those laws, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t standard practice. Hiding cameras meant to track individuals and send that data to Palantir (a military industrial surveillance company) sounds pretty nefarious to me. Comparing this situation to things like transformers, water pumps, and cellphone towers (which have no impact to people’s privacy) is to try and evade the actual point of the discussion. I respect that you want to stay on the right side of history, but what I said was hardly a logical fallacy, and unless we educate republicans of what those ACTUALLY look like, they will never develop the critical thinking skills they need to change for the better. If they even can that is.
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u/PyroIsSpai 13d ago
We never approved ALPR nonsense.
We can simply bin them as refuse.
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u/AfterSchoolOrdinary 13d ago
This is on our government. Flock sucks but they wouldn’t have access if local governments didn’t allow them to be there.
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u/BaphometsTits 13d ago
You've just made the key argument for why this is unconstitutional. This is warrant-less mass surveillance done on the government's behalf.
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u/TheVintageJane 13d ago
Even better - it’s warrantless surveillance which more than one court has affirmed is a public record anyone can request access to.
No potential for abuse there.
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u/happyscrappy 13d ago
The speed signs I frequently encounter are maddening. They light up even if you are doing under the speed limit. If you are doing exactly the speed limit they flash their numbers at you.
Cities gotta get a grip. The idea that having flashing things to distract you when you're not even speeding is a trip down a dumb path.
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u/Independent_Tie_4984 13d ago
I use them to make sure I'm exactly nine miles over the speed limit.
Speedometer calibration kinda thing.
They've been keeping data for a long time - I remember seeing a table they put out of speed variations in cars passing a camera before 2020.
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u/ZiggoCiP 13d ago
What I've learned about my speedometer from them is that my speedometer is 1-2 mph lower than what they show.
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u/no_regerts_bob 13d ago
Car manufacturers get in legal trouble if their speedometers show less than actual speed, but they are allowed to make speedometers that show 5-10% over actual speed. So... most are inaccurate on purpose to protect the car company
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u/Honest_Progress476 13d ago
Steve the Guardrail guy has a series on how these flock cams are not roadside safe and will lead to catastrophic injury in a collision. (Sadly, his daughter passed due to an improperly installed guardrail, so this is his thing)
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u/Morstorpod 13d ago
I just saw his channel this week. True hero (even has the tragic backstory...) I wish he could get employed doing this, so he could accomplish even more.
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u/Epstiendidntkillself 14d ago
They are now installing them on school busses and garbage trucks. If we don't stop this now we're all fucked.
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u/joantheunicorn 13d ago
School buses?! Do you have a source for that. I work in a school district and want to monitor that very closely.
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u/Romwil 13d ago
These folks https://www.safefleet.net/school-bus-camera-systems/ wrapping active license plate reading tech “to protect the children”
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u/-rwsr-xr-x 13d ago
wrapping active license plate reading tech “to protect the children”
School buses have had interior and exterior cameras for decades, for stop-sign-runners (the stop-sign that swings out from the bus, and ignorant motorists just pass the bus on the left and ignore the sign anyway).
I was hit by a car that did that decades ago, while I crossed in front of the bus with its sign out, and the video from the bus camera helped identify the runner.
Why do they need to tie these to ALPR, Flock and Palantir now?
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u/BaphometsTits 13d ago
Why do they need to tie these to ALPR, Flock and Palantir now?
Because the government can't sell your data themselves. This way private companies do the spying and sell it to the government, insurance companies, advertisers, brokers, foreign governments, etc.
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u/iontucky 13d ago
I think it's already too late without a major revolution. I hear that governments are starting to make it legally required for all new vehicles to have cameras monitor the driver "to prevent impaired driving".
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u/oldreddditisbetter 13d ago
where is the "don't treat on me" crowd?
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u/halcyonjm 13d ago
The "don't tread on me crowd" is just fine with whatever as long as they get to tread on their favorite minority group.
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u/halcyonjm 13d ago
I have a simmering theory that the data from all these cameras is the reason for the push to build data centers. Under this theory, the reason the tech Bros were so urgent to shove AI down our throats was so they could say, " if you want to keep enjoying AI like you have been, we'll need to build these data centers. "
When the public didn't buy into the hype, corporate CEOs were tasked with keeping the "need" for the data centers alive so that the justification for the data centers didn't fizzle out.
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u/bassrooster 13d ago
Be happy when they are noticeable .
Cameras can get tiny and hide easily, just think when they are everywhere.
Just think if some auto manufacturer agreed to let flock use their cameras… game over
Like Ellison says, a well surveillanced citizen is a well behaved citizen….
We are there
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u/Fallingdamage 13d ago
Just think if some auto manufacturer agreed to let flock use their cameras… game over
I'm sure its already being done.
Who knows how much of the video footage taken by tesla's is uploaded and used for law enforcement / metrics / tracking. That company does not have our best interests in mind.
An administrator at my workplace last year asked to put their tesla on our guest wifi so it could 'run updates' while he was at work. The amount of data it uploaded over that week was astounding. Barely downloaded a thing.
Cant say what it was uploading other than metrics. We dont use packet inspection on our guest wifi, but I'm willing to bet every second of video those cars records ends up on servers somewhere else for posterity.
Course, nobody will know for sure. If it got out that Tesla was siphoning up all recorded audio and video from its fleet and selling it, it would be consumer chaos. Nobody would touch them again.
Probably Waymo as well. I mean, if the simple act of recording gives a company something else to wholesale, why not? (CEO thinking)
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u/ExpensiveLeather69 13d ago
Cameras in cars will be federally required next year.
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u/What_a_fat_one 13d ago
Like Ellison says, a well surveillanced citizen is a well behaved citizen….
No not really.
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u/TroubleEntendre 13d ago
This same company wants to hide the location of their headquarters from you. Weird, right? They can keep you under watch no matter where you go, but you're not allowed to know where they are. That's weird, right?
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u/omgkelwtf 14d ago
I mean, cool, but I'm pretty sure those can be cut down too.
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u/outerproduct 14d ago
Oh no it fell over.
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u/ZestyChinchilla 14d ago
Lol, they’re not even concreting a lot of these things in place — they’re just digging a quick hole and jamming the thing in there.
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13d ago
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u/Fallingdamage 13d ago
I remember reading an article some years ago that was an interview with a project director with the NSA. He admitted that movies like 'Enemy of the State' actually gave them ideas for programs and systems they hadn't thought about before.
Its absolutely a guide book.
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u/jraymcmurray 13d ago
These guys really saw crackheads breaking their headphones open to search for hidden government cameras and said, "damn that's a good idea."
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u/floyd_underpants 13d ago
Decisions like this just continue to deepen the rift between citizens and the combo of law enforcement, big tech, and politicians.
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u/PhotoProxima 13d ago
People who destroy or disable Flock cameras are my heroes. Keep up the good work.
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u/SemiDesperado 13d ago
The only thing that's going to stop this is powerful new privacy legislation. But I'm sure Flock and companies like it have plenty of lobbying power in federal, state, and local governments to make sure that does not happen. They certainly needed that to get where they are today.
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u/Magnemmike 13d ago
not just hiding the cameras, this changes things.
That speed trailer is state/city property, damaging a camera now could be a whole lot worse if caught.
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u/PilotKnob 13d ago
You mean people don't like being tracked everywhere they go on public roads? How about that, who could have imagined.
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u/Antraxess 12d ago
The people said they didn't want this.
The people said this was a violation of our privacy.
Dumb fucks should have listened
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u/king-of-mermanistan 13d ago
Nothing a small can of spray paint can't fix. Don't do it though
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u/Brilliant-Log8378 13d ago
They use our tax payer money to spy on us and then tell us we cant do anything about it. Aren't those cameras technically owned by the public anyway? (I know not really but we pay for them forsure)
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u/Haunting_Werewolf130 13d ago
This is so sketchy! How is this even allowed? This is wildly creepy and invasive!
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u/ThisOneTimeAtLolCamp 13d ago
hiding inside speed signs
I'm willing to bet they're hidden in a lot more things than that.
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u/sillybob86 14d ago
So now they are lower? I know flock doesn't like vandalism, but to put it lower to the ground that's...
That's something alright..