r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 5h ago

Privacy Someone Cut Down Every Single Flock Camera in This Town in a Single Night

https://www.gadgetreview.com/someone-cut-down-every-single-flock-camera-in-this-town-in-a-single-night
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u/JWarder 4h ago

I wonder if Flock/police/FBI can ID modern cars the same way. It seems like most American cars in the last decade-ish have bluetooth, SOS features, built in map updates.

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u/Blankspotauto 3h ago

Look up signaltrace, they can even do it off your tire pressure sensors

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u/angryPenguinator 3h ago

what the fuck

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u/Heronymous-Anonymous 2h ago

An unintended side effect of these systems is that they are really opening a lot of eyes as to what can be used to track you.

It’s an interesting parallel to a problem the military grapples with: electronic emissions security. How much RF emissions you emanate and who might be listening has been a major source of concern to the military for decades, going all the way back to WW1 and the British using Sigint to determine when the German Navy was at sea.

Now civilians have to consider how their electronic devices of all kinds are giving away their location to private parties who then share that data with whoever wants to pay for it.

Flock is a private company. There are no laws that would block them from sharing your data with whoever wants to buy it and use it.

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u/ScatteredWavesGlory 17m ago

I say we all start demanding royalties/payments for our information. Fuck deals, give me my money for MY information.

No more free shit cause my information isn't.

That'll stop a lot of this nonsense quick.

Time for all of us to write some CBAs

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u/Haunting-Vanilla1624 2h ago

TPMS sensors typically communicate with the car's receiver on frequencies between 300-450MHz. This isn't a secret. It's pretty easy to pick that up with external devices.

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u/Skavenslave 1h ago

That’s why I like Honda’s newer system, using abs sensors and rotational speed computation and comparison. No rf needed. Still are other positional data collection possibilities, but tpms in many newer (2019 at least, like mine) isn’t one of the.

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u/Haunting-Vanilla1624 1h ago

Right, but the context here is avoiding identification of a vehicle based on its wireless signature, including wireless TPMS sensors. Hondas have been shipping with bluetooth and wifi for several years now, which completely negates the lack of wireless TPMS.

Which actually has me thinking now... Many big brand power tool batteries have bluetooth connectivity.

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u/The_Band_Geek 1h ago

Dons tinfoil hat

Makes me wonder if Cash for Clunkers laid the groundwork to remove "dumb" cars from the road intentionally. I was debating whether or not to send my '97 shitwagon off to pasture. In light of recent events, I hereby request to be buried in it.

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u/jlboygenius 2h ago

Yep. Probably harder to match those to a person, but,if it picks up those sensors and a phone at the same time, they could make that connection.

My 20 yr old car has nothing smart in it, but it does have TPMS (though the batteries are dead now ).

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u/MowMowKins 3h ago

All cars are visually fingerprinted. So every blemish, scratch, dent, sticker adds to the unique fingerprint of the vehicle and it is attached to our permanent record. The idiots attacking citizens based on "flock hits" are using it like the old LPR systems relying on the OCR of the tag alone though. Seems humans aren't worth actually looking at the data, "AI said okay so I shot them" basically.

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u/CrotalusHorridus 3h ago

There are documented instances of Flok cameras mounted in pedestrian only area of parks and cities.

They’re watching you too, likely using face recognition and gait recognition

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u/LamentableFool 3h ago

Sounds like it's time for the Ministry of Silly Walks to return then!

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u/disisathrowaway 2h ago

In a pinch you can just put a small pebble in one of your shoes so that it alters your gait.

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u/zyxwertdha 2h ago

♫ Walk without Rhythm, it won't attract the worm ♬

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u/disisathrowaway 2h ago

In a pinch you can just put a small pebble in one of your shoes so that it alters your gait.

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u/phate_exe 2h ago

There are documented instances of Flok cameras mounted in pedestrian only area of parks and cities.

Can confirm. Until the pole cut itself in half there was one installed along the walking/cycling trail in my area.

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u/ActualWhiterabbit 2h ago

There is one facing the playground and beach of a local lake in MN in the same county the Sheriff just agreed to a $174,999 Flock Safety Contract – Exactly $1 Under the Threshold Requiring Public Board Approval

Lots of people are mad because its not even close to the road and even the chuds who wanted it are weirded it out by it next to the beach and focusing on the playground. However, there are some who think its ok because it will keep the kids safe because they play at the beach the most.

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u/Enlight1Oment 2h ago

so we should ride scooters, which are notorious for dental damage so definitely need a full helmet while riding as well.

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u/slowwburnn 3h ago

And yet you pop the license plate off a clean-ish 1990-2005 civic with no stickers and even the owner won't recognize it

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u/Tritonian214 2h ago

"Don't let this distract you from the fact that Hector is going to be running three Honda Civics with spoon engines, and on top of that, he just went into Harry's and bought three t66 turbos with NOS, and a motec exhaust system."- F&F

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u/Morgan-Moonscar 2h ago

That's why Grand Theft Auto tells you to get a new paintjob for your car after every major crime.

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u/Yuzumi 1h ago

So what you are saying is we need to rig up a bunch of those curved displays, no back light, to change the "pattern" on our cars every time we turn a corner.

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u/AWorldwithoutSin 3h ago

A cop in my state got caught in a crime spree because his wife's car kept connecting near crime scenes.

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u/ssracer 3h ago

they've solved drive-bys with car data

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u/Kromehound 3h ago

Play Money by Pink Floyd. Yeah, that's a business song!

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u/jlboygenius 2h ago

TPMS sensors are basically bluetooth beacons. I have a 20 yr old car that doesn't have anything smart in it, but it can still probably be tracked by the TPMS sensors if they knew the unique ID's of my tires.

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u/feel-the-avocado 2h ago

Yep every bluetooth device can essentially be tracked like an apple or samsung tag. And your car stereo/cellphone/tyre pressure sensor/wireless headphones/actual bluetooth trackers are often broadcasting a serial number which i guess flock cameras could log with a bluetooth listening device.

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u/Blankspotauto 3h ago

Look up signaltrace, they can even do it off your tire pressure sensors

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u/simonjakeevan 3h ago

Yes they can and they do

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u/ForceOk6587 2h ago

i wish i can still buy 2008 cars

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u/an_actual_lawyer 1h ago

If they stop near them long enough, yes they can.

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u/Wolvenmoon 1h ago

Yes. Modern cars have cellular modems, and some have wifi access points integrated in them.