- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
Regretful cities aren’t sure how to cancel their surveillance contracts, so they are literally covering their cameras.
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This is an better idea. I was going to shoot them with a paintball gun.
iirc, paintball marker is slightly translucent, right? So maybe like…a sticker?
Trash bags just do that sometimes…
Why aren’t they just… Removing them?
Oh. Its probably because removing them is unnecessarily complicated so they need the company to come do it for them.
If you had read the article you’d know that the cities aren’t sure if they can remove them under the terms of their contracts with flock. So they’re covering them while working that out.
If I remember correctly the agreement is some kind of lease, so the city/county doesn’t really own them after they are installed.
You don’t have to worry about a complicated removal if you have an angle grinder.
on a totally unrelated topic, but harbor freight is a great place to get affordable tools.
I was thinking hacksaw but I like where your mind is at.
You’d be surprised how few worries I have when I’m brandishing an angle grinder
I’ve heard the excuse that they’re private property so they can’t. They’re not hard to remove though. They’re usually just attached to poles with pipe clamps.
I’m surprised Dayton is doing even that. It’s a low bar, sure, but it’s also Dayton.
I wonder how safe the poles are, compared to well tested road signs that are up. Those easily break off when hit. Will you end up with a solar panel through your windshield in an accident? I feel like one good lawsuit could make Flock have to replace every one of them if a lawyer can convince 12 people that they are a physical danger.
If it’s already paid for might as well use them, what a waste of tax dollars. Or at least hit them with a bat and break them if you actually plan on not using them anymore. Covering them with plastic bags allows them to walk it back whenever they feel like it.
hee hee!
Do also the other thing, where you brake it apart. Same thing, but it’s permanently.
Or accelerate it apart
I read the beginning of the title as “Cities are Cowering” and now I think it could easily be a part of an alternate title.
Like your the damn government… Just remove the devices, tell Flock where they can pick them up in the next two weeks otherwise they will be sold as is on open market and pay the termination fee or potential lawsuit. Cities get sued like all the time and I am confident even a moderately competent lawyer could find a cheap way out.
I’d like to think that the bag is step 1. Step 2 is to balance an old car tire on top, and set it on fire.
I love the theatrics of it, but surely something less polluting can achieve the same results
Guillotines?
- City installs trash bags because they’re contractually obligated to keep the devices installed and powered on
- Someone hosts an impromptu Office Space fan meetup, with a fun reenactment of the printer scene
- City sees this, responds with an obvious but legally non-actionable tweet response suggesting it continue (e.g. “Fartsburg loves Mike Judge films, too! So nice to see our citizens enjoying the various forms of recreation and socialization ths city has to offer.”), along with some conspicuously-placed garbage cans near all of the cameras’ installed locations.
- ???
- (No) Profit. (for Flock)
Makes them more easily identifiable so they can be properly disposed of.
I guess technically they already are in a trashbag.
I 100% guarantee that “deactivated” cameras are still operational. It’s just not the City getting the data.
They don’t just collect video either. Audio, network traffic, Bluetooth devices, tons of electronic intelligence can still be gotten with covered cameras
I don’t know how, but I bet there’s an enterprising way to make a nice cheap battery powered Bluetooth scrambler that can be stuck right on one of those poles with a magnet and just absolutely ruin their signals.
The Bluetooth tracking is much more sinister than people know. The city I’m in has devices specifically for this placed strategically along with the alpr and cameras. Its fuckin’ wild. Can’t even leave without them tracking you.
seems like they should use those metallic ballon type bags.
Heard lots of precious metals in them, wink wink, nudge, nudge, and all that then LoL
Really though, don’t do the precious metals part, cuz that’s what will get you caught. Carefully destroying them? Very doable, I strongly suspect.
The precious metals content realistically isn’t interesting at all unfortunately. You could make a bit reselling the internal components (like probably not even 3 digits), but the value on the actual copper/etc is negligible. The solar panel is probably the most interesting piece, but the components are cheap as fuck.
Its to encourage meth heads who only need 20 bucks and are desperate enough to go to jail for a lil bit of copper
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Welp. It’s too bad the shitty hotel I used to work at got shut down by the city.
We had TONS of meth heads that would be very appriciative of that information.
or take the whole pole its attached to.
I say take the company but that’s cause theres tons of copper wire and plumbing in the walls
I would have bit of extra respect for a youtuber breaking down to get the precious metals out of specifically flok cameras
Sounds like these cities need an adopt-a-Flock program to get these lonely civil rights violations into new forever homes
You can 100% remove them with a baseball bat.
They are the city. They can send public works out there to dismantle the cameras and then send Flock the bill for it, if they are unwilling to dismantle themselves.
Fun fact the panel, inverter, and battery set up in these do not have any tracking features, that’s all in the internals for the camera controller. It’s enough to charge any smart phone or tablet if someone you know is living outside and should have a need of that. You do not need anything more than a Philips head screwdriver for most versions, and a security bit for others, both of which you can have for pennies at any hardware store.
I guess the problem starts when two other cameras are watching the same area the first camera is in.
Some flock stuff has microphones so avoid talking during the maintenance session 😜
They also include SIM cards that come with a Flock-funded data plan.
Bring an all metal tool box to put the camera in it. Instant faraday cage.
Best to open it somewhere that is not frequented by you though, then you can remove the battery and other useful stuff for recycling.
Or just throw the whole thing in the nearest dumpster and let the garbage company take care of it.
Remove the batteries first!
If you cut the solar panel wire at night, no one will know when it happened.
Charge controllers detect open circuit connections, so it will very likely be in a log when suddenly the controller has an open circuit on the input terminals.
Spray paint the solar panel?
Spray paint the camera
Why not both?
This is why you don’t sign contracts without an obvious out.
the city was sharing Flock camera data for immigration enforcement
Ah, these are in American cities.
apparently on accident,
Oh yes, definitely American.
(Yes I know I skipped over the part about Ohio)
It’s okay, we don’t care about Ohio either
