Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

skeptictank.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 107 posts

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#91

Post by smeyer »

avn2109 wrote: post #74
smeyer wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The spooks do use similar technology to process downwards-looking images, but I still don't think they're at the point of reading your conversation off your windows from space, though, based off of the maturity of the various systems.

Does it matter, for practical purposes, if they do laser acoustics to your windows from space, or from a drone a few miles away?

Yes, it may matter which capability exists. If the capability exists from space, it means that they can easily switch between targets across a large swath of areas, as compared to deploying a drone near you. Have you seen laser acoustics deployed from a drone or similar platform before? It seems like getting a sufficiently stable mount on a drone would be a blocker here, although I'm not familiar with the state of that technology.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#93

Post by elektromekatron »

dagw wrote: post #88
DanBC wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suicide by cop is a thing ... in the US. People aggressively go after cops in other countries and don't get shot. It's poor training and low skills that cause US police to kill so many people.

It's poor training and low skills that cause US police to kill so many people. No it's not poor training, it's just fundamentally different training. The US train their police force that it's OK to draw their weapons and potentially use deadly force in far more situations than the police in for example Europe.

They may be following their training, however "poor" and "fundamentally different" are not mutually exclusive concepts.

The fact that the US train their police force that it's OK to draw their weapons and potentially use deadly force in far more situations than police manage in lots of other countries, would suggest that it is poor training, as many other police forces seem to be much better at de-escalation, and the training given to them seems to be a major component of that.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#94

Post by guizzy »

On one hand the author says that if you're running from a crime you will get caught. But then after gives tips to escape from someone with the ressources and determination to have skin samples from hotel rooms analysed and access to thermal imaging satellites.

Looks to me like the author doesn't know what people would be running from. I doubt the authorities would use LASER SURVEILLANCE SATELLITES for anything they intend to pursue with less zeal than a very serious felony.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#95

Post by forgetsusername »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #86
DanBC wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suicide by cop is a thing ... in the US. People aggressively go after cops in other countries and don't get shot. It's poor training and low skills that cause US police to kill so many people.

>> It's poor training and low skills that cause US police to kill so many people. This is a total over generalization. Mainly because the numbers of people shot by police do not include the context of the shooting. Questions like: - Did the person charge at a police officer? - Did the person brandish a weapon like a knife or gun and threaten the officer? - Did the person physically attack the officer? - Did the perso…

>As such, the number people trot out there simply have no context to show in many cases the officer is justified in using deadly force

What exactly is "many"?

Of course deadly force is sometimes justified. But you do realize that civilian deaths at the hands of police are through the roof in the US compared to any other country, right? Is the US population psychotic?

>This is probably the one thing that irks the shit of me more than anything.

What irks the shit out of me are apologists who justify police violence because "sometimes" deadly force is required. Is there anyone in this country that doesn't understand that, as a Police Officer, you're going to end up in scary situations? You're signing up for it. It doesn't give you permission to shoot something every time you feel the least bit threatened.

Hopefully body cameras solve this ridiculous problem.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#96

Post by philwelch »

guizzy wrote: post #94

On one hand the author says that if you're running from a crime you will get caught . But then after gives tips to escape from someone with the ressources and determination to have skin samples from hotel rooms analysed and access to thermal imaging satellites. Looks to me like the author doesn't know what people would be running from. I doubt the authorities would use LASER SURVEILLANCE SATELLITES for anything they…

I figure the author doesn't want to overtly advise people to evade law enforcement because he doesn't want to get into trouble.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#97

Post by ithought »

mirimir wrote: post #47
samstave wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus Christ I'm tired If this, get off your high horse and have the guts to have "a reasonable discussion" on a topic that doesn't fit within your comfort zone. You are a coward for posting your snide comment on an attempt to look intellectually superior. The state of the police in the US is a disease... Defend that if you're so inclined. Your snipey comment to try to quell discourse is abhorrent, and shows you're i…

You posted an ad hominem attack on police in America. That doesn't even belong on reddit, although it's more common there. That said, police in America are stuck dealing with the consequences of many short-sighted policy decisions. They are not properly trained for social work, mental health services, and so on.

How is that an ad hominem attack?

Most cops aren't properly trained to shoot a gun. Some have 1 training session per year and they have to hit 70% on a target 3 yards away. Most don't seem to know how to react in a confrontation or high-stress situation.

The system is flawed but people have personal responsibility too. You can't absolve someone of criminal acts by saying oh it's someone else's fault.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#98

Post by kyzyl »

smeyer wrote: post #91
avn2109 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it matter, for practical purposes, if they do laser acoustics to your windows from space, or from a drone a few miles away?

Yes, it may matter which capability exists. If the capability exists from space, it means that they can easily switch between targets across a large swath of areas, as compared to deploying a drone near you. Have you seen laser acoustics deployed from a drone or similar platform before? It seems like getting a sufficiently stable mount on a drone would be a blocker here, although I'm not familiar with the state of th…

My company is developing sensors that implement these sorts of coherent interferometric ranging techniques, and I can say that it's pretty unlikely that it works from space or from a drone. There are a lot of non-obvious factors that make performing those kind of measurements from orbit a bit of a nightmare.

As far as I understand space comms--which isn't that far--the 'pilot beam' technique used by satellite links is more or less a way to get a phase lock on the signal beam, which will accurately determine the exact target location, at which point the space transmitter can use a beam-forming antenna to to jack up the power to that locale specifically, giving better SNR/bandwidth/whatever. The key bit here is that (a) the method requires that the target--i.e. your bedroom window--transmits the pilot beam up, and (b) only 'solves' the atmospheric interference issue by pointing a powerful beam accurately.

Don't get me wrong, it could probably be done with enough money, and if anybody could do it would would be the US intelligence machine. Same goes for a drone, to a lesser extent. With anything flying in the atmosphere you'll have to do deal with local vibrations on the same order as the measurement deltas you care about, but there are ways to do that too. It's interesting, thinking about it now, that a lot of what we're developing could actually be directly applied to such an endeavor, even though we're not related to such industries at all. Fun.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#99

Post by akallio9000 »

When I read his description of "radiator fluid" and dumping gravel into the oil fill of a car, I began to have my doubts, but when he suggested that a revolver with the cylinder swung out might still have a bullet in the chamber, all doubts that he didn't know what he was talking about were erased.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#100

Post by happyscrappy »

forgetsusername wrote: post #95
at-fates-hands wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> It's poor training and low skills that cause US police to kill so many people. This is a total over generalization. Mainly because the numbers of people shot by police do not include the context of the shooting. Questions like: - Did the person charge at a police officer? - Did the person brandish a weapon like a knife or gun and threaten the officer? - Did the person physically attack the officer? - Did the perso…

> As such, the number people trot out there simply have no context to show in many cases the officer is justified in using deadly force What exactly is "many"? Of course deadly force is sometimes justified. But you do realize that civilian deaths at the hands of police are through the roof in the US compared to any other country, right? Is the US population psychotic? > This is probably the one thing that irks the sh…

>Is the US population psychotic?

The US is by far the most violent Western nation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...

>Hopefully body cameras solve this ridiculous problem.

Body cameras will likely vindicate police more than opponents would like, although it may be hard to compare before and after because knowing you are being recorded will have an affect.

Post reply on HN