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Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

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Re: Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

#23
post #20

Where is the conspiracy? I thought the US government had been surveiling its cities via aerial technology. Is the conspiracy that these are unsecured?

I don't think people have internalized the fact that the US gov has surveillance drones in holding patterns over most US metropolitan areas. Every time I've seen someone poke around one of those persistence ADSB/radar maps, they have gone through the stages of discovery: "What are those circles?" "Surveillance drones." "Haha, no, really, what are they? Planes circling the airport?" "No, that (points to thin circle) is a plane circling the airport. The heavy circles are surveillance drones. Really." "Uhh.... (shifts uncomfortably) so where do you want to go for lunch today?"

Re: Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

#24
post #20

Where is the conspiracy? I thought the US government had been surveiling its cities via aerial technology. Is the conspiracy that these are unsecured?

I don't think people have internalized the fact that the US gov has surveillance drones in holding patterns over most US metropolitan areas. Every time I've seen someone poke around one of those persistence ADSB/radar maps, they have gone through the stages of discovery: "What are those circles?" "Surveillance drones." "Haha, no, really, what are they? Planes circling the airport?" "No, that (points to thin circle) i…

Have an example of this? Would be interesting to see it.

Re: Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

#25
post #20

Where is the conspiracy? I thought the US government had been surveiling its cities via aerial technology. Is the conspiracy that these are unsecured?

Some thoughts on pole surveillance:

https://nccriminallaw.sog.unc.edu/pole-camera-surveillance-f...

It's not 100% consistent, but part of it is a reasonable expectation of privacy, compared to what the public would normally see. E.g. having a camera up in the air is not what the public normally sees. Which in some cases violated suspects' rights.

That means LE should have warrants for these cameras. Plus, they're not allowed to go on fishing expeditions.... These cameras aren't designed to only look at one place, but a wide area... Which means public oversight is required to keep LE honest. If there are no public records, then it's unreasonable search.

Re: Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

#26

/r/conspiracy kids discovers public city weather and traffic cameras that have been around Since the 00s

Play around with one and you'll see quickly that these are designed for remote surveillance. Traffic / weather cameras don't have telephoto lenses, motorized 3 axis control or high-quality sensors.

Re: Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think people have internalized the fact that the US gov has surveillance drones in holding patterns over most US metropolitan areas. Every time I've seen someone poke around one of those persistence ADSB/radar maps, they have gone through the stages of discovery: "What are those circles?" "Surveillance drones." "Haha, no, really, what are they? Planes circling the airport?" "No, that (points to thin circle) i…

Have an example of this? Would be interesting to see it.

Seconded.

Re: Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

#28
post #20

Where is the conspiracy? I thought the US government had been surveiling its cities via aerial technology. Is the conspiracy that these are unsecured?

IANAL. It's also surveying something openly visible from public space, so even distributing it accidentally isn't illegal, per se. Now, it's obviously fucked, and abuses and mistakes like this should make public officials think twice about building a surveillance state. My main hope is news outlets that pick this up tie it to the encryption debate.

Re: Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think people have internalized the fact that the US gov has surveillance drones in holding patterns over most US metropolitan areas. Every time I've seen someone poke around one of those persistence ADSB/radar maps, they have gone through the stages of discovery: "What are those circles?" "Surveillance drones." "Haha, no, really, what are they? Planes circling the airport?" "No, that (points to thin circle) i…

Have an example of this? Would be interesting to see it.

BuzzFeed News had a big feature and analysis here: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/spies-in-t...

Re: Redditor finds unsecured surveillance cameras seemingly placed by US government

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think people have internalized the fact that the US gov has surveillance drones in holding patterns over most US metropolitan areas. Every time I've seen someone poke around one of those persistence ADSB/radar maps, they have gone through the stages of discovery: "What are those circles?" "Surveillance drones." "Haha, no, really, what are they? Planes circling the airport?" "No, that (points to thin circle) i…

Have an example of this? Would be interesting to see it.

This isn't about drones, but here is an article from last year about the DoD using surveillance balloons that use radar from 65,000 ft to generate high-res images of the ground:

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-government-testing-survei...

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