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Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

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Re: Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#31

Post by martin-t »

stavros wrote: post #21
mullingitover wrote: post #11

I'm surprised the flock cameras aren't being disabled in a more subtle fashion. All it takes is a tiny drone with a stick attached, and at the end of that stick is a tiny sponge soaked with tempera paint. Drone goes 'boop' on the camera lens, and the entire system is disabled until an expensive technician drives out with a ladder and cleans the lens at non-trivial expense. A handful of enterprising activists could bl…

Why would I fly an expensive drone close to a camera, fumble about for a minute trying to get it painted like a renaissance artist, when I can get a paintball gun for much less?

Last I heard, putting a glock on a quadcopter was creating an "illegal weapon system" or similar fancy sounding BS but I wonder what the accusation would be for a paintball gun on a drone?

Must less recoil too.

Re: Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#32

Post by dyauspitr »

shawn_w wrote: post #25
stavros wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I fly an expensive drone close to a camera, fumble about for a minute trying to get it painted like a renaissance artist, when I can get a paintball gun for much less?

So you can do it without your image being captured by the camera?

Drones with a paintball gun attached?

Realistically that’s going to attract a lot of negative attention.

Re: Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#33

Post by martin-t »

dyauspitr wrote: post #28
mullingitover wrote: post #11

I'm surprised the flock cameras aren't being disabled in a more subtle fashion. All it takes is a tiny drone with a stick attached, and at the end of that stick is a tiny sponge soaked with tempera paint. Drone goes 'boop' on the camera lens, and the entire system is disabled until an expensive technician drives out with a ladder and cleans the lens at non-trivial expense. A handful of enterprising activists could bl…

Why wouldn’t you advocate it? A much easier way of doing this is using paintballs with the appropriate paint.

> Why wouldn’t you advocate it?

Because advocating things which are moral/ethical but illegal is often against the TOS :(

We need laws which are explicitly based on moral principles. Barring that, we should at least have laws which treat sufficiently large platforms as utilities and forbid them from performing censorship without due process.

Re: Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#35

Post by asadotzler »

Good. Throw a monkey wrench into their gears at every opportunity you're comfortable with. Don't let them get away with tearing down our basic needs for privacy and safety. We don't have to give in to Big Tech and its surveillance for profit goals.

Re: Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#36

Post by toomuchtodo »

mullingitover wrote: post #11

I'm surprised the flock cameras aren't being disabled in a more subtle fashion. All it takes is a tiny drone with a stick attached, and at the end of that stick is a tiny sponge soaked with tempera paint. Drone goes 'boop' on the camera lens, and the entire system is disabled until an expensive technician drives out with a ladder and cleans the lens at non-trivial expense. A handful of enterprising activists could bl…

You can put a garbage bag over them if you don’t want to sawzall the pole and dispose of the hardware.

Re: Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#37

Post by Arainach »

martin-t wrote: post #31
stavros wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I fly an expensive drone close to a camera, fumble about for a minute trying to get it painted like a renaissance artist, when I can get a paintball gun for much less?

Last I heard, putting a glock on a quadcopter was creating an "illegal weapon system" or similar fancy sounding BS but I wonder what the accusation would be for a paintball gun on a drone? Must less recoil too.

I don't think there's a drone in this proposal.

On the list of "laws you don't want to screw with", National Firearms Act violations are high on my list. Regardless of whether something is or isn't a violation, I'm certainly not interested in paying expensive lawyers to argue they're not.

Re: Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#40

Post by andrewflnr »

idle_zealot wrote: post #14
mullingitover wrote: post #11

I'm surprised the flock cameras aren't being disabled in a more subtle fashion. All it takes is a tiny drone with a stick attached, and at the end of that stick is a tiny sponge soaked with tempera paint. Drone goes 'boop' on the camera lens, and the entire system is disabled until an expensive technician drives out with a ladder and cleans the lens at non-trivial expense. A handful of enterprising activists could bl…

The goal here by activists isn't to directly physically disarm every camera. Like with any act of protest, it's at least as much about the optics and influence of public opinion. Visibly destroying the units is more cathartic and spreads the message of displeasure better. Ultimately what needs to change is public perception and policy.

If it's about sending a message, I think using a drone to defeat mass surveillance is quite evocative.
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