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

Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

404media.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 507 posts

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#11

Post by throwway120385 »

dvtkrlbs wrote: post #7
edot wrote: post #6

Flock or their defenders will lock in on the excuse that “oh these are misconfigured” or “yeah hacking is illegal, only cops should have this data”. The issue is neither of the above. The issue is the collection and collation of this footage in the first place! I don’t want hackers watching me all the time, sure, but I DEFINITELY don’t trust the state or megacorps to watch me all the time. Hackers concern me less, ac…

Yes and the biggest problem with this kind of ALPRs are they bypass the due process. Most of the time police can just pull up data without any warrant and there has been instances where this was abused (I think some cops used this for stalking their exes [1]) and also the most worrying Flock seems to really okay with giving ICE unlimited access to this data [2] [3] (which I speculate for loose regulations). [1]: http…

When you give access to any system that collects the personal information including location data for people in the US to the police, a percentage of the police will always use those systems for stalking their exes.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#12

Post by SamInTheShell »

edot wrote: post #6

Flock or their defenders will lock in on the excuse that “oh these are misconfigured” or “yeah hacking is illegal, only cops should have this data”. The issue is neither of the above. The issue is the collection and collation of this footage in the first place! I don’t want hackers watching me all the time, sure, but I DEFINITELY don’t trust the state or megacorps to watch me all the time. Hackers concern me less, ac…

Nothing will be done until one of the investors of the tech end up embarrassed from weaponization of the tech against themselves. These people have no clue how creepy some of their technologic betters can be. I once witnessed a coworker surveilling his own network to ensure his girlfriend wasn't cheating on him (this was a time before massive SSL adoption). The guy just got a role doing networking at my company and thankfully he wasn't there for very long after that.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#13

Post by eightysixfour »

I don't want these cameras to exist but, if they're going to, might we be better off if they are openly accessible? At the very least, that would make the power they grant more diffuse and people would be more cognizant of their existence and capabilities.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#14

Post by SamInTheShell »

embedding-shape wrote: post #10
SamInTheShell wrote: post #8

It's 2025. The ISP gateway I got comes with more default security than these cameras. The barrier to entry on security is lower than it ever has been in history. Whoever let this past the QC phase is an idiot.

> Whoever let this past the QC phase is an idiot. It's all a matter of perspective. I'm sure to some executive somewhere, the person/s who approved all of this is seen as heroes, as they shaved of 0.7% or whatever from the costs of the development, and therefore made shareholders more money. Until there are laws in place that makes people actually responsible for creating these situations, it'll continue, as for a co…

So you're trying to justify this type of rampant negligence in tech? Do you think justifying such malfeasance makes up for fact we literally have surveillance networks that bad actors can tap to do really awful things?

Anyone that cares about their perspective has missed the point.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#15

Post by hrimfaxi »

eightysixfour wrote: post #13

I don't want these cameras to exist but, if they're going to , might we be better off if they are openly accessible? At the very least, that would make the power they grant more diffuse and people would be more cognizant of their existence and capabilities.

Is it more symmetrical? I know in theory we all can continuously download and datamine these video feeds but can everyone really?

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#16

Post by tracker1 »

edot wrote: post #6

Flock or their defenders will lock in on the excuse that “oh these are misconfigured” or “yeah hacking is illegal, only cops should have this data”. The issue is neither of the above. The issue is the collection and collation of this footage in the first place! I don’t want hackers watching me all the time, sure, but I DEFINITELY don’t trust the state or megacorps to watch me all the time. Hackers concern me less, ac…

I think more importantly people need to recognize that cops are people, flawed and fallible as is the flock system in general. It should never be the whole solution and be used as evidence alone.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#17

Post by MSFT_Edging »

SamInTheShell wrote: post #14
embedding-shape wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whoever let this past the QC phase is an idiot. It's all a matter of perspective. I'm sure to some executive somewhere, the person/s who approved all of this is seen as heroes, as they shaved of 0.7% or whatever from the costs of the development, and therefore made shareholders more money. Until there are laws in place that makes people actually responsible for creating these situations, it'll continue, as for a co…

So you're trying to justify this type of rampant negligence in tech? Do you think justifying such malfeasance makes up for fact we literally have surveillance networks that bad actors can tap to do really awful things? Anyone that cares about their perspective has missed the point.

I don't think the person you're replying to is justifying it, but saying there's no laws to prevent the abuse.

Personally I think tech CEOs should be put in stocks in the town square on the regular but they're protected from any form of repercussions besides extreme cases of fraud. Even then, they're only held accountable when the money people have their money effected, not when normal people are bulldozed by the abuse.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#18

Post by hrimfaxi »

SamInTheShell wrote: post #14
embedding-shape wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whoever let this past the QC phase is an idiot. It's all a matter of perspective. I'm sure to some executive somewhere, the person/s who approved all of this is seen as heroes, as they shaved of 0.7% or whatever from the costs of the development, and therefore made shareholders more money. Until there are laws in place that makes people actually responsible for creating these situations, it'll continue, as for a co…

So you're trying to justify this type of rampant negligence in tech? Do you think justifying such malfeasance makes up for fact we literally have surveillance networks that bad actors can tap to do really awful things? Anyone that cares about their perspective has missed the point.

An explanation is not a justification.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#19

Post by eightysixfour »

hrimfaxi wrote: post #15
eightysixfour wrote: post #13

I don't want these cameras to exist but, if they're going to , might we be better off if they are openly accessible? At the very least, that would make the power they grant more diffuse and people would be more cognizant of their existence and capabilities.

Is it more symmetrical? I know in theory we all can continuously download and datamine these video feeds but can everyone really?

No, but the same argument could be made for things like open source software. We assume/hope that someone more aligned with our outcomes is actively looking.

Or, at the very least, that we can go back and look later.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#20

Post by hrimfaxi »

eightysixfour wrote: post #19
hrimfaxi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it more symmetrical? I know in theory we all can continuously download and datamine these video feeds but can everyone really?

No, but the same argument could be made for things like open source software. We assume/hope that someone more aligned with our outcomes is actively looking. Or, at the very least, that we can go back and look later.

I don't think they are similar. Public feeds would enable someone to document and sell people's whereabouts in real time. The fact that I could do the same or go back and look later is no defense.
Post reply on HN