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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

#151

Post by leephillips »

bsder wrote: post #148
ideophobia wrote: post #126

A lot of statements and theories about these camera's from all sorts of directions, but they're just pole cams. LEA's have been using pole cams since before I was born (I'm 34). I worked in law enforcement as an analyst and spent some time staring at pole cams that were setup to surveil known drug dealers or criminal gang members. To do one correctly (i.e. legally) you typically need a warrant or a court order, but i…

The point is the bloody things are unsecured . It's one thing for LAPD to throw up a camera that looks in your windows with a warrant (not convinced they have one, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt). It's another thing for LAPD to throw up a camera that looks in your windows AND LEAVE IT UNSECURED ON THE INTERNET .

If they are, or can be steered to, look in a window, that’s one thing. But if they can only see the public street, then they should be unsecured, for the convenience of the public. I can use them to check traffic, or see if the bus is coming.

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

#152

Post by dylz »

TrowthePlow wrote: post #149
dylz wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is amusing to read because they largely/all seem to be AT&T mobile IPs, which get allocated from an absurdly sized pool with barely working geoip.

Well AT&T does own an entire /8 block (12.0.0.0/8) so they certainly have plenty to choose from

I guess for clarification what I mean is mobile pools are generally heavily mixed/NATed/etc all over the place, and the reddit OP claims that they're all hidden VPNs or something due to geo - mobile IP space geo literally does not work half the time and is an absolute mess. They're almost certainly just hotspots or an LTE SIM attached to the cameras with nothing else hiding it.

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

#153

Post by travmatt »

aaron-santos wrote: post #107
milesvp wrote: post #97

My personal experience with these types of camera is based on a conversation I had with a friend who’s a public defender in washington state. She said it can be nearly impossible to figure out who owns or put up all the random cameras you see at traffic intersections. Also good luck trying to subpoena the footage. And this is from someone who has greater access to government information than the typical citizen and h…

Is it not possible to destroy them and then find the owner by determining who has standing for the case?

That’s the strategy Marlo Stanfield’s crew in “The Wire” used to learn who was investigating them.

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

#154

Post by bsder »

leephillips wrote: post #151
bsder wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is the bloody things are unsecured . It's one thing for LAPD to throw up a camera that looks in your windows with a warrant (not convinced they have one, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt). It's another thing for LAPD to throw up a camera that looks in your windows AND LEAVE IT UNSECURED ON THE INTERNET .

If they are, or can be steered to, look in a window, that’s one thing. But if they can only see the public street, then they should be unsecured, for the convenience of the public. I can use them to check traffic, or see if the bus is coming.

A lot of these can be steered.

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

#155

Post by a3n »

leephillips wrote: post #151
bsder wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is the bloody things are unsecured . It's one thing for LAPD to throw up a camera that looks in your windows with a warrant (not convinced they have one, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt). It's another thing for LAPD to throw up a camera that looks in your windows AND LEAVE IT UNSECURED ON THE INTERNET .

If they are, or can be steered to, look in a window, that’s one thing. But if they can only see the public street, then they should be unsecured, for the convenience of the public. I can use them to check traffic, or see if the bus is coming.

Or see if you're being surveiled.

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

#156

Post by leephillips »

bsder wrote: post #154
leephillips wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they are, or can be steered to, look in a window, that’s one thing. But if they can only see the public street, then they should be unsecured, for the convenience of the public. I can use them to check traffic, or see if the bus is coming.

A lot of these can be steered.

Even more convenient. And when the law enforcement purpose needs them to be fixed on a certain spot, then turn off public access until the investigation is over.

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

#157

Post by sterlind »

leephillips wrote: post #156
bsder wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of these can be steered.

Even more convenient. And when the law enforcement purpose needs them to be fixed on a certain spot, then turn off public access until the investigation is over.

And by polling them to see when public access is disabled, you know exactly when and where stakeouts are happening!

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

#159

Post by bifrost »

darkengine wrote: post #112
aaron-santos wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it not possible to destroy them and then find the owner by determining who has standing for the case?

I was thinking the same thing -- obscure its view with a few well-placed paintballs and see who shows up to clean it.

Be aware that firing a paintball gun in most major cities is a big nono.

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

#160

Post by LatteLazy »

ikeyany wrote: 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?

It's an opportunity for people to fein surprise. And people always like a little treasure hunt...
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