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Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

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Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#191

Post by fragmede »

phpisthebest wrote: post #136
hprotagonist wrote: post #62

https://twitter.com/ppathole/status/1116670170980859905 Tech enthusiasts: My entire house is smart. Tech workers: The only piece of technology in my house is a printer and I keep a gun next to it so I can shoot it if it makes a noise I don't recognize. The only modification i'd recommend is replacing the gun with something simpler, like a sledgehammer. Can't be too careful.

As a sysadmin of many decades, I have not owned a printer in 15 years, and no self respecting tech worker I know would ever have one of them in their home. I do have an enterprise grade network, next gen firewall, a homelab, and a host of vlans with home automation segmented off to a dedicated network with zero internet access

It's 2022. If you don't have at least one 3D printer, I'm afraid you'll have to turn in your "self-respecting tech worker" card.

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#192

Post by schoen »

jasonhansel wrote: post #147
femto wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is: whether it would actually trigger the "lp%d on fire" error message? https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux...

Obviously the answer is to buy a smart fire extinguisher, so you can remotely put out the flames from your hacked smart printer. Until someone hacks the fire extinguisher and makes it spray chemicals at you. Then you'll need to add a smart fire extinguisher extinguisher.

There was apparently a recurrent Wikipedia hoax based on

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

where someone asserted that there was a radar detector detector detector (so that you could tell if authorities were positioned to detect your use of a radar detector).

Some versions of this hoax are described in

https://rationalconspiracy.com/2016/06/02/radar-detector-det...

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#193

Post by WalterBright »

cortesoft wrote: post #99
hprotagonist wrote: post #62

https://twitter.com/ppathole/status/1116670170980859905 Tech enthusiasts: My entire house is smart. Tech workers: The only piece of technology in my house is a printer and I keep a gun next to it so I can shoot it if it makes a noise I don't recognize. The only modification i'd recommend is replacing the gun with something simpler, like a sledgehammer. Can't be too careful.

I don't know, I have been a professional software developer for 15 years, and my whole house is smart. The trade offs are worth it to me.

I still have no idea why anyone would want automated light switches. Unless they are bedridden.

The conventional light switches never fail. The dimmer switches go out every 5 years or so, and I eventually get fed up and just replace them with a conventional switch.

I've had programmable thermostats, but the user interfaces on them are so terrible I eventually replace them with one with a simple dial and thermostat.

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#194

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

jasonhansel wrote: post #151
zebnyc wrote: post #78

Am no defend-the-blue type of person but all of you claiming that the police turn up with excessive force for swatting need to educate yourself. Please watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IFPRyFW9F4 These swatters want the police to turn up and use deadly force. They use voice & call scramblers to call the police. The swatters tell the dispatchers that they are mentally unstable / psychotic and have already killed…

Honestly, showing up with a SWAT team as a first step suggests a certain lack of courage, particularly if the officers know how prevalent SWATting is.

Many American police are deeply committed to paramilitary cosplay and relish any opportunity to pull out their best toys.

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#195

Post by lrem »

ericmcer wrote: post #122
Someone1234 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Swatting" isn't a significant problem in other parts of the world because the result is super boring: The police knock on the door, ask some questions, and then leave. It is only a problem in the US because the response itself is terrifying and often dangerous. Multiple people have died from "swatting" in the US[0]. "Swatting" should carry a jail term for sure. But police reform is a large component in solving the p…

In other parts of the world the police get a call saying there is an armed individual threatening to hurt hostages and they send a single unarmed officer to knock on the door?

There will be a well proportioned response, but it won’t be an actual SWAT team. There’s typically one such team per five to ten million people and they won’t move for a joke call.

But more importantly, with an order of magnitude rarer killings, there is much less of a “we’re at war with the bad guys” culture. In some countries discharging a weapon brings automatic suspension for the investigation, even if nobody gets hurt. Cops simply don’t tend get trigger happy in this environment.

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#196

Post by someweirdperson »

hef19898 wrote: post #166
auveair wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do police in other countries simply not have the capacity to deal with people in imminent danger? Speaking from europe, we just don't have that here, at least not enough to have SWAT forces ready immediately. I can't think of any times that it was a problem the SWAT team was not ready.

The equivilant to SWAT in Germany is run by state police. They are used in specific situations, and most of those are never covered by the press. Statiscally, they are have on average around one deployment per day. The big difference is, those units in Europe are a professiobally trained force and part of a professionally trained police force. And not somw wannabe commandos recruited from ill-trained police officers…

> The equivilant to SWAT in Germany is run by state police.

Federal.

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#197

Post by icoder »

WalterBright wrote: post #193
cortesoft wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, I have been a professional software developer for 15 years, and my whole house is smart. The trade offs are worth it to me.

I still have no idea why anyone would want automated light switches. Unless they are bedridden. The conventional light switches never fail. The dimmer switches go out every 5 years or so, and I eventually get fed up and just replace them with a conventional switch. I've had programmable thermostats, but the user interfaces on them are so terrible I eventually replace them with one with a simple dial and thermostat.

If I wake up early with my 3m old son and hit the livingroom switch, various christmas lights turn on.

Before that I will have turned on a dim salt lamp in our bedroom with a small butten I have near the bed, as to not wake my gf. I turn it off with the wall switch while leaving the room.

The light in the hallway is dim because it is still early. Since he didn't poop I only need a dim light in the changing area operated by my foot.

Various lights in the house turn on automatically by movement or door opening. Lights near the front door go on dinly just before subset and get brighter with movement. The wall switch in the kitchen turns on multiple lights including cabinet downlighting.

These things and more, and the fact I can change them relatively easily and wihtout rewiring, I find convenient and that brings me value.

You don't have to understand though, we both can like different things.

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#198

Post by deepspace »

WalterBright wrote: post #193
cortesoft wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, I have been a professional software developer for 15 years, and my whole house is smart. The trade offs are worth it to me.

I still have no idea why anyone would want automated light switches. Unless they are bedridden. The conventional light switches never fail. The dimmer switches go out every 5 years or so, and I eventually get fed up and just replace them with a conventional switch. I've had programmable thermostats, but the user interfaces on them are so terrible I eventually replace them with one with a simple dial and thermostat.

That is true for some switches made by fly-by-night Silicon Valley companies. Especially the ones that need a Wifi connection to work.

The ones I use are made by Lutron, who has a long history of making conventional light switches. They act just like normal switches, and I could sell my house without the home automation system, and it would be perfectly functional for the new owner.

Having carefully designs home automation brings lots of little conveniences. When I walk into a room when it is dark, the light automatically turns on. When it becomes cloudy during the day, lights in the darker living areas turn on. When I go to bed, I press one button, and all the lights in the house turn off, and the motion sensors are disabled. Another button press in the morning re-enables the sensors and turns on the lights in all the "morning activity" areas of the house.

Bottom line is that I seldom have to press a light switch. I always automagically have light when and where I need it.

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#199

Post by sofixa »

coeneedell wrote: post #179
phpisthebest wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a HUGE range of responses from nothing Full On military Assault shooting everything that moves. That fact that citizens of the US have simply accepted that the latter is even remotely a proper response to even "someone being held hostage and in imminent danger of being killed" calls is both sadden, and maddening at the same time

If I was being held hostage and in imminent danger of being killed, I would prefer an armed response.

Is that an educated preference - you have looked up your chances of survival in an armed response vs a negotiated one, or an instinct?

Re: Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide ‘swatting’ spree, US Justice Dept. says

#200

Post by mihaaly »

WalterBright wrote: post #193
cortesoft wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, I have been a professional software developer for 15 years, and my whole house is smart. The trade offs are worth it to me.

I still have no idea why anyone would want automated light switches. Unless they are bedridden. The conventional light switches never fail. The dimmer switches go out every 5 years or so, and I eventually get fed up and just replace them with a conventional switch. I've had programmable thermostats, but the user interfaces on them are so terrible I eventually replace them with one with a simple dial and thermostat.

And then we graciously disregarded the trouble of 'obsolete' hardware that is not supported anymore by the 'brand new improved and with most super revolutionary functionality in the universe' version of the software.

I am fed up with phone apps already because of that, nearly no month or several week goes by without one warning me: UPDATE! NOW!

And then when you update its behaviour is altered, many times functionalities you liked are gone. The whole thing is more like a nuisance than genuine help.

Exposing myself potentially to the same kind of problems concerning my whole home?! No thank you!

(recently, after long deliberation and consultation with my keen wife, I gave up the idea of robotic vacums. some are excluded due to shameless price or physical configuration, but many due to the inability to operate without a phone app. i will do my vacuuming without connecting to home wifi, thanks)

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