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Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

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Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#371

Post by scarejunba »

snazz wrote: post #355
scarejunba wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, to do that you need to curtail people’s freedom. What I’m proposing is simply that we privatize large parts of society and exclude people from the private areas based on their tendency to be bad actors. It’s not about restricting freedom. It’s about enabling free safe association for everyone who opts in. Like a massive HOA.

I think “denying food, shelter, and water” counts as curtailing people’s freedom.

They’re welcome to it elsewhere. I’m not going to give it to them. You also won’t have the situation where you see them in immediate danger because you’re not going to give them access to your area.

Obviously, you have to help if they’re right in front of you, but there’s no obligation for me to help feed a starving family in Appalachia now and I don’t think there will be one in the situation I’m describing. So all you have to do is ensure you’re never in a situation where you can help someone in immediate danger.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#372

Post by breck »

anonu wrote: post #247

This is an an awesome project... the kinda stuff I wish I had more time to hack away at... In the video he mentions his automatic bullseye dartboard project... even more impressive than this glitter machine IMHO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHTizZ_XcUM Calculating a projectile's trajectory in realtime.... wouldn't even know where to start. EDIT: dartboard code from that youtube link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rlm…

Is there a GitHub link?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#373

Post by rdtsc »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #350
samstave wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@jdb here on HN had, at one time, installed a very conspicuous camera housing on his house although it had no camera in it. Psychological deterrence.

It would be fun to have it do motion tracking (could use directional audio to track). It always freaks people out when a camera like device is following their movement.

"Ooh! I'll take the package and the fancy tracking camera" :-)

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#374

Post by wool_gather »

mmcwilliams wrote: post #303
entity345 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is it a felony to have a CCTV?

In California, New York and Rhode Island it's illegal to place a hidden video camera in a place where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy. These would be considered hidden video cameras. Not sure the severity of the charges in those states, but in other jurisdictions recording audio of conversations without all-party consent violates wiretapping laws and is a felony.

I'm skeptical this applies to someone coming onto your property (let alone coming with malicious intent). Do trespassers have a reasonable expectation of privacy?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#375

Post by scarejunba »

deadmetheny wrote: post #361
scarejunba wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, to do that you need to curtail people’s freedom. What I’m proposing is simply that we privatize large parts of society and exclude people from the private areas based on their tendency to be bad actors. It’s not about restricting freedom. It’s about enabling free safe association for everyone who opts in. Like a massive HOA.

Yes, that shining paragon of virtue that is well-loved by everybody, the HOA.

Haha, Revealed Preferences show that people don’t abhor them as much as they say. They choose to live there for all the lovely things they provide and enforce.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#376

Post by zaarn »

dunham wrote: post #75
zaarn wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, if I could legally, morally and practically, I'd probably use chemical deterrents like cadaverine or butter acid (though the later is possibly dangerous). Dump 100mg of cadaverine in the thiefs car and they'll never use that car again. And possibly the clothes they wore at the time. Or other chemicals. It would be most exciting to find chemicals that yield strongest short-term effects without any damaging…

Having once had a package thief open/dump packages in my back yard, next to the house, I would prefer you don't do that. The packages were some rolls of vinyl, a box of sealed granola snacks, and some inexpensive jewelry, all rejected by the thief. If the person was homeless, I'm surprised they ditched the food, it was nutritious and shelf-stable. (I redelivered the packages.)

Some part of me is prepared to pay that price.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#377

Post by chrisdhoover »

roseburg wrote: post #337
Jyaif wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Robbers and burglers basically have immunity now because the police is busy with... I'm not sure what.

Most departments are understaffed. Turns out all the negative press against police is having long term impacts on how many kids want to grow up and become a police officer. Also property crimes always take a backseat to more violent crimes.

In many cases the police and sheriffs themselves are not hiring because they are faced with choice of keeping high pension payouts or hiring more people

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#378

Post by zaarn »

PyroLagus wrote: post #88
zaarn wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, if I could legally, morally and practically, I'd probably use chemical deterrents like cadaverine or butter acid (though the later is possibly dangerous). Dump 100mg of cadaverine in the thiefs car and they'll never use that car again. And possibly the clothes they wore at the time. Or other chemicals. It would be most exciting to find chemicals that yield strongest short-term effects without any damaging…

If you want to be really evil, you use Thioacetone: https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2009/06/11/th... As far as I'm aware, it's the worst smelling chemical known to humans and has no damaging long term effects. You just have to be veeery careful about it unless you want to stink up the whole town by accident.

I think if this was sprayed into the insides of your car, you'd probably never use the car again and/or never steal packages again either. The trauma resulting from the smell might just be enough.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#379

Post by rdtsc »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #258
rdtsc wrote: post #173

This needs careful consideration if you ever decide to do it. Depending on the local criminal culture they could exact revenge. Then also know where you live and can do a lot worse things than taking a package. Police might later be involved but it might not be worth it. You are dealing with people who have no qualms stealing so it's not too crazy to expect other rash and illegal acts from them. I can also see some i…

You are dealing with people who have decided the expected value of a package on a porch is positive, even though they are not the legal owners of that package.

> You are dealing with people who have decided the expected value of a package on a porch is positive, even though they are not the legal owners of that package

Just not sure I'd trust them them to decide that exacting revenge on me for setting off a glitter and stink bomb in their car/house would have a negative expected value?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#380

Post by beached_whale »

kawfey wrote: post #228
rdtsc wrote: post #173

This needs careful consideration if you ever decide to do it. Depending on the local criminal culture they could exact revenge. Then also know where you live and can do a lot worse things than taking a package. Police might later be involved but it might not be worth it. You are dealing with people who have no qualms stealing so it's not too crazy to expect other rash and illegal acts from them. I can also see some i…

I learned from Nextdoor, that a neighbor of mine put cat litter in an amazon box, and later found out her car's driver side window busted in and the litter dumped on the seat. I now just have packages sent to lockers and UPS/FedEX access points, and I know a few who have packages delivered to their office. The crappy part is that she captured clear detail of both events but police couldn't be bothered. Nest and Ring…

I wonder if this would make a good startup. Allow people to share footage of thieves stealing goods. Allow varying levels of geolocation and let people suggest identities. Not sure what other precautions would be needed to protect from misidentification.
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