Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#431

Post by fuzzfactor » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 3:29 AM UTC

throwaway85825 wrote: post #394

autoexec wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if the needs of the American people weren't being ignored over the wishes of corporations and the ultra-wealthy in terms of numbers alone we have less representation than ever before because the number of people who are supposed to represent us hasn't kept up with the growing population.

America ended in 1861 when the era of political bargains transitioned to the era of the government and the subjects.

with 20/20 hindsight it would have been a whole lot better to throw a Constitutional Convention rather than have a civil war.

It had already intentionally been forgotten how well that worked the first time.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#432

Post by fuzzfactor » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 3:32 AM UTC

mikestorrent wrote: post #222

yardie wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You won't get to the kind of change you thought you would see until food runs low and the economy stalls. The American Revolution was rare in that it didn't need to happen. The Founders were just being giant assholes (j/k). While the French Revolution just a few decades later was more status quo. A lot of starvation and poverty just pushed the population over the edge.

> The American Revolution was rare in that it didn't need to happen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_Rebellion Interestingly y'all Americans pay much more tax now than you did to England back in the day. Turns out King George was right, and it was just about changing who the tax was paid to.

The US also got its own stock market.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#433

Post by toephu2 » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 3:43 AM UTC

doomslayer999 wrote: post #323

toephu2 wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

License plate readers are hardly mass surveillance. Why is no one in democratic countries complaining about mass surveillance? And I mean real cameras (not license plate readers) recording 24/7? I'm talking about UK, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc.

Because we in america tend to value individual liberties in a way that others don't. And yes of course LPR is mass surveillance. Cars should not even have to be registered.

They shouldn't even have license plates?? That leads to 0 accountibility.

Would you like the government driving around in government vehicles doing hit and runs and having zero accountability?

Or criminals for that matter?

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#434

Post by maest » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 3:44 AM UTC

ABCLAW wrote: post #351

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. You can escape a disease, even during a global pandemic. And not every person that got COVID was on a ventilator or even felt that bad. Seeing the death toll statistics and even the direct effects through a screen is not visceral for many folks. Starvation isn't avoidable and you can't ride it out. There isn't any chance that starving to death could be less severe than getting a bad flu. Nobody can avoid…

>I disagree. You can escape a disease, even during a global pandemic. And not every person that got COVID was on a ventilator or even felt that bad. Propaganda works. The knowledge worker class often believes their training will afford them some level of protection against it. Even then, with those warding effects, they're still susceptible. Consider further that most people in society are significantly less educated…

Slightly off topic, but this strategy of blaming a crisis on some other cause is pervasive. It's especially useful when you are the reason for the crisis.

For example, consider climate change. Climate change causes draughts, which causes food shortages in countries heavily dependent on their agricultural sector. This, in turn, causes famine.

A certain western power will blame that country's government for mismanaging their agricultural sector instead of pointing out the unusual and dramatic weather changes contributed to the famine. This is, of course, because the western power does not publicly admit climate change is real in order to avoid taking any responsibility for their contribution to this climate change.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#435

Post by NewJazz » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 3:55 AM UTC

ndesaulniers wrote: post #221

Zigurd wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cellular modem is usually on a dedicated fuse. No need for violence unless smashing it would be satisfying.

I took a look at the schematics for the two fuse boxes in my 2023 Chevrolet and _could not tell which/if any_ fuse was dedicated to a cellular modem. This was in regards to: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/...

On my 2016 Chevy volt there was a daughterboard on the center console board that was for the modem.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#436

Post by dirasieb » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 3:59 AM UTC

fc417fc802 wrote: post #317

dirasieb wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Your first example, no. That is a threat of violence and is illegal literally everywhere (even in the US). However it does not become "violence" until you commit a physical act. Your second example is inciting public panic. Again, not violence. And again, illegal literally everywhere (at least AFAIK). > serious physical harm that's resulting directly from your action That's the thing, the panic was the direct result.…

oh, so now you care about what the law says again? remind me, what does the law say about destroying Flock cameras?

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#437

Post by greycol » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 4:03 AM UTC

majorchord wrote: post #413

the__alchemist wrote: post #10

This breakdown in rule of law is unfortunate. Ideally, this would be handled by, in order of desirability: - Flock decision-makers and customers holding ethics as a priority, and not taking the actions they are due to sense of duty, community, morals etc - Peer pressure resulting in ostracization of Flock execs and decision makers until they stop the unethical behavior - Governments using legislation and law enforcem…

How is flock cameras existing, a breakdown in the rule of law? As far as I know they are not technically breaking any laws, even though I disagree with their use in principle. Some might think it is somehow a Fourth Amendment violation, but I'm pretty sure it has already been ruled on enough times now that there is no expectation of privacy on government-owned roads, except for what's inside your car.

If the law "if you shoot an arrow with no mind to it's direction or destination existed you are guilty of negligence and liability of any damages" existed and then guns where invented you can argue either that the law needs to be updated or that case law will follow the spirit of the law and establish that it also applies to guns. If you are prescriptive and do not believe in the spirit of the law then a new law would have to cover the case of guns. Many would say there is a breakdown in the rule of law if it turned out people could just fire those guns willy nilly and the arrow law did not apply to them.

Similarly if there is a law that says the government can't build cameras everywhere to track you 24/7 without a warrant then post facto get a warrant to justify the prior tracking. Many people believe there is a breakdown in the rule of law when The government can pay someone else who has built cameras everywhere to track you 24/7 without a warrant then post facto get a warrant to justify the prior tracking.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#438

Post by 0_____0 » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 4:08 AM UTC

palata wrote: post #77

0_____0 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked with watt class lasers before and I implore you not to do this. Even if it's tempting. Most places where there are surveillance cameras are places where there are also people, and unless you want to hand out OD5 goggles to everyone in eyeshot... a pellet gun would be safer.

Unrelated, but I really want to take the opportunity: How can one know what is dangerous for the eyes or not? Years ago I got an "IR illuminator" (from aliexpress, probably) that I wanted to use with my raspberrypi NoIR camera, for fun. Say filming myself during the night to see how much I move while sleeping, or making my own wildlife camera trap. But I was scared that it could be dangerous and never used it (I test…

Is it just a bunch of IR LEDs? Surface mount or through-hole? What's the module power rating? What's the power supply power rating? Are there any secondary optics like lenses over the LEDs? Is there a diffuser of some kind?

If it's a cluster of garden variety through-hole LEDs with domed tops (like you would see on a TV remote), they're necessarily low power on account of having poor thermal performance.

Another way to tell is if nothing gets warm at all. It's pretty hard to hurt someone with an emitter that both doesn't have a focusing optic and doesn't get warm.

Let me be clear - you're still responsible for verifying the safety of your stuff, and I am in no way assuring you that the device you have is benign, because I can't do that without inspecting it directly.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#439

Post by burnt-resistor » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 4:16 AM UTC

eddyg wrote: post #83

magicalist wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and for good measure get rid of the tracking device in your pocket that you willingly use all day to send your location to facebook, X, tiktok, etc. I don't have facebook, X, or tiktok installed on my phone.

Those aren't the problem, it's any "free" mobile app in the App Store or Play Store with an advertising SDK (which is almost all of them) that uses your location to "keep your weather forecast up-to-date" but also provide data brokers with your location... https://darkanswers.com/how-your-location-is-sold-to-adverti...

Uh... it's also the cell phone companies that triangulate every powered phone at all times and provide that info to data brokers, police departments, and intelligence agencies.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#440

Post by burnt-resistor » Tue, Feb 24, 2026, 4:20 AM UTC

bob1029 wrote: post #332

Ring doorbells and ALPRs are a meme compared to what we've already deployed domestically. I've seen the Houston police department fly wide area surveillance aircraft all day over certain parts of town. The capabilities of some of these systems are almost unbelievable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-area_motion_imagery I strongly recommend not breaking the law until you've fully considered the omniscient demigod t…