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Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

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Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#71

Post by pessimizer »

josefritzishere wrote: post #9
LeoPanthera wrote: post #6

America is really now two Americas. The divide between traditional freedoms and neo-authoritarianism is getting wider. But America is so large that even the minority (just) that believes in freedom is still 167 million people. Even if only a small percentage of that number, from either side of the divide, believes in violent activism, things are going to get worse before they get better.

This is the most important comment here. There is a future reckoning to be had between the radical authoritarian fringe and normal Americans who do not want to live in an open air prison. The conflict is completley preventable, and makes a less safe place to live for us all.

There isn't a radical authoritarian fringe in the US. There are multiple, competing radical authoritarian perspectives in the US, and I wouldn't be surprised if the sum of them constituted a majority.

They disagree on the authority, not the methods, and help the two institutional parties cooperate to destroy civil liberties by accusing their counterparts of abusing ("weaponizing") civil rights to commit crimes, spy for foreign governments, and/or abuse children.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#73

Post by elpocko »

magicalist wrote: post #54
steviedotboston wrote: post #35

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.

> 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.

Thank you for letting us know.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#74

Post by hinkley »

cyberax wrote: post #48
hinkley wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend in college did an internship on high frequency, short pulse beams (I wanna say violet and picosecond? Which I still think was exotic at the time). Most of his work was dealing with and accounting for reflections that left the machine. If you have a prism that’s sending 95% of the light where you want it to go, when it’s a multi watt laser you can’t just let that 5% go wherever it wants. You will blind someo…

The amount of safety when working with lasers is ridiculous. And for a good reason, you can get permanent eye damage faster than the blink of an eye. Please, don't play with lasers. At all. Even supposedly "safe" lasers can output far more light than expected.

Another friend’s favorite saying is, “do not look into laser with remaining eye.”

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#75

Post by wrs »

Waterluvian wrote: post #18
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…

> It is not ideal, but it is necessary when the higher-desirability options are not working. What has worried me for years is that Americans would not resort to this level. That things are just too comfortable at home to take that brave step into the firing lines of being on the right side of justice but the wrong side of the law. I'm relieved to see more and more Americans causing necessary trouble. I still think th…

What confuses me is that no revolution is required. All we had to do to avoid this was to vote. Voting would still (probably) work.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#76

Post by drnick1 »

magicalist wrote: post #54
steviedotboston wrote: post #35

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.

> 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.

Same thing here. I don't use that malware at all.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#77

Post by palata »

0_____0 wrote: post #8
Terr_ wrote: post #3

> broken and smashed Flock cameras I wonder how resistant the cameras are to strong handheld lasers. I suppose they could harden them against some common wavelengths with filters, but that'd affect the image clarity in normal use.

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 tested it in an empty room, but that was it).

Is there a safe way for a hobbyist to get an IR illuminator and be sure that I won't make somebody blind with it?

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#78

Post by novemp »

stuffn wrote: post #19
LeoPanthera wrote: post #6

America is really now two Americas. The divide between traditional freedoms and neo-authoritarianism is getting wider. But America is so large that even the minority (just) that believes in freedom is still 167 million people. Even if only a small percentage of that number, from either side of the divide, believes in violent activism, things are going to get worse before they get better.

[flagged]

No one said the Democrats are pro-freedom. Both parties are authoritarian. One is just less effective.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#79

Post by hinkley »

Terr_ wrote: post #28
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.

> Most places where there are surveillance cameras are places where there are also people I assume you're concerned about reflections from the camera lens or housing? In my mind, the archetypal camera is mounted on a nice tall pole, silhouetted against open sky, and painted matte black. > watt class lasers Surely those would be excessive for someone attacking the sensor, unless they want to remotely sear some graffit…

Hitting the lens at an oblique angle won’t fry the sensor though? You have to get close to the cone of visibility which is then within the bloom area.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#80

Post by KittenInABox »

Waterluvian wrote: post #18
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…

> It is not ideal, but it is necessary when the higher-desirability options are not working. What has worried me for years is that Americans would not resort to this level. That things are just too comfortable at home to take that brave step into the firing lines of being on the right side of justice but the wrong side of the law. I'm relieved to see more and more Americans causing necessary trouble. I still think th…

On the contrary I think Americans are reacting about the same as any other set of people would react. There are always going to be people who, as long as their personal lives are stable, they are not going to do anything to put that stability at risk. America is also huge enough that even if one part of the country is having a crisis, millions of fellow citizens will not hear of it or have any 2nd, 3rd or 4th hand connection to the matter.

But also if a small portion of Americans disparately plan to do stuff like sabotage surveillance camera, it's still newsworthy.

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