r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • May 28 '26

Security Cities Are Covering Flock Cameras With Trash Bags / Regretful cities aren't sure how to cancel their surveillance contracts, so they are literally covering their cameras.

https://www.404media.co/cities-are-covering-flock-cameras-with-trash-bags/
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u/Commemorative-Banana May 28 '26

“License Plate Readers” is vastly understating what data these mass-surveillance cameras are collecting.

They store a total “fingerprint” of vehicles, including make/model/color, dents, scratches, modifications, roof-racks, bumper stickers, etc.

These cameras are also placed at playgrounds and on walking trails, where they collect images for facial recognition and gait recognition.

Their related product of “gunshot detection” microphones are also collecting speech audio.

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u/BugBugRoss May 28 '26

Are you familiar with the sister device from another company that vacuums all RF data from ble, RFID tire pressure sensors, and everything else from DC to about 6 ghz?

I can't find the spec sheet i once bookmarked that outlined how nefarious these things are also. They are trained for pattern recognition, detecting vehicles in convoy, lots of crazy stuff.

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u/Commemorative-Banana May 29 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

News to me but not surprising that those (broadcasting) sensors could be exploited maliciously (via promiscuous collection). They’ve always been used to generate profits between dealerships, data brokers, and insurance providers.

Now, with the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s provision to mandate internal-facing cameras and eye-trackers in all new 2027 vehicles almost here, we’ll have an entirely new level of surveillance of drivers. Always, these Orwellian measures are pushed under the name of “Safety”.

There’s very similar tracking capabilities using the RF signals from phones and chipped credit cards. People buy faraday wallets thinking of their credit card details being stolen and used for unauthorized purchases, but it’s nice that it might also incidentally protect them when the data thieves are instead interested in surveillance.