Imagine all that effort put into catching someone smashing a stupid camera, it could've been used on a pedophile or something.

You've been warned, they're high on the lookout for Flock vandals now.

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[–] 102 points 2 months ago

Give that man a fake sentence.

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  • [–] 77 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    How can they charge him with destroying computer equipment if the camera was fake?

    Bullshit charge

    Does he have a bail fund?

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  • [–] 73 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

    Meyer faces charges of grand theft, criminal mischief causing at least $1,000 in damage and damaging computer or electronic equipment.

    Furthermore, nothing was stolen, so charging him with both grand theft and criminal mischief seems like a duplication of charges. Also, a fake camera is surely not worth over $1,000.

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  • [–] 33 points 2 months ago

    If the police didn't pay for it then who is the crime against?

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  • [–] 21 points 2 months ago*

    this is atrocious, the police aren't concerned with criminals, theyre concerned with control, dead ass hope the worst for the boys in blue over their now. they do not serve the people or the state in my eyes anymore, they're Gestapo.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Imagine all that effort put into catching someone smashing a stupid camera, it could’ve been used on a pedophile or something.

    Now I'm just imagining them putting out a fake child as a pedo sting.

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  • [–] 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    There's no way this guy is guilty. I was playing checkers with him at my house when the alleged crime occurred.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Meyer faces charges of grand theft, criminal mischief causing at least $1,000 in damage and damaging computer or electronic equipment. His total bond was set at $7,500.

    I'm sorry but which is it? Did he destroy a fake camera or did he destroy some real equipment worth money? You can't have it both ways you fucking pigs.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Is he wearing another jacket over his school uniform jacket? That would be a dress code violation in most schools.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    IIRC he's wearing the uniform jacket inside out because he thought they were boring. (As to why the lining is that crazy looking, I have to assume the answer is "it was the 90s".)

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    lol I didn’t watch the show much. Wearing the uniform incorrectly would also be a dress code violation.

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  • [–] 32 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    If you point a fake gun at a police officer they put a real bullet in you. As far as I'm concerned, when the police point a fake camera at you, you take them at their word and assume malicious intent. This was not a crime. Awful but lawful.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 months ago

    People reading this article and replying with smug gotchas are simply not getting fascism as a concept.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago

    Fake flock heal hero.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago* (18 children)

    I think someone needs to develop a portable, focusable beam-EMP device. So, you know, those soft, vulnerable electronics inside certain devices can be disabled remotely, invisibly, without such the need for inelegant tools such as angle-grinders and box-cutters.

    I'd also say re-used Bluray/DVD lasers to burn out the camera CCD, but that would need to be done very carefully, only angling from above, to avoid risk to aircraft and definitely care to avoid any people nearby.

    (I wonder if Flock cameras have some sort of laser-filtering on their lenses?)

    Do Flock Camera towers use aluminum in any critical, ground-accessible parts? I hear mercury does nasty things to aluminum. But it's also toxic so would need to be handled carefully.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 months ago* (13 children)

    Not sure if EMP is practical, but a small drone with a laser requires much less power and wouldn't do the camera's sensor any good. A drone with a can of spray paint could also cause problems. So I hope no one does either of these.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago

    With all the cameras being re-patriated by good citizens, I'm sure a number of them already made their way to skilled hackers, tinkerers.

    And given how amateurish Flock was with their most recent PR event (a reporter tried to attend, got rejected almost last minute, Flock even went behind his back to cancel his hotel booking, so our guy went full out and with a metric fuckton of RF equipment, monitored the event's signals. WiFi, Bluetooth, wireless mics (which they often left on and just broadcasting out into the wild), I have a feeling that the whole Flock ecosystem is riddled with security issues.

    I wouldn't be surprised if there's some incredibly dumb stupid kill switch built into the firmware that can be triggered by something as simple as an ESP32.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago (11 children)

    What about a drone with a can of thermite

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    Okay, but seriously, who has enough rust just sitting around to make that shit? You're like the third person I've seen talk about thermite, and that shit is ridiculous to make.

    Then you have to go through all the trouble of somehow igniting the thermite and getting it away from your drone...

    The same can really be said for a can of spray paint. I want to see someone actually design that shit before I'd believe it's possible. Maybe someone with a lot of tinkering time, but not the majority of us just trying to buy parts from a hobby store.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    Doesn't take a whole lot. Visit a local auto shop and ask about the buildup around the brake rotor lathe.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    I wouldn't have thought of that as a source. I was thinking along the lines of having to manually mortar and pestle (well, not an actual one, because they wouldn't do metal) rusted hoods and such that you could yoink from a junkyard. That would actually be harder nowadays, with all the plastic and not-iron/not-steel metals being used in cars.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    I used to work at an auto shop. We "accidentally" put a hole in the concrete floor by taking the oxyacetylene torch to a crushed soda can and a chunk of rusted metal shavings from the lathe. We absolutely knew what we were doing. It was glorious.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    What about a satellite with an array of nuclear weapons? Thermite is such overkill, and risks harming the surroundings.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    Good idea, if we blot out the sun with nuclear winter they can’t recharge.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Why not just build a star-destroyer drone and aim it at the sun? Then Flock can't just wait it out and rebuild.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (1 child)

    That's a good point, but what if some remnant of humanity survives and rebuilds on another planet, and one of the survivors remembers having seen a flock camera? We should destroy all matter in the universe. Or find some way to accelerate heat death?

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    Complicated methods don't scale well and tend to amp up the punishment you'll get if caught. They also make it easy to develop a profile of you.

    A slingshot can be easily hidden/disposed, is stealthy when used, and dirt cheap.

    Don't do this off of your Roblox server. And don't do it if you don't know where the person who'd be stopping you is. Alibi should be established before hand.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    I'd also say re-used Bluray/DVD lasers to burn out the camera CCD, but that would need to be done very carefully, only angling from above, to avoid risk to aircraft and definitely care to avoid any people nearby.

    Just look behind it and don't point it at aircraft. If you can't see them they're either not there or behind clouds that will block a laser beam.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    Someone mentioned gallium in another thread. Safer than mercury to handle, but you'll 1.) have to hope that the pipe is aluminum, and 2.) have to expose the aluminum because it will likely have a coating on that would prevent the gallium from weakening the aluminum.

    Oh, and 3.) it will likely take a while for any effect to show.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Give them time. They'll probably say they found CSAM on him at some point. Of course it won't be true.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    What a goddamn hero. Where is the gofundme?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago
    [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Couldn't even use a real flock camera to catch the guy

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago*

    Why would the pedophiles go after their own? Of course they protect the camera.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    Now they've messed with Florida Man. I don't feel sorry for them.

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  • 4 comments in c/news@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 14 points 2 months ago

    Holy shit, bait cameras are insane.

    They really threw the book at him, too. Grand theft is a wild charge considering he didn't take anything from the scene, I don't think.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    It’s not like cops will get off their lardasses

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Despite all his rage…

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