Predictable.

They pull this shit all the time with laws. They keep renaming, rewriting, and resubmitting bills. Also, they hide shit in other bills to sneak it by voters.

Power corrupts and one mitigation is term limits at every level. We also need to demand corporate money be removed from politics, and enforcement of existing corruption laws.

The protection of privacy is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

When so many business models rely on invading it (looking at you big tech), the obvious solution is regulation, and preferably establishment of a right to privacy.

ETA: That said, I highly approve of what's happening to Flock.

Axon's Fusus is another tech on my radar that has been concerning me for the last few years.

Essentially it takes Ring cameras and any camera stream really to build the info-dragnet for authorities. You can take down the most visible cameras but that doesn't change the need to address the root of the problem which is how the image data is used and shared without your consent.

The real problem is the proliferation of cheap camera's and wifi. We've already had those wifi doorbell camera's for almost a decade which they can access if they really want. If we take down Flock they'll find another way to put up cameras that are just like them.

Meet our new product line: Fluck Cameras - Get Modern, Get Flucked!

Too late to be a backer if you aren't already, but keep an eye on this project!

https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/noRecognition

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/norecognition/norecognition-ai-adversarial-clothing

Yeah it was the branding that was the problem. If this leads to multiple smaller companies replacing them, though, that is, arguably, a marginal improvement. If all of the tracking data is not centralized through one company, then it is more difficult to combine all of that data trackers to get one cohesive record of ones movements over a larger area. But that is really only a temporary fix until they all work together to streamline datasharing.

San Diego approves smart streetlight cameras

San Diego police will soon be able to rely on surveillance cameras and license plate readers attached to 500 streetlights citywide, after the City Council approved their use Tuesday.

Also, we have this style, mounted high up on poles at the major intersections in my town, well out of reach of vandalism.

Yes, I know these are likely not used for the tracking people, or at least weren't originally installed for that. But, what's to keep them from upgrading or replacing them with ones that look the same to serve the same function as Flock cameras? No one would even notice. Sensor resolution, and optics for small cameras keeps improving.

Cop cars have ALPR’s mounted on their trunk lids too. America is hung up on “Flock” instead of the states and federal government surveillance everyone, legally innocent or guilty, for everything.

Within seconds, Axon Outpost, a compact, solar-powered ALPR camera perched quietly on a nearby pole, flags a match: silver SUV, roof rack, visible bumper sticker. It sends the alert to AxonFusus, which instantly cross-references the livestream with a dozen other nearby feeds, pulls the path of travel, and pushes it straight to officers in the field. Within minutes, the child is found safe

Correction: within minutes, heavily armed trigger happy police murder a black man to discover there is no child, and that the AI powered system made another false-positve

They call paramedics to collect the dead body, and immediately drive away in a frenzy to attack the next innocent person due to the near constant steam of alerts from this hallucinating system.

If it looks like a flock, acts like a flock... then it's a flock camera. Different names doesn't mean anything. They should all go away.

Fortunately sledgehammers and angle grinders are cross-platform compatible.

They are adamant about being able to watch us at all times. This doesn't end with flock.

They're testing to see if we're dumb enough to fall for such a switcheroo.

I suspect most of us are.

I'm going to take this opportunity to ask: what actually reduces crime and improves public safety?

I feel like I should know the answer to this already (education and universal healthcare) but yet the discussion of crime reduction always revolves around increased police presence and surveillance technology.

And guess which company gets product placement in The Rookie with both name and logo every time there's body cam footage in a scene (which happens every episode, usually several times per)?

That's right, Axon!

That and all the copaganda REALLY gets in the way of enjoying the charm of Nathan Fillion 😮‍💨

I fully expected that. Flock gets to be the sacrificial lamb for the surveillance camera industry.

Every time an article like this comes and you are tempted to reply to the seemingly inevitable creeping surveillance apparatus with "well, it can't stop a paintball/hacksaw/.50 cal/etc. etc." you need to stop.

Stop for a moment and listen to yourself. Look at the bigger picture. I admire the bravado and pushback but does this really sound like a reasonable solution to a systemic issue? That's like saying "if I think there's cockroaches infesting my house, I'll just step on everyone I see" Like that is going to solve the problem.

(And honestly, are you really going to get off your lazy ass, go buy a portable angle grinder and go cut down a light pole in the middle of the night? Really? How many beers does that take?)

So, next time you want to post something like that, instead, just post a link in support to the person, be it a politician or advocate, who is willing to legislate against this encroachment of privacy.

Oh, you don't know of any?

Well maybe that's actually getting to the heart of the problem.

This is true everywhere, but especially in the US, if you are looking right now at current events aghast with a feeling of doom rolling over you- that is the sign.

It's time to stop being a passive acceptor of circumstances. It's time to act.

We have to dig political aspirants out of the woodwork and push them onto the stage. There is somebody in your area that is capable of advocating for your rights. You need to find them.

If you can't find a local group. Start a discord, IRC, hell facebook page, what ever, just start connecting people in your town, in your neighborhood. All it takes is a few minutes a day to start.

You have to be politically active. Or else your future is going in the meat grinder. Nobody is coming to save you.

There is no group who has an interest in keeping you, your society, your children, your futures, free from fascist control. Not the DNC, not the State government, not city hall. There is only you and your friends. You have to fight for it yourselves. When the garden is left untended the weeds take over. The weeds have taken over. It's time to return to the garden.

It can be done. The people hold all the power - Provided They Are Given A Plan of Action To Follow. You need to help craft that plan. Organizing and agitating gets results. Facts.

Stop posting bullshit on Lemmy and start posting real shit in your local advocacy group.

halloween is coming, just saying

High vis vest, hard hat, mask, telescoping pole and a plastic bag with glue could be used for "maintenance".

That's OK I'm sure our reciprocating saws will work in both.

Maybe me think of that guy that was interviewed who was like "we ain't putting them back up immediately. We'll wait a while and everyone will forget and move on, and we'll put them back up then"

There are officials responsible for approving the installation of these cameras. The only thing that will stop this is to make them fear the consequences of doing so.

Inevitable. The next generation will be imperceptible and thus impossible to vandalize.

I appreciate the name of the new company being included right in the headline. I hope vigilantes get down to business cutting down these awful Jalopnik cameras!

Surely this will confuse people enough that they won't know what cameras to smack.

I'm kinda shocked they don't either put them on next to the streetlights out of reach or pay the DOT to replace their lane activity cameras with what they need and pay them to deliver the footage back

You just wait, soon they will be replaced with Gopnik.