Sending a bill to the city is just as good as flock getting one. They are the ones still paying for replacements, so they should also be punished
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
560 points (98.8% liked)
Technology
86484 readers
2929 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
It's better.
Cities have to report on their budgets, and spending more taxpayer money replacing cameras the public doesn't want that are very much in the public eye is something many City Councils won't want to continue.
For cities where Council is split on the issue, this kind of expense is the kind of thing that may push that last vote over the threshold to cancel the contract.
Flock still makes its money, but their contracts aren't renewed and the cameras are covered up, so it's a win overall.
In a functioning democracy chainsaws wouldn't be necessary to remove these.
In a functioning democracy we wouldn't have these damn things to begin with!
two dozen cameras destroyed? Gotta pump those numbers up
law enforcement sources have put the running national tally at more than two dozen destroyed cameras across five states dating back to April of last year
with how much i’ve been reading about it i’m pretty surprised that it’s so few cameras getting destroyed.
we need to work harder at this i guess.
law enforcement sources have put the running national tally at more than two dozen destroyed cameras across five states dating back to April of last year.
Wait, what? Your saying this article and all this concern is over about 25 cameras? Like not 25,000, just 25?
The bigger concern I have is that only 25 cameras have been vandalized... I thought this was more of a popular movement, but those aren't "national popular movement" numbers.
Yes. Twenty-five cameras is not a movement. It's a handful of pissed off vandals, maybe trying to start a movement.
This guy discovered that Flock cameras are terribly easy to hack, which might be harder to trace.
"This guy"? You mean Benn Jordan? He's not exactly a small YouTuber.
No disrespect intended for Mr. Jordan.
load more comments
(6 replies)
There are a lot steeper punishments for this in the US. Your entire life can get screwed if you get caught, truly takes balls to take them down.
I have to pass through at least 3 to leave my neighborhood. I hate it. I want to cut them down or otherwise destroy them, but I have absolutely no clue how to do it without getting caught and landing myself in jail. I've tried to look up a tutorial or guide on tor, but it really is just entirely drug trafficking and honey pots on there.
I blame it on the lack of new punk music
It's a lot of popular talk about a movement.
Someone pays for every camera that goes down. It just is not Flock.
The bolt cutters do not send Flock an invoice. They send one to the city.
That's the point. People know their city has to pay for these things, and the patriotic act of cutting down these cameras means that each camera down makes the Flock contract just that much more expensive to maintain. Cities aren't going to cut budget items just to keep the ever-increasing costs of maintaining a Flock contract. They'll drop the contract.
I do agree that people should be publicly commenting and contacting their city council members as well. Demoralizing the politicians who vote for this is important as well.
YUP, keep cutting them AND harass bad acting politicians, these people are not acting in good faith and have to be confronted and pressured past going to a townhall and pointing out their corrupt since they won't listen and will just have you dragged out be security.
Police can only arrest so many and if they start abusing people, or worse, 'escalate'. if your not capable of doing then then I suggest moving if you can, if your not able to do that either, then I guess your just going to have to enjoy authoritarianism like a coward.
Authoritarianism has never been defeated without at least the courcion of violence being present.
Nope, keep cutting them AND harass bad acting politicians,
That's precisely what I said. We are actually in agreement!
Shit, read to quick, my sentiment still stand tho
There’s an edit button, change tie NOPE, to a YUP and the comment chain will make sense again.
I usually ignore comments telling how to type but i'll do it this time.
Police can only arrest so many
Not for lack of trying. Why do you think ICE is hurrying to build out all their concentration camps.
Hack the cameras and tell city council about their vehicles location throughout the week.
Brilliant
What a boot licking article
Cheers to the bolt cutters
Citizens can do a little active resistance as a treat.
no loss at all
This was almost certainly written by AI. Some of the text patterns are unmistakable
Capitalism consumes everything, even criticism of itself.
Agreed. There were several sections with turns of phrase that were almost but not quite right.
Rookie number for a whole country. Not even on par with the number of states. But lets inflate the impact of this minor problem for a huge big buck bubba buttfucker spy cult.
These are the true patriots.. not those uneducated ignorant cultish red hat muppets.
It seems like a two man job. If you just cut the pole willy-nilly, it could come down wrong and fuck you up.
Also the biggest risk seems like your approach, in light of every doorbell being a camera anymore, other Flock cameras, etc...
Heroes with Hacksaws!
Please begs Yahoo, won't anyone think of the tax dollars our city needs to pay to replace thsee distopian surveillance systems after they are cut down?
Perhaps on Facebook marketplace posts will show up, selling the Solarpanels and camera
the irony of mentioning facebook in a post like that. if you use facebook, you are part of the problem.
It’s still important for people to have access to used goods and Facebook is one of a few platforms that provides that for free and has a large enough user base that you can find what you need.
load more comments
(4 replies)
If we learned anything from kalshi, it's that you can pay people for crimes as long as you go though a marketplace.
So go on ebay, go on craigslist and tell them you want to buy their exact camera model in bulk.
I'll take the solar panel.
Can we use laser pointers to fry the camera iris?
No, because any laser powerful enough to burn out the sensor is powerful enough to bounce back and blind a bystander.
load more comments
(2 replies)
No. I looked up the capability of lasers to permanently damage an image sensor. You'd have to get a powerful laser, small enough to be carried around, and keep it on your target at a distance. Such a laser would be expensive and not readily available for purchase, and trying to aim it would be nearly impossible without a tripod.
I keep hearing that 1 watt lasers will indeed damage a camera. Destroy, not sure. They are available from many online retailers or just go to any large city and buy them at dodgy vape stores.
A 1 watt laser WILL fuck your eyes. Be smart.
Also, green lasers are very visible and will attract attention. Ultraviolet lasers are not.visible by humans. Just saying.
view more: next ›