this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2026
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[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 213 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 70 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 38 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Nope, keep cutting them AND harass bad acting politicians,

That's precisely what I said. We are actually in agreement!

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Shit, read to quick, my sentiment still stand tho

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There’s an edit button, change tie NOPE, to a YUP and the comment chain will make sense again.

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I usually ignore comments telling how to type but i'll do it this time.

[–] ramble81@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] redsand@infosec.pub 30 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Hack the cameras and tell city council about their vehicles location throughout the week.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 10 points 1 week ago
[–] Edges@lemmy.zip 121 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What a boot licking article

Cheers to the bolt cutters

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Citizens can do a little active resistance as a treat.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 118 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

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.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (7 children)

"This guy"? You mean Benn Jordan? He's not exactly a small YouTuber.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 week ago

No disrespect intended for Mr. Jordan.

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[–] sanitation@lemmy.today 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 22 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I blame it on the lack of new punk music

[–] modus@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

It's a lot of popular talk about a movement.

[–] Aarrodri@lemmy.world 80 points 1 week ago

These are the true patriots.. not those uneducated ignorant cultish red hat muppets.

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 37 points 1 week ago

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?

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago

Heroes with Hacksaws!

[–] king_link1@feddit.dk 20 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Perhaps on Facebook marketplace posts will show up, selling the Solarpanels and camera

[–] terabyterex@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

the irony of mentioning facebook in a post like that. if you use facebook, you are part of the problem.

[–] EvergreenGuru@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] terabyterex@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (3 children)

so you are saying if flock provided access to find good garage sales in your city it woild be ok? as bad as flock is, and its bad... facebook is so so much worse. nobidy violates your privacy and tracks you like facebook

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[–] anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

I'll take the solar panel.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago

two dozen cameras destroyed? Gotta pump those numbers up

[–] Cornpop@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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...

[–] turdburglar@piefed.social 8 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] theblurstoftimes@leminal.space 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Can we use laser pointers to fry the camera iris?

[–] Killer57@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

No, because any laser powerful enough to burn out the sensor is powerful enough to bounce back and blind a bystander.

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[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] blargh513@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This was almost certainly written by AI. Some of the text patterns are unmistakable

[–] Toribor@corndog.social 2 points 1 week ago

Capitalism consumes everything, even criticism of itself.

Agreed. There were several sections with turns of phrase that were almost but not quite right.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

no loss at all

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

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.

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