Oh yeah, that shit is fucked. I had a huge problem with ALPR type technology before I even thought about it being abused by corporate shills, but now that they're doing it it seems obvious almost.

Fuck that. Should be illegal as fuck. We need like, "public privacy laws", where you have a minimal expectation of privacy for this sort of thing, even in public. Like it's illegal to publicly track people via video and facial recognition, illegal to track plates like this, that sort of thing.

This guy on hacker news just found a way to tell when his friends go to bed and when they wake up based on automated logs from facebook. You don't need anything special to do it, either, there's open source software so you can set it up at home and just watch your friends activity. You can even figure out when / who they're talking to other people by observing when two people are simultaneously online if you build a decent algorithm for it.

Is there a way to "subvert" the tech without making it too obvious? Tech relying on identifying shit tends to have certain weaknesses being machine and all afaik.

It wouldn't be illegal per se to post such information right? I mean I've seen sites that taught how to hack those traffic LED sign things and stuff...

There is no law against writing or hosting info on how to do stuff like that (yet). For instance, there are places online for how to make LSD or get away with murder. In fact, there was a big flap about Amazon selling a book entitled "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct," a few years back. It was only taken down by protests, not any particular powers that be.

Though, I am sure if pole cameras and such were to "malfunction" in certain areas.... you bet the repo guys, insurance folk, and sheriff/ judge who's people own the for-profit jail will put pressure to nab any culprits and "watch" those writing the stuff. That is, if such things became commonplace.

Worst that can happen, your hosting company decides to "grow a moral compass" overnight at the behest of money, lawsuits, or someone in their business network buthurt.

People shouldn't even pretend like they live with the expectation of privacy anymore.

The Grasshopper Lies Heavy

Not so fast.

Ever looked at those things? At  minimum, the cameras are 17 feet above a major intersections. The ones on highways much more. Some models can read up to 1500 feet! There is no accessible wiring to the ground. The wiring probably goes into the cross pole straight into the power and telephone cables on the pole, sharing the same power cord as any traffic light.

It can then upload data anyway the designer  sees fit, probably though 3G/4G.

Physical tampering is out of the question unless you have a bucket truck or are an experienced lineworker ninja or and know what you are touching up there.

I thought for a second, maybe obscuring the lens in some way may be an out. Paintball guns came to mind. But, even though it is 17 to 20 feet up, the distance you have to shoot to hit it is only that distance if you stand in the road right under it. Of course, saying cheese to Officer Gieco the Gecko and Lt. Flo in the video room of your local city police office. Standing to the side, on a sidewalk, is an angle. You could be adding another 20 to 40 feet or more. While the nicer paintguns can hit from 80 ft to 100, these aren't rifles. Hell, many folks would need several shots with a riffle to hit a target small like a lens at 40 to 60 feet. Much less, with falloff (I would think). Not to mention PULLING OUT SOMETHING GUN LIKE AT A MAJOR INTERSECTION.

Not all of them, a guy literally got arrested for unplugging one with a pole after posting how to do it on YouTube.

And I imagine someone could construct a drone to disable harder to reach units. It's a matter of how many people are willing to take it up the ass vs. how many are not. I'm pretty sure most are complacent and fear any form of protest or direct action. Or anything that goes against the grain, really.

You don't go to jail if you don't video tape it and put yourself on youtube that's the whole point, The guy in the video did it to show others how to do it, presumably.

Also don't be a bitch jail is a part of life.

you ain't gangsta pussy real niggas go to jail fake niggas go to college ruin your life or you're a pusy

"i'm too comfortable to take any risks"
"just don't break the law lol"
"maybe it'll slow people down! good!"
"what privacy? it's already public information you're on a public road LOL!"

yuck