They are literally everywhere. I can’t go any place without being watched. I just want some privacy. The most alarming part is that they put cameras on all entrances and exits so they can know who’s entering or leaving. Why do they need to stalk me as I go about my day? The area I live in is overall pretty safe so I don’t see the justification.
I have also noticed that some people actually feel safe where there are cameras. I get that people can get scared but I don’t think creating a giant network of mass surveillance is the answer.
What is this dystopian future we have marched into.
I feel the same,
to battle it I drive with my sun visors down,
all the time, even when it’s dark.
I never voted for these camera’s,
and driving with them down is not illegal,
but they successfully block the sight of most camera’s.
Honestly I don’t mind the street cameras as much. Where I am they are less common and only really seen in busy intersections. What bothers me is when everyone and there dog puts up cameras. You see them everywhere from coffeeshops to libraries. You want to stay in a hotel? Cameras everywhere.
Even worse imho is that many private residences now have cameras that record the whole street and other homes. No, they aren’t technically allowed to, but they all do. I have a neighbor across from me who just put up a ring doorbell that fully monitors my entire property (small town lot directly across). They now essentially create records of every time I come and go from my own house. And Amazon, and likely whomever else wants it, has full access to that information.
Not cool. These should be flat out banned. I don’t care if you want to have an overhead camera pointed only on your property, but that’s not what these things do at all.
Are you sure?
I also have a Ring doorbell camera so I know when someone is at the door.
- records on motion, not always
- motion detection has limited range, and Ring has options to tune it to your property line
- wide angle lens gets really poor with distance.
I live in a neighborhood where everything is close together so I tested this out. The camera can see there is a person walking on the other side of the street but not well enough to know who it is, plus it won’t be recorded since that is outside motion detection range
It will record you detectably on my side of the street but I have that mostly configured out. In general it’s not recording you unless you’re on my property l and even if it recorded more, pictures from any distance are extremely poor
I’m looking into some of the anti camera clothing tbh. But it isn’t fully effective, and it’s expensive as hell for something that shouldn’t be necessary in the firat place
Anti camera clothing can make you more of a target, since you’ll be wearing something that is less common, you’ll be easier to pick out from a crowd. Sure, it will prevent flash photography from being able to identify you, but most of the time it a flash is not used when taking a photo.
Im just kinda hoping it’ll be partially effective, even that tiny fraction.
I dress fairly distinctly anyway, so I’m not worried about standing out more, just sick of the idea of my face being recorded every fucking where.
I get it, I just wanted to clarify that anti camera clothing is mostly just anti camera flash technology.
Well, people tend to like to know who is entering their private property.
Or are there cameras watching who is entering your public parks and shit? I have cameras on my house, so people don’t need to enter if it makes them uncomfortable, but it’s handy for when people try to snoop when I am not around. Neighbours have stolen things in the past, even though it’s a tight knit community.
Have also provided the footage to police to prove that said neighbor who stole stuff assaulted another neighbor in the street since the camera covers the driveway.
It only takes one asshole to justify cameras.
I don’t have a problem with them putting a few cameras here and there. However, putting them everywhere is a bit crazy. Sure you can put a camera on a cash register or in key places in a parking garage but do you really need cameras on every area?
Eh, it’s mostly a liability thing. Cameras make insurance companies very happy
That doesn’t excuse anything; it only illustrates what cancer the insurance industry is.
Have also provided the footage to police to prove that said neighbor who stole stuff assaulted another neighbor in the street since the camera covers the driveway.
The problem is: the very next step is “why don’t you just provide a live feed of your cameras to the police?” Maybe we can start with just part of the time, like when you’re on vacation. Hey, we’ll give you a great deal on your insurance… for the first year.
Residential cameras connected to the internet is the biggest issue for me. I wouldn’t mind most residential cameras if the video footage was only stored locally.
Yeah this is an important consideration and I hope to move to that, however it’s a bigger project than I have time for.
I have a Ring so the recordings are online and it’s certainly convenient. The basic plan keeps recording up to 180 days but of course once they have them it’s outside our control. It’s a good point that the length of time they’re kept doesn’t seem configurable. I would certainly prefer they be kept a much shorter time but don’t see a way to configure that
The one time a policeman came around to ask if my camera caught something, they asked me to check on my app and they took my word for it. While I understand they can compel Ring (or me) to give it up, maybe there’s some comfort that’s it’s not a dally worth their effort
EDIT While the plan says it keeps recordings up to 180 days, the default is 60 days for video and one week if you take snapshots. I did figure out how to set this this shorter but you can assume most people won’t
i dont know about your country, but in germany its regulated and in public places the footage is only allowed to be stored up to 72 hours
I adamantly maintain that the US needs an entire movement to enshrine the right to privacy to its citizens in the constitution.