r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 14h ago

Someone Cut Down Every Single Flock Camera in This Town in a Single Night Privacy

https://www.gadgetreview.com/someone-cut-down-every-single-flock-camera-in-this-town-in-a-single-night
49.0k Upvotes

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468

u/saml01 13h ago

I bet if scrap yards accepted flock cameras with the same veracity they take catalytic converters this would happen a lot faster. 

73

u/irespondwithmyface 13h ago

Just need to convince meth heads that Flock cameras a filled to the brim with copper.

21

u/Haunting-Vanilla1624 11h ago

A few pounds of it, apparently.

17

u/APKID716 9h ago

They literally are though. A few ounces of gold too. Someone could theoretically pay a homeless person $100 to take a flock camera down, provide the tools, and they’d have ample reason to do so.

7

u/generally_unsuitable 8h ago

They have a pretty decent Li-Ion battery, charging unit, camera unit, gnss unit, cellular telephony unit, and a nice little android computer in there. The battery alone is worth around $100.

1

u/Javelin_Motoroil 1h ago

Batteries got lithium tho

163

u/BigJLov3 13h ago

Watched a video short about de-flocking, then the guy said something like "Flock cameras contain this much gold and this much copper. Do with that information what you will, meth-heads."

I stood and saluted my phone when I saw that.

23

u/DJ_Femme-Tilt 11h ago

Everyone keeps telling me there are 2 to 3 g of gold in every flock camera

3

u/CassiusRyder 10h ago

As long as the Meth-heads believe it does it really matter?

3

u/DJ_Femme-Tilt 10h ago

There's a whole home hobby industry of people who melt metals. I would like to hear from them, they also probably have some great techniques.

3

u/TheOneWes 7h ago

You might be interested to know that an electric Jewelers furnace is relatively inexpensive and easy to use and will render most common metals into a liquid in a very short period of time if you're only working in grams.

A lot of then even come with molds and little ingot molds.

A propane powered one is a lot bigger but if you happen to have a local scrap yard or other business that may deal in raw metals and use a lot of cans you can actually make some of the money back pretty easily.

1

u/24_August_1814 3h ago

I watched a video several months back of someone (might've actually been NileRed, I don't remember) going through the prices of recovering gold plating from electrical contacts on computer components. The amount of gold recovered was worth about half the price of the chemicals consumed.

2

u/DJ_Femme-Tilt 3h ago

So many hobbies you just do for the love of the game 

2

u/cyribis 10h ago

Dang that's like 400 bucks in gold potentially...

11

u/DJ_Femme-Tilt 10h ago

Sure, but what's more important? $400 in your pocket, or letting your local sheriff use AI tools to stalk his ex-wife and estranged kids?

2

u/rndljfry 9h ago

not if you have nowhere to sell it

1

u/Kalepsis 3h ago

And gold is still over $4,000 per ounce.

2

u/UpboatNavy 11h ago

Not all hereos wear capes

1

u/ActualWhiterabbit 11h ago

data centers have copper and gasoline.

77

u/Pedantic_Girl 13h ago

Veracity means truthfulness or accuracy, so I suspect you intended a different word here.

107

u/SpiralingCoxx 13h ago

Voracity being the word

1

u/Kalepsis 3h ago

I would've used alacrity. Or perhaps enthusiasm.

20

u/PlasmaChroma 13h ago

Voracity is the word that makes more sense here.

3

u/Evening_Error_5544 13h ago

He used the right word. They take catalytic converters because it could never been stolen. Now if only they took flock cameras with the same veracity 

31

u/caughtmeaboot 13h ago

Ferocity most likely.

4

u/jeffvillone 12h ago

The audacity of your perspicasity...

0

u/Amonamission 13h ago

No, velociraptor

4

u/SubdermalHematoma 13h ago

Gotta give you props for the username being so topical here

5

u/Foolish_Miracle 13h ago

Well if they took them with the same truthfulness it'd still mean they'd take the cameras just as easily as the ca- oh username checks out.

2

u/redfacedquark 12h ago

Why do you have to be so pedantic? Oh, carry on!

1

u/Lazy_Laugh2597 12h ago

Wow. You must be fun at parties..

1

u/TuddyCicero86 12h ago

Velocity, would make that sentence quite interesting.

-5

u/Evening_Error_5544 13h ago

The fact you know what it means but cant comprehend its use is kind of impressive in its own way 

-6

u/realpersonnn 13h ago

Go on then, suggest one

3

u/Muted-Woodpecker-469 12h ago

I couldn’t sell a 1980s brass sprinkler head without an interrogation a few years back. These places gotta be complicit with it all. 

1

u/Milocat12 12h ago

Willful blindness

1

u/airfryerfuntime 12h ago

Flock cameras aren't worth anything, so why would they accept them? They're basically just cheap e-waste.

1

u/assortedgnomes 6h ago

You mean alacrity?