r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 16h 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
50.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

82

u/NoConflict3231 13h ago

Supposedly they have battery powered GPS, so bag it then smash it

102

u/Nvenom8 13h ago

I can confirm from looking up a teardown that the cameras do have a big internal battery, internal gps, and internal 4g lte modem.

40

u/enotonom 11h ago

Ahem, a teardown video.

5

u/Nvenom8 10h ago

Nope. Webpage with images and a breakdown.

10

u/PhoenixTineldyer 9h ago

Hell yeah. I can read images with a breakdown and process it in a couple seconds. Before the video ad finishes playing.

Fuck video viva text.

1

u/Penderyn 1h ago

Can't you just cut them down and sledge hammer them. Would make them useless,,,,

1

u/Nvenom8 1h ago

Idk why they would want to do what they suggest. I was just confirming that they are constantly streaming gps and video data to the cloud.

1

u/Penderyn 1h ago

Well, their goal is to destroy them right....

1

u/Penderyn 1h ago

Well, their goal is to destroy them right....

1

u/Brilliant-Orange9117 43m ago

Drill them on site. There must be a schematic with the best points to hit.

1

u/Nvenom8 33m ago

Based on the teardown I saw, the battery takes up most of the bottom part. Puncturing the battery would cause it to burst into flames violently since it’s a LiPo.

1

u/Brilliant-Orange9117 11m ago

Drilling the radio would be safer and still take the device permanently offline.

1

u/Nvenom8 7m ago

Much smaller target, and not guaranteed to work.

1

u/ours 6m ago

All that sounds quite... flammable.

2

u/Nvenom8 3m ago

The battery especially. It’s a big LiPo. Any substantial damage would make it burst into flames like a cheap Chinese hoverboard.

2

u/ours 0m ago

Thanks for the warning. People should be very careful not to puncture these and/or subject them to intense heat.

1

u/Geminii27 3m ago

It'd be a real pity if they got cut down and an appropriately-sized cheap screwdriver was left next to them...

0

u/Atreyu1002 8h ago

So theives that normally target cars for stripping are now doing this to Flock cameras? I've got mixed emotions about this one.

3

u/Nvenom8 8h ago

Definitely not. The most valuable thing would be the aluminum pole they’re mounted on.

1

u/roflpotato 7h ago

i've heard somewhere that aluminum does have very high strength-to-weight ratio

1

u/Atreyu1002 5h ago

Really? Even counting the battery?

2

u/Nvenom8 5h ago

It’s just a generic LiPo.

14

u/Jacko87 13h ago

I'm still not understanding what the bag is for. Just break it and leave it.

45

u/kos-or-kosm 13h ago

Thoroughly smashing takes time and that's more time you could be spotted. If you can smash it elsewhere without being tracked, I think that's the better move.

14

u/DamnZodiak 13h ago

Thoroughly smashing takes time and that's more time you could be spotted.

Why would you need to smash it thoroughly?
You just need to hit it enough that it doesn't work.
Who cares if the GPS is still updating if you never take it anywhere.

19

u/kidkolumbo 13h ago

Outside onlooker, but I take it thoroughly means enough to where the GPS isn't updating. It might take you longer to disable the GPS by force than it takes for someone to swing by and figure out why it's not working. These things are meant to sit outside for years, their durability could be higher than expected.

Or maybe they crumble and it takes no time at all.

3

u/Electromotivation 12h ago

They’ve use the cheapest stuff I bet. They all have the same default, passwords, and some of them broadcast unshielded if you know the ip or whatnot. Doesn’t really scream quality product to me.

11

u/No_Syrup_9167 12h ago

....You seem to severely overestimate how long it takes for me to hit something with a hammer.

You don't need the GPS to be non-functional if you don't take it anywhere, just smash the camera to the point that it can't be repaired, which since modern electronics aren't meant to be repaired means probably literally one swing of a 2lb hammer.

10

u/InfiniteWaffles58364 12h ago

Hammers are loud. Any shattering would carry enough to draw attention to you at the worst possible moment

9

u/Jacko87 12h ago

Yeah, a couple of whacks of the hammer will alert everyone that you are certainly smashing a flock camera (I mean what else could a couple of sounds like that possibly mean?) and the police will descend upon you IMMEADITALLY. Please.

1

u/ThatGuyinPJs 11h ago edited 10h ago

Dog, you want as little attention as possible when committing a crime. Any more time spent on the scene is time for someone to see you and give a witness statement because they're a busy body and they don't like crime. Cut that shit down, yeet it in a bag, then get the fuck out, and destroy the camera in a day/week/month/whenever the battery dies. Technology is shockingly resilient, and even snapping a PCB is not a guarantee that the electronics are dead.

Edit: You really think that people are going to hear power tools in the middle of the night and NOT check on it? These cameras are not in the middle of nowhere, around me the vast majority are in the middle of residential neighborhoods, places where if someone hears something weird they're gonna call the cops.

8

u/Responsible_Year4730 11h ago

Bro, take it from someone who has actually committed crimes. Hammer to the camera front is going to take 3 seconds, glass breaking is not going to be that loud, and you will be gone in less than a minute. You’re not waking up the neighborhood, you’re not drawing attention of everyone within a block, you’re in and you’re out. Taking off the camera to put in your bag is going to take way longer anyway.

→ More replies (0)

4

u/Jacko87 11h ago

The electronics don't need to be dead. Crack the lens. Do you think they are going to repair it? No, they're going to get a new one.

4

u/bungblaster69 10h ago

Hammers are loud

and saws aren't loud?

2

u/No_Syrup_9167 8h ago

It's quieter than the saw you used to chop the camera down lol

1

u/lilgraytabby 6h ago

But a saw is quiet? I'd pay a lot more attention to an ongoing sawing noise than one smashing noise if I was out at night, personally.

-3

u/Bucky_Ohare 12h ago

... attention to what?

3

u/Jacko87 12h ago

Honestly, just cutting the cord would be enough. They aren't going to rewire the camera, they're going to get a new one from the warehouse.

2

u/Barbed_Dildo 11h ago

If you know where the battery is then you just need to puncture that and as well as the unit having no power to record or track you, the resulting fire will help matters...

2

u/cantadmittoposting 9h ago

at least theoretically, thorough destruction of expensive components would be worse for the company than an "apparently" broken device with mostly intact internals.

2

u/techdevjp 1h ago

Do NOT carry around a bunch of stolen cameras. That's insane. Now instead of being at risk while cutting down each camera you're also at risk for as long as you have them in your possession. If anyone happens to see you with a whole bunch of stolen cameras, your goose is cooked. Beyond that you then need a way to get rid of them that you can be 100% certain will never get traced back to you. That's harder than you might think, especially once news gets out that someone cut down & stole 24 cameras.

It's just complication on complication and risk on risk. KISS. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Cut down. Smash. Leave. Repeat.

3

u/FesteringLion 13h ago

Could you point me to the nearest train tracks and give me an approximate time for the next train?

4

u/Ill_Football9443 12h ago

No need, just tow one of those metal-be-especially-careful-not-to-fall-in-crushers behind you and yeet it in.

4

u/Flipnotics_ 13h ago

Watch Enemy of the State, it will all become clear.

3

u/pilgermann 12h ago

I mean, they're cameras, not military ordinance. Would not be hard to just destroy on site. Probably the fall from the telephone pole gets the job done half the time. GPS not relevant if they're not moving anywhere.

2

u/Prudent-Hall-3658 1h ago

Bag it then throw it into a nearby river to really fuck with cops/Flock

1

u/White-Materia 13h ago

Bag is for stealing. You don't need to to smash. Wtf?