[rescripting]

It’s trivial for law enforcement to track your movement with ALPR cameras. Information feeds into a single database, paid for by law enforcement agencies, and they just connect the dots.

Ring camera footage requires law enforcement to get a warrant or for individuals to give consent to supply the footage.

Now tell me which system makes it easier for a cop to stalk their ex.

[thih9]

All this is assuming one travels exclusively by car. Bikes, public transport, or walking are not as easy to track using this system.

Then again, these modes of transport are less popular in the US; I guess such a surveillance system is extra effective in the US because of that.

[Spooky23]

Not yet. Facical recognition in 2025 is where LPR was in 2010.

As the cost of compute and wireless communications continues to drop, facial recognition will be prolific. There are more limitations with cameras, but AI will make it easy to backtrack movement to a place where they get a clean shot that can identify you.

As an example, the transit authority in NYC Metro was able to plug existing security feeds from trains into Amazon Rekognition to count heads, which feeds their ticketing app — you can see which carriages are full. As time goes on, they’ll become able to track the breadcrumbs individuals from seat to platform. (If not already)

Detectives do this manually today. I was on a jury where the purse snatcher was followed by various cameras until he got on a bus. They pulled the bus passes and tracked his pass back to his girlfriend.

[hibf]

This automated already, and you don't need a face. Flock does it.

https://haveibeenflocked.com/news/reid

[Spooky23]

It does. But more like “the black male with the red hoodie is here”

They don’t say “hibf just walked into the 7-11” yet. The Feds probably have a system that can do that for car passengers traveling on “drug corridors” (ie. I95) today.

[garciasn]

Less popular because it’s not feasible for many. I live in MN. Biking 20mi to work when it’s -10F and in 6” of fresh snow on top of the 12” received so far this season just isn’t something that’s safe to do.

Please don’t make it seem like it’s a “popularity” thing; it’s a necessity thing.

[thih9]

Finland is a cold country with similar population count and larger area. For national domestic trips, 55% of people there use cars[1]. For MN i only found stats for MN metro area, but I’d expect public transport to be more developed there. The car usage is still 83%[2].

[1]: https://www.traficom.fi/sites/default/files/media/publicatio... page 6

[2]: https://metropolitan-council.github.io/TBI_Household_Synthes... “Driving remains the predominant mode of travel in the region, representing 83% of trips in 2023.”

[antiframe]

I bet the local community plows the roads but not the bike infrastructure, though? I get why, people probably drive more than bike.

But, in Canada, there are local communities that plow bike infrastructure and locals bike in their deep winter.

It's a chicken or egg problem of building infrastructure for users and users demanding infrastructure. It's not some fact of nature that it's impossible. Different communities have different priorities. So, necessity is a bit strong of a word.

[iso1631]

Hardly anyone lives in MN - half the poulation of New York City alone.

The vast majority of Americans live in cities. Half live in just 8 metro-areas, just as the vast majority of Europeans live in cities. Europe is far more dispersed though.

[8note]

driving is also not feasible in those conditions. with the availability of remote work you should really stay home.

[mananaysiempre]

> public transport

Some European cities I remember having pervasive cameras in public transport a decade ago, ostensibly to prosecute vandals.

[SauciestGNU]

There was an article posted recently announcing that Flock reached an agreement with Amazon to ingest Ring cameras into their system.

[Spooky23]

Most ring users contribute their data and no warrant is required. If they don’t, the majority of people are cooperative.

Ring is problematic in some ways but doesn’t produce trivially searchable metadata.

[ifh-hn]

This comment went right off a cliff at the end...

[saint_yossarian]

Why do you think so?

LOVEINT is indeed a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOVEINT

[ifh-hn]

I know it's a thing.

That was just my reaction reading the OP.

First paragraph: reasonable, if ignoring that access it not likely to be unrestricted willy-nilly.

Second paragraph: not as reasonable given that Amazon likely comply without issue with us intelligence, and sell the data to third parties, which the police could just buy (similar has been done) to avoid consent or legal obstacles.

Third paragraph: out of nowhere, focus on police. No mention of intelligence agency staff or say Amazon staff doing the same thing.

I just had a wee chuckle to myself was all.

[Dusseldorf]

Out of nowhere? The entire comment is talking about law enforcement (police) and law enforcement agencies (police departments) purchasing access to commercially owned surveillance databases. No warrant is required to use them, and in some cases that access is indeed "unrestricted willy-nilly."

[EasyMark]

Most people consider "intelligency agency" as part of the umbrella term "cops"

[sigwinch]

I think the logic totally follows, if your ex is a cop and you’re thinking of getting a Ring camera.

[lingrush4]

If a police officer potentially stalking his ex is the worst failure mode this guy can come up with, let's keep the Flock cameras.

With the right access controls and approval processes, that can be fully solved in a week.

[hansvm]

Ah, you mean like if we had some sort of knowledgeable, impartial third-party to grant the police permissions. They could, get this, "judge" whether the absolute bare minimum of evidence is likely to exist. So long as Flock didn't provide a way to circumvent an approval process like that, you could maybe reduce the instances of abusers stalking their victims to "acceptable" levels.

What do you think the chances are that we could invent a system like that? You don't think Flock and the police would find a way to circumvent it do you?