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You Know About Flock Cameras, Meet Nema Nodes: They Turn Streetlights Into A Surveillance Network
(www.gadgetreview.com)
this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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Privacy
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as someone that installs streetlights, I have never come across one of these. they are simply photocells. also the only opening in the housing points north, which only allows possible surveillance in one direction.
i wouldn't worry about this for now.
that being said, my country is behind most others as far as surveillance goes
By north you mean up, I assume.
And while that doesn't mean they can't install a camera, it does mean it would be the worst possible orientation. It would have to be a big ball on top or an assembly that came down underneath the lamp to point the camera at the ground.
You could also plug in a non-camera sensor, like a Stingray cell phone snooper. Those are omnidirectional.
But the bottom line is "you can plug stuff into power outlets", which is not really a story.
no. by north I mean north. the direction in which sunlight most quickly dissipates in the northern hemisphere. this allows streetlights to turn on mid-dusk instead of pure darkness
if I meant up I would say up. I've handled, repaired, and inspected thousands of these devices and am very familiar with their function. none of them contain cameras or other surveillance hardware. the day I see otherwise is the day I share that information as broadly as possible, and also the day I start sabotaging.
I'm saying that this is not a real threat to personal privacy.