this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2025
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I am standing on the corner of Harris Road and Young Street outside of the Crossroads Business Park in Bakersfield, California, looking up at a Flock surveillance camera bolted high above a traffic signal. On my phone, I am watching myself in real time as the camera records and livestreams me—without any password or login—to the open internet. I wander into the intersection, stare at the camera and wave. On the livestream, I can see myself clearly. Hundreds of miles away, my colleagues are remotely watching me too through the exposed feed.

Flock left livestreams and administrator control panels for at least 60 of its AI-enabled Condor cameras around the country exposed to the open internet, where anyone could watch them, download 30 days worth of video archive, and change settings, see log files, and run diagnostics.

Archive: http://archive.today/IWMKe

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[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 36 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I was living in a 10th story penthouse apartment as a new building started beside us. The contractor put a webcam high up on the structure so people could watch construction live on a website. They left the control panel fully exposed so all you had to do was find the IP address of the camera and boom, you had full control. I would point it directly at my apartment's window and wave, or my friends would do silly shit. Every morning the cam would be reset, but they never actually secured it. That's when I realized how fucked we were, 20 years ago.

[–] LunaChocken@programming.dev 17 points 6 days ago

I wouldn't be surprised if it got found by Shodan, which scans the entire internet, indexes it and is easily searchable.

There's actually quite a few open webcams on the internet that shouldn't be.

https://github.com/00xNetrunner/Shodan_Cheet-Sheet

[–] ssfckdt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I seem to recall an early 00s screed, perhaps by Bruce Schneier or someone of that ilk, suggesting a future in which yes we have surveillance in the public square, but since it's public, everyone has full access to all the public-place cameras at any time. So you could use it to, say, see around the corner of an alley at night.

[–] noahm@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago

That was David Brin in The Transparent Society. He has continued to riff on the theme periodically since then.

[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A city in the KC Metro just signed a contract with Flock for drone cameras. Fuck that Big Brother bullshit.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

red light companies most likely use some form of AI/facial recognition.

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

red light cameras - at least in australia - are stock standard canon DSLRs… they take images, but not video

there are some newer ones that do things like photos of people using their phones stopped at lights etc, but generally speed/red light and “single purpose” cameras will just be doing stills, and wouldn’t be too useful for anything other than a single photo when the sensor triggers it

[–] Funky_Beak@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

WA police just introduced cameras that recored the inside of a vehicle (including the backseat so yay to childrens privacy) and using AI deternine whether you are driving dangerously.

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[–] jmsy@lemmy.world 18 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Snip their wires, spray paint their lens, or put a hammer on the end of a tall stick. it should be easy to take these things out. Of course don't do anything or have anything on you that would identify you were in the area at the time of these actions.

[–] cardfire@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago

There is now enough adjacent cctv coverage to follow your approach and exit from the scene of the crime. The rush is that another Flock camera is used to identify, and then make an example out of you or me.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Air rifles are pretty cheap too if you can shoot straight.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I am wondering if a super soaker with very salty water would work. It should heavily obscure the lens when dried and if someone doesn't clean it properly it will scratch it to hell.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)
[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago

Cameras are typically angled down and have a little rain hood.

[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If the lens is getting wet, it's an awfully shitty surveillance camera.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Did you miss the part about unencrypted admin creds being widely available on the internet?

[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

That doesn't make it a shitty camera, that makes it unsecured. Those are very different problems.

Water with flour and dye

[–] Taldan@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Honestly? Good. These cameras should either be public or dismantled. I'd like to see them dismantled, but worst case scenario is the current one where they're selectively used by law enforcement

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

iirc they weren't even the first ones to discover this because there was already someone on the blackmarket selling data collected from exposed cameras and endpoints which included PII of entire police departments.

[–] modus@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Is there a directory of these cameras? Or are they gonna make me do all the legwork?

[–] nwtreeoctopus@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

These specifically or just Flock cams?

Here's a start: DeFlock Me

[–] modus@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

I meant the unlocked interfaces. I'm familiar with deflock.me and have contributed to it. But thank you.

[–] rottenmummy@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Wholly fuck!

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I feel like Flock Cameras would describe a random individuals walk home from work the same way Andy Samberg does in the music video "Like a Boss".

[–] __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Your walk home sounds a lot more interesting than mine.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Whoooooooosh

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