Big Brother is watching you — but this
homeowner made him back down

Disturbing - a government camera capturing you and your family coming and going, visitors to your home, your kids playing in the yard. Equally disturbing - it's contractor operated. The citizens of San Diego had a brief encounter with contractor-operated red-light cameras a few years back. Most violators simply paid their fines, but after vehement challenges from some through their lawyers, an investigation revealed that the cameras had been intentionally miscalibrated by the contractor (Lockheed Martin), who - under the terms of the contract - was receiving 10% of all fines paid. Those cameras are now gone.

A government camera mounted right across the street from my house is very Big Brotherly. Who wants that?

A periodic history of me cutting my grass or retrieving the mail is annoying but the obligation to pay for this nonsense is what fries me most. All of this data being gathered in remote servers to serve as the source of the misnamed Artificial Intelligence craze requires me to go along with the charade by contributing my tax dollars. City officials who are willing to subscribe to this whizbang technology to replace real law enforcement are not doing their jobs. Policemen sneaking around corners to catch citizens breezing through a stop sign on an empty road or going a few mph over an artificial limit set by "safety" engineers are annoying enough.

Petty tyrants put up cameras in public. Voyeurs aim them at people's private property. None of those people should be on the public payroll and the cameras should be for target practice.

Poster commentator: what do you think that little bubble on top of your vehicle is doing? Not only does it track your movements, it allows Big Brother to stop your vehicles engine. Wanna fight, that is a good one to start with.

I'm not discounting Charlie's complaint, but why does does Greer's Ferry, AR, way out in the boonies, think they need traffic cameras? Something's not right there.

The fact that "everybody is doing it" is hardly a defense that something is unconstitutional.

These ALPR readers are everywhere. All lights, all cop cars, all tow trucks. And it’s gathered by private companies who sell the data to anyone and used by Google to monitor comings and goings. There are methods to defeat them. 1. If possible only have a rear plate. I live in NM so this is possible. Rear plates are caught not nearly as often as front/rear. 2. If you have a choice of plates, pick a low contrast plate. (NM has yellow/red.) 3. Polarized plate covers work but are generally illegal. 4. You can make a normal plate harder to read. First lightly sand the plate. Then put many layers of “flat clear”‘paint on it. Then tape it randomly with masking tape (like a WWI battleship cammo). Then paint again with high gloss paint. This is invisible to the eye and inspection but messes with the contrast setting on cameras, especially if a flash is used. 4. Got get 2-4 backup camera frames. These have IR LEDs. Wire to run all the time. Assemble into one frame and twist the lights so they point unevenly. This is too bright for the average passive camera that uses IR. 5. Or go low tech and let mud or a leaf stick to your plate. Make it look natural. 6. Plate stickers elsewhere on your car confuse AI. So a fake license plate sticker that says “90210” or whatever can be helpful. But look really stupid. 7. Amazon sells “plate flippers” like James Bond. Highly illegal in most states to have on your car.

I can't remember which movie or TV show it was in, but someone used an air rifle, and a tiny pellet of his own proprietary blend of some kind of powder and bird whitewash to foul the lens of a security camera. Of course, it would be TERRIBLY WRONG! to do that. In the show, it was only for entertainment purposes, natch. There, BB, I disavowed any such action. Forget I mentioned it.

Public safety, or, BIG BROTHER! Had a man contact the police because his boyfriend disappeared. Police got hold of the plate reader and pinged the plate number. They put out the info to all the other states and followed the plate to a western state and found the boyfriend. The boyfriend left on purpose for a new person in his life! We are giving up our freedoms under the lie that it will keep us safe. Did you vote on getting these cameras. I didn’t.

Is it possible for ANY level of government to just say, "You're right." No one at that town city hall would want to be constantly photographed in their front yard. Just admit that and move the camera without making everyone go to the mat over it.

#5: Correct, but no reason to accept another assault on our privacy, especially one by a third party who collects the 'Vig' on every car that goes by, and not just violators. ( My old truck doesn't even have a bubble on top but the cameras know where and when i pass by)

Why can't we get a nationwide injunction against these damned spy cameras?

Re #5, not all cars have systems like that. Unless you have OnStar or other similar capability, your car cannot send or receive outside signals.