Standardized NEMA sockets let municipalities add cameras and air sensors to existing poles with no public vote or new hardware
So you’re saying it’s basically USB? A camera can be plugged into a USB socket, should we be scared of them?
If your city council wants to turn your city into a surveillance state, they’ll do it regardless of which technology enables it. Pay attention to local politics, elect people opposed to surveillance and those who would support laws preventing it. Don’t get paranoid about open standards that make your city more efficient.
I don’t think paranoia about the connection standard was the goal here. It seems more likely to me they wanted to increase awareness of the fact there are FAR less obvious (and absurdly easy) ways for governments to spy on citizens than Flock’s installations.
Even if the goals of the government for installing such hardware are above board, they aren’t known for being the most mindful of security so these systems can often be hacked and abused by malicious entities. It’s something that really does need well thought out limitations set.
The issue is that they can do it without anyone knowing, it has no approval or denial process involved. You hear about flock now, but this is a new technology that most aren’t looking at and isn’t regulated.
We should push back against all of it
It’s not even USB. All data connections are wireless and either through a phone connection or a Wi-Fi mesh network (and calling it a mesh is generous, in practice this will be a dodgy daisy chain of connections running down the road).
That’s fine for updating the timing of lights to match sunset, but it sucks for data heavy applications like video surveillance.
If there was a hidden, little-discussed USB port at the top of every streetlight, that might be a cause for concern, yes
99% of just about everything is hidden and little-discussed by this metric. That doesn’t make it concerning, it just makes it information you don’t know yet.
It’s concerning for many of the reasons that Flock cameras are concerning. If you don’t understand this, I don’t know how you ended up on this community
You know what else is a “standardized NEMA socket”? Literally all the outlets in your house. NEMA 5-15p. This is like freaking out that they’re putting electrical outlets inside buildings because, in theory, someone could plug a surveillance camera into one.
Look at this guy with his 5-15s. Half the ones in my house are still 1-15.
Cameras everywhere! The whole planet is now a surveillance state! But socialism is the real threat…
Democracy and freedom are the real threats
So like. Outlets?
I can’t tell if this is satire, ragebait, or simple attempts at normalizing mass surveillance.
Can’t tell what your actual complaint is, because you’re the third person to have the exact same “Isn’t this just” opinion… Have you read the article and the other comments posted before yours?
Yes, as a matter of fact I have read the article, similar complaints, and even added my own novel explanation to the discussion! Namely, the purpose of the article is to try and make people worried about cameras sound like they’re anti-outlet, as any outlet can have a camera plugged in!
I know basic reading comprehension can be difficult, especially with the defunding of public education. Would you like me to break it down again, with even simpler words?
Why else would they need to have outlets at the top of street lights, if not for surveillance shit?
Did you read the article and identify how the outlet was being used currently, and how it will be used in the future?
Yes. Did you know that the outlet you plugged your device into is currently powering a device that is spying on you, and can be used to plug in a surveillance camera!
Horrific!
How was the outlet being used?
Plugging in IoT shit.
I’m impressed, I half expected you to say it provided the lights.
Now, do you understand the difference between a state-run network of IoT devices along roads versus a socket in your own home? Is the government allowed to install a surveillance device in both equally?
That small stub on top of nearly every LED streetlight? Most people assume it’s a photocell — a dumb sensor that flips the light on at dusk. It’s not. Or not just that. It’s a standardized NEMA socket, and cities are quietly filling it with IoT controllers, environmental sensors, wireless gear, and cameras. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association defines how these connectors work, and the resulting plug-and-play architecture means a streetlight can become a surveillance node about as easily as you’d swap a light bulb. Energy savings sold the project. What got built is infrastructure for AI-driven monitoring.
The efficiency benefits are real. The surveillance potential is equally real. Governance frameworks capable of separating the two barely exist right now. What cities call infrastructure, civil-liberties advocates increasingly call a mesh. The streetlight just stands there either way.
Cool cool cool, so .hack// is real life now?
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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.
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Oh I see. Are they rotated? I assumed there was a socket on top that the bulb I can see from the ground plugs into.
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The article is about the sockets. You said the only opening in the housing points north, so you can see why I thought you were talking about the lamp housing and not the photocell housing.
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IANAL and you should do your own research, but my understanding of the dangers of something like a Flock camera is that it’s a private company who surveils citizens and compiles the data into something that law enforcement can purchase without a warrant, effectively circumventing Americans’ 4th amendment rights. In this case, it’s a city device that can host a camera. I believe that the city would not be able to perform warrantless mass surveilence using these devices the same way that a private company can. I believe it’s similar to those cameras on traffic signals that monitor the performance of the intersection but not perform ALPR data collection. It’s a subtle but important difference.
I may have no idea what I’m talking about also, so if you are an authority on these matters or someone with industry knowledge, please correct me.
You are telling people to do there own research whwn you clearly haven’t dome much research
I want to get of Onii-san’s
cockride.Ironically, reads like AI and i counted like 8 or 9 emdashes in that tiny article.
I’m on the fence about the reputability of this site, but besides the dashes, there don’t seem to be any major red flags.
