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'Say hello to my little vacuum cleaner': US DEA puts spycams in cleaner's kit
- code_duck 8y agohttps://qz.com/1458475/the-dea-and-ice-are-hiding-surveillance-cameras-in-streetlights/ https://qz.com/1458475/the-dea-and-ice-are-hiding-surveillan... This recent article asserts the DEA has placed cameras in traffic barrels and steer lights, and also mentions Cowboy Streetlight Concealments. This is procurement for hardware for a DEA license plate monitoring system, linked in the above article. https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a0459e93674685daf7c08cfa3db0ed2e&tab=core&tabmode=list&= https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a0459e9...
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoAs someone who casually follows the state of freedom and civil rights in the US the first thing that goes through my mind when I read a headline like this is "oh, so ICE and the ATF are doing this too". It's kinda sad that things have gotten this bad.
- sargun 8y agoI’m unfamiliar with the badness of ATF. I haven’t seen any painfully embarrassing stories about ATF. What kinds of offenses have they committed?
- masonic 8y agoRuby Ridge and Waco are two of the more famous ATF misadventures.
- gowld 8y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege
- wmeredith 8y agoOperation Gunwalker/Fast and Furious is a pretty good head smacker: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal
- gumby 8y agoReminiscent of the comedic Graham Greene novel "Our Man in Havana" from the 1950s!
- wormold 8y agoQuite.
- r1b 8y ago"...video can be live-streamed - presumably to agents parked in a van nearby..." How does this work? Does the camera act as an AP that a client can connect to? Or do you have to configure the camera to join an existing network that you control?
- wavefunction 8y agoIt could be over radio, analog or digital. Or perhaps some other em frequency. Or hyper-sonic transmission. Perhaps x-ray frequencies despite the poor irradiated cleaning lady. It doesn't have to be a script-kiddie solution.
- snazz 8y agoLooks like it’s designed to connect to an existing network, assuming the DEA didn’t make any modifications to the device. You can see the specs at the Canon website: https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/details/network-video-solutions/all-network-cameras/vb-m50b https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/d...
- ceejayoz 8y agoI bought a SQ-13 camera off AliExpress for $20ish, which streams over Wifi (it acts as an AP) and is about an inch by an inch cube. (It's small enough to be carried on my N-scale train cars for a train-eye view.)
- squarefoot 8y agoI was interested in this one or a similar model (sq20) to be used as a dash cam with external supply as the internal cell doesn't last much. Can it be configured to connect to a wireless network and stream the video to a standard encoder/player on given address? I would use it to stream to a small NAS in order not to destroy the flash doing continuous recording. Hopefully it doesn't require a smartphone and a proprietary app to connect to its stream.
- 8y ago
- MagicPropmaker 8y agoThey'll have trouble getting audio. It's LOUD when the Shop-Vac's on.
- baroffoos 8y agoPart of me thinks this story is made up just to scare people. Why would it be public info if they were actually trying to catch people like this?
- fipple 8y agoEveryone makes mistakes and this may have slipped through the cracks.
- gleenn 8y agoYou're assuming they didn't just put a little rechargeable battery in the vacuum too. Id assume people weren't doing drug deals while people were shop-vacuuming. Id definitely want to be able to film while it was off.
- jacquesm 8y agoThat would be one very impressive DSP hack if you could eliminate the motor and other contact sounds. I highly doubt that you could cancel it out effectively but it is so tempting to try this to see how far you'd get. A couple of approaches would be: - bandpass filter in human voice range - two mikes, only one facing outward, opposite polarity - a lot of mechanical isolation - a digital sample of the audio stored and subtracted from the input And more such tricks. It would be a very interesting project to see how far you could push that.
- 46Bit 8y agoMy Amazon Echo can hear me fine over my vacuum cleaner, and far better than a human could. That makes me think general-purpose techniques alone might work.
- 8y ago
- jMyles 8y agoUgh - the DEA is such a blight on American society. Who the hell is working for them? As drug prohibition has become less popular, the DEA seems, at least to me, to be more desperate and childish. The raids on Amtrak trains are an example of this (which I myself suffered last year). Can't we just end the drug war and have them go quietly like adults?
- shard972 8y agoSure thing buddy, next thing you will tell me is that my microwave is spying on me!
- d2161 8y agoAnd yet we still allow American goods in Canada.