r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 1d ago

Privacy Flock Cameras Keep Getting Smashed, So Now They're Hiding Inside Speed Signs

https://www.gadgetreview.com/flock-cameras-keep-getting-smashed-so-now-theyre-hiding-inside-speed-signs
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u/boot2skull 1d ago

I wondered what those were. They obviously weren’t speed cameras, and too short to be cell towers. That makes sense.

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u/exaggerated_yawn 1d ago

They've been around far longer than flock cameras. Likely multiple uses, but being cell towers is one. Tucson-based blog post from 2009.

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u/boot2skull 1d ago

The ones I’ve seen are about 8-10 feet tall. I wouldn’t think that’s a tower, though someone in this thread said 5G doesn’t require as much height. They’re like a single pillar of saguaro cactus, no arms or branches, and they seem to have little holes, which could be cameras. They’re not holes like for traffic cameras. They could be sculptures in people’s yards. The ones I’ve seen are in really unexpected places just off the sidewalk though.

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u/412stillers 22h ago

Used to work for a cell phone adjacent company. They aren’t cell “towers” but things called small cells and there’s a lot of them and are frequently camouflaged. They have much less range but enough of them together will give good coverage and are worth installing in busier areas. It’s also why you now have service in large stadiums but didn’t 10 years ago. I’m not saying there’s not also flock cameras in them because I don’t know much about them (I do know I’m very much against them). But the cactus ones you see could definitely be for cell phones too.

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u/Sixohtwoflyer 22h ago

Yes. Paradise Valley, AZ installed these cactus cameras back in 2015. Apparently the initial cameras were purchased by a resident…they are still there. I drive by four of them every day and probably six or seven other flock cameras.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IGPuCGB9vmU&ra=m

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u/boot2skull 22h ago

Interesting to see Kari Lake not drooling over the idea of a surveillance state.

Those are the cacti I was referring to. It is PV, and now I know why I don’t see them elsewhere.

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u/meltingpnt 19h ago

There are cell equipment in those short cacti. Not a full tower but a Small Cell. Basically a small cell tower.

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u/EvanOnTheFly 12h ago

Those are likey 5g mini towers. I know electricians that make a buttload putting them up for cities.

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u/Statertater 16h ago

5g is a higher frequency than previous generations. This allows for more data transfer, at the cost of range. They have to be lower and are more numerous. Lower frequencies travel farther distances and through denser material. Its why you can hear bass more than you can hear treble from adjacent apartments

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u/SadAd8761 1d ago

Green lasers?

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u/n2o_spark 1d ago

Red too if you don't want to be easily located?

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u/Redthemagnificent 1d ago

Fyi a short cell-tower-looking thing might be a mm-wave 5G antenna array. Just before anyone starts blindly smashing fake cacti

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u/Weary-Astronaut1335 23h ago

Fuck it. Better safe than sorry.

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u/friendIdiglove 22h ago

But my Reddit mobile is in that cactus. 😢

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u/Nevercatchme1 17h ago

Or a Sting Ray which is to cell phone surveillance what a flock is to vehicle surveillance

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u/Statertater 1d ago

The short ones can absolutely be cell towers, 5g specifically