There’s been a great deal of backlash against Flock cameras, with constant vandalism and numerous reports of crooked cops misusing them, leading to more and more communities to cancel their contracts. While Flock has received the most backlash, there are other ALPR companies out there. Rather than ending their use of technology that spies on you, and in a move that doesn’t really solve the problems associated with mass surveillance, some departments that have dropped Flock have simply switched to other companies that do the same thing, reports NPR.
One of those competitors is Axon. If that name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen it displayed on body cam videos, since Axon is the leading supplier of body cams to law enforcement, according to The Intercept. After a bit of rebranding in 2017 (the same year Flock was founded), many people don’t know that Axon is the company formerly known as Taser, the electrical stun gun — another technology that police never, ever misuse.
While Flock had to develop not only its technology, but also its law enforcement contacts and clients, Axon already had the clients in its Rolodex thanks to its other products. Law enforcement agencies may be fleeing from Flock contracts like rats from a sinking ship, but they still want ALPR technology. In places like Denver, Colorado, for example, switching ALPR providers is easy when you’re getting your new camera tracking access through a supplier you likely already do business with.
Paint doesn’t typically work on them.
Why not?
If paint is ineffective and those bubbles are made from plastic, there is very likely a solvent that would permanently make the plastic hazy by partially dissolving the surface. I think acetone or MEK would do the trick to polycarbonate but you’d want to test at home.
You ever seen videos of people trying to spray paint the doorbell cameras? They’re coated so the paint just falls off. Same for paintball paint.
Every plastic has a solvent that will eat through it. Even glass can be etched.
If anyone’s passing through and thought “huh glass etch? neat!”, just be aware that glass etchants contain HF, which is one of the nastiest chemicals a normie can buy. It will happily penetrate through your skin. It might penetrate your PPE if you chose unwisely. Does it burn? Nope. It just dissolves your fucking bones. If you buy glass etchant, also buy a tube of calcium gluconate and keep it nearby while using the glass etch. If you spill some etchant on you, rinse the area for a few minutes and then apply the calcium gluconate to attract and neutralize the HF.
Source: I used to fill and train others to fill 40L tanks of 50% HF for cleaning semiconductor wafers.
I hadn’t seen those. I had no idea. Thanks!
Then maybe Japan’s Bohan Yo Kara Boru (anticrime color balls)
Or supposedly the police grade pepper spray ones also contain a marking agent.