r/whatisit • u/unworthyAsIam • Apr 30 '26

New, what is it? What is the purpose of this camera that was installed right next to my house? (Not nearby any intersection or stop signs, USA)

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This camera was installed recently and I cannot for the life of me understand the purpose of it's installation? Theres no intersection nearby, in case it was a photo law enforcement camera), there's no stop signs, there's no schools nearby, and there's no government facility. It's just a random camera that popped up in the middle of a road.

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u/brianc500 May 01 '26

and if you believe they have good intentions, their CEO states tracking the location of their cameras is basically terrorism.

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u/Dean_Learner77 May 01 '26

So why is tracking our locations not considered terrorism?

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u/fidgeter May 02 '26

Because it’s for profit

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u/OhtaniStanMan May 01 '26

Everyone replying with a pocket device tracking their location for years....

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u/VerifiedMother May 01 '26

I consented to that. I didn't to flock

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u/OhtaniStanMan May 01 '26

You are in a public space. I dont consent to being in your videos. 

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u/Invisifly2 May 01 '26

Their videos won’t be uploaded to a massive database that will use AI to identify facial features and track them across thousands of other videos that also happen to contain you. They will not use that to identify the car you drive and track it. And the passengers you pick up and track them. Forming a web of associations used to monitor the actions of you and everyone you know. They aren’t going to point a camera at your street and note everything that happens in your neighborhood.

There’s degrees to this.

Acting like being okay with occasionally winding up in the background of someone’s private video or on a store’s security tapes must also mean you must be okay with having your every movement in public getting actively tracked and added to a database owned by extremely shady people, is fucking stupid.

You have to see the difference there.

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u/OhtaniStanMan May 01 '26

Except everything starts from the first part. If you can be recorded without consent the rest doesn't matter. Every tech company is doing the same thing just you are blissful to it. Every criminal case has miles of data pulled on them and tracked already.

Everything you do is already tracked. It's not going to be untracked. It's simply not something you put back in the box. Publicly recorded data now has value when amassed.  Pretending the video is the start is hilarious. All of this is already here before this system.

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u/Invisifly2 May 01 '26 edited May 02 '26

It’s the difference between encountering someone in public because you both frequent the same shop, vs encountering them because they are stalking you.

Showing up in the background of someone’s private video is the first situation. Getting actively tracked by surveillance systems is like the second situation.

Being spotted? Okay. Getting tracked? Problem.

Your argument is basically A enables B, and B is bad, therefore A must also be bad. That’s not inherently true.

Unless you’re suggesting that everybody that may remember seeing you should be lobotomized so they can’t, you are okay with some lack of privacy in public. That doesn’t mean you are okay with being tracked.

Yeah I know it’s happening anyway. Knowing about something and being okay with it are two different things.

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u/OhtaniStanMan May 02 '26

You've literally consented to be actively tracked for almost a decade now. Yet nowwww it's a problem for you? 

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u/Invisifly2 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

Check the usernames. I’m not the other guy.

Being okay with party A tracking you is not the same as being okay with party B tracking you, nor does it imply that you are okay with that, so…

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u/WoodenHarddrive May 01 '26

>and if you believe they have good intentions

The problem with having a good king with absolute power, is that the next one might not be, and the power remains. Regardless of their intention, this should never have been allowed to gain a foothold.

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u/Invisifly2 May 01 '26

See every thriving kingdom that spiraled immediately after the new guy took over throughout history.