No. You can emulate the network matters in software.
For more details, go look up the Linux USB Gadget framework.
You can even play around with some of it yourself using a Pi Zero 2 W (I did, making it appear to be a USB webcam - I saw guides on how to make it be a serial port and even an ethernet adapter too)
right now, neither needs a warrant.
if searching LPR camera history starts to require a warrant, it probably wouldn't take much to argue that sending officers out to manually do the same thing should require one too.
EDIT: i have no doubt that Flock and other ALPRs got so widespread because four ALPRs watching each direction at an intersection is basically invisible in comparison to four cop cars at every intersection.
if plate readers were as visible as cop cars (including agency branding) people would have probably gotten bent out of shape a long time ago.
On a recent 3k mile cross-country trip I was shocked to see how prevalent Flock cameras were, even in tiny back-woods locations. I'm fairly certain you cannot drive long distances in the US anymore without Flock having a detailed record of your travels.
I do it, but in a devcontainer...but the devcontainer is as much to keep my host free of the random tools that a given project needs as it is (now) to keep Claude in line. If I had to click approve on everything it'd be worse than doing everything myself.
And vehicle theft doesn't even need cameras logging EVERYONE to Flock's databases - just cameras that only report in to the mothership when they see a plate on an internal "most-wanted" list.
Person reports car stolen, cop adds car info to plate reader most wanted list, most wanted list is transmitted to cameras, cameras don't let plate readings leave RAM unless they're 90% or higher confident that it's on the most wanted list.
Are the cameras doing the plate recognition and OCR locally? Or (my guess) they are uploading images to a Flock data center where they are processed and then the plate number and location data saved to a database where active search queries are processed?
The tech exists to do it on-camera (Ubiquiti among other vendors claims on-camera LPR), but I figure they're doing whatever is most battery-efficient since the ones I've seen all have solar panels.
I do wonder what they do on busy interstates though. Some of the ones I've had to go past would basically be sending a live video feed - LPR matches as text would save a ton of bandwidth and maybe even power compared to a cellular radio always transmitting.
The author of this ticket seems to come across as an arrogant know-it-all that thinks "the threats i thought of (or personally face) are the only threats that are significant, fuck anyone in a different situation."
I proudly print my entire KDBX file including passkey private keys and I encourage my elderly parents to do so too.
Lightning strikes (and assisting people with cleanup and repair from them) have taught me that there are definitely a class of threats that will leave me with paper but possibly no technology until I can go buy a cheap laptop to restart my digital life, SO BEING ABLE TO BACK EVERYTHING UP IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL.
His website says he's in Boston, so I seriously doubt he's ever seen what lightning can do or dealt with a hurricane or tornado.
In general, if you're in the FIDO Alliance and had anything to do with the kind of micromanagement that passkeys can allow, FUCK YOU. Go get a job at Walmart as a greeter. We'll all be better off.
I print a nice HTML document - each entry has each field/value in a HTML table and each group gets its own header.
On macOS I use Strongbox's Print Database capability.
On Windows, I'm testing a KeePass plugin I created that does the same thing and more (not quite ready for public release).
If I'm still around and coherent, I can re-type it into a KDBX-supporting app by hand (or maybe if I'm lucky only enough entries to get to a backup in cloud storage).
If the worst happens and I'm no longer capable of using a computer, it's an obviously-important document for whoever is cleaning up after me (I bet most people would understand the importance of a document with a bunch of usernames and passwords). They won't have to somehow break into my computer first to be able to figure out what online/digital matters of mine need to be dealt with.
Wow. Roughly how many entries do you have and how do you handle updates? I'm often being asked to change passwords and of course create new login entries.
57 groups, 307 entries.
I try to reprint whenever I get an oil change (so a few times a year).
I don't reprint for every password change. I will for major accounts.
I will also immediately print for certain new accounts but not all (e.g. I didn't reprint for my HN account).
The Strongbox printout has the last printed date on it and my KeePass plugin even includes the SHA256 of the KDBX file just to be sure.
Whos paying the telcos for those 5G connections and also has the FCC been degraded so much that they would allow for undeclared radios in consumer products?
But in your scenario they are an integral and necessary part of the device, so it's costed in.
In a television it's an added cost and it's unclear if serving ads really can offset that extra $25-100 of hardware (and included data) you ship on a $200-1000 television.
It's also unclear to me if the low data packages they come with would be enough to serve meaningful ads to begin with. Those devices usually come with a fixed plan of 100MB/month for 5yrs (or along those lines). Modern smart tv ads are very often video or at least hi res images.
> In a television it's an added cost and it's unclear if serving ads really can offset that extra $25-100 of hardware (and included data) you ship on a $200-1000 television.
Amazon seems to have done the math and found that it makes sense to give a $20 discount on a $180 device if it lets them display very unobtrusive ads on the lockscreen. So I don't think you are correct.
Why are you assuming the primary motivator is to serve ads? Smart TVs were already caught running content ID against the contents of the screen and phoning that data home. "Routing at the edge" is the euphemism for the logical extension of that.
> extra $25-100
Your estimated costs are off by at least one order of magnitude, probably two.
Of course none of this makes much sense in a world where smart TVs have ubiquitous wifi, most consumers have one, most consumers run the stock OS, and most consumers connect it to the public internet. It would be entirely viable if not for that status quo.
Unfortunately, it's used to spy on you, and insurance companies are known to buy the data to profile customers or prospective customers. The good thing about Fords is that the cell modem often has its own fuse.
Secret 5G is not as common because there is a huge incentive to resell the free service. Maybe with eSIM it will be harder. Kindles uses to have a free data plan SIM.
Not all mobile data APNs go to the Internet. You can't resell an IP service that lands on an RFC1918 network with exactly one IP:port available; the API endpoint.
Not saying I've seen this in devices, but I have built and run mobile data networks with private APNs.
No. I did see in the 5G design that that type of thing was a consideration. It may well be that phone companies aren't selling like that, however it certainly would make sense that they would be looking for companies who want a deal. Most of the cost of service is fixed, and a large number of customers want service during particular peak times and so they can serve that peak data even at off peak times such as when everyone's asleep and so if they could sell that time only that is a little bit more money. It only makes sense if those buying off peak times do have other alternatives that they would turn to instead.
The FCC is literally powerless nowadays for all intents and purposes. They've abrogated so much of their authority to the states now that they might as well be eliminated. What little authority that remains with it is bought and paid for to the point that I'm sure you could get anything "approved" if you wanted.
> has the FCC been degraded so much that they would allow for undeclared radios in consumer products?
Well... most TVs already have a WiFi/BT chipset for stuff like advertisements or, especially with Apple, high-bandwidth video streaming. There is already a radio module present, but (IIRC) you don't have to disclose what exactly that module is capable of.
> I have heard claims of devices (mostly TVs) supposedly coming with secret 5G cell uplinks built
This is occasionally mentioned on HN, but I have not yet seen a specific instance of this. Please share if you know something about secret 5G cell modems used to spy on people.
It always impresses me that technology ideas once exposed in the nefarious background of the Snowden revelations, has now become mainstream, almost passé among the technocratie, but then I remember that there is a very dominant event horizon where all technology is weaponized/de-weaponized according to the intentions of its users..
It's going to been pretty wild to see QuadRF being applied for things. I can only imagine there are weapons-technologists who will bolt this onto hunter/killer drones at some point. A lynchpin technology for the inevitable drone wars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubPWaDWcOLU
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