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Tag: cameras

Report from the NYC Anti-Surveillance Corps, MTA Division

Posted on by neversleep

The other night, some friends went and disabled a few of those pesky facial recognition cameras that the MTA has been putting up in subway stations around town. It was very easy, very quick, and very fun! These cameras are connected using Cat6 cables (which are low voltage and safe for anyone to cut). The cabling is encased in electrical conduit which is often connected together with connecting joints that can be opened with a screwdriver, so you don’t have to stand anywhere near the camera to disable it, just open up one of the connectors and cut. Yay!

This is just one way to mess with these cameras. We hope people try out others. A downside of this one is that the cameras are still intact and appear to be functional to passersby, which will still cause people to regulate their behavior. We believe that surveillance has a deadening psychological effect even on people who would never do anything illegal. Disable the cameras, clean up the city, keep everyone free – it’s a public service.

We’re not sure what the timeline is like for servicing the cams. They seem to be installed by an external contractor and the work has to be scheduled, so it’s conceivable that it could take a while or that surveillance mitigation efforts could keep pace with repair work in some locations.

It’s worth noting that we’re living through a historically specific surveillance boom. Of course authorities have always installed infrastructure to surveil and control people, but cameras weren’t always so ubiquitous and they don’t have to be ubiquitous forever. A few years ago, the MTA was a system that “supposedly” or ostensibly had security cameras installed in various locations, but it was so infrequent that it wasn’t really a thing people thought about, and many of them apparently didn’t work. We could get to that again! Sadly, we rarely see authorities willingly dismantle their own infrastructure, but it does fall into disrepair all the time – on its own or with help. <3

Submitted anonymously.

YOU’RE STANDING UNDER AN AI CAMERA – Poster for Print

Posted on by neversleep
wait2lookupDownload

11×17″ poster available for print out – Text reads “DONT LOOK NOW BUT/ YOU ARE STANDING UNDER AN AI CAMERA- Wait to Look Up/ These cameras are connected to the “Real Time Crime Center”- They have facial recognition software and the ability to zoom in far and track between cameras and blocks/ All this information exists in a cloud- your biometrics being collected are stored & unprotected, available to large tech vendors & nation wide law enforcement-there are thousands of data points across the city/ Cameras are used to gather info to capture immigrants, dissidents, traffic violators & strengthen the school to prison pipeline/ IN A MATTER OF SECONDS THE AVERAGE CITIZEN CAN BECOME AN ENEMY OF THE STATE/ Techno-fascism is here- Destroying the planet and eliminating privacy/Resist and Sabotage that which moves us away from sacred living/ Stay Wild”
The purpose of this campaign is to make individuals aware of how their movements are being tracked around a city and to note where these cameras are being installed- The camera featured in this poster is a Hikvision DS 2CD2385FWD-1, however, most IP camera can be integrated into the RTCC software- It is worth noting that body cameras are also used in these systems. One popular company making equipment for RTCCs and police is Axon. Real Time Crime Centers, aka “The Center” is an egregious new territory of surveillance with terrifying modular options for privacy protections in addition to blurred lines between jurisdictions. It is popping up in cities all over the so called United States. In addition to variables on how and where this information is being stored and who has access to it, it is unclear what data is being collected beyond facial recognition and location tracking and how that technology plans to advance (and how quickly it will advance). It is also unclear how this data will be paired with Shotgun Detection Equipment (discrete microphones placed around cities that are constantly listening and also have ambiguous tech and privacy protections) to further collect data on individuals. Some systems are using generative AI to analyze information and alert authorities/ deploy officers to specific areas. There is reasonable concern that content generate by AI will be used against children as a way punishing/institutionalizing, will deepen racist, classist, transphobic policing and accelerate systemic rights violations.

The following is not connected to RTCC systems but a very real example of AI policing that validates speculation on how AI policing & RTCC could easily be used against children.

Let us not forget US administration has bullied public agencies to adopt artificial intelligence to the greatest extent possible through measures such as Executive Order 14179, Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence and Executive Order 14319, Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government as well as the White House AI Action Plan.

Techno-Fascism is no longer based suspicion nor sci-fi diaster fantasy, rather, it is an atrocious attack against autonomy rapidly shaping our everyday lives and strengthening the power of the state. May more people than those on the fringes start fearing Police AI. This technology is currently and widely being used to track immigrants for kidnappings. This is heinous and alludes the probability that it will be used to capture anyone who the states deems undesirable. To what you will with these posters and may you do much more. Burn the panopticon.

Submitted anonymously.

Six Joyriders Steal an R Train

Posted on by neversleep

New York City police are searching for a group of people they say took a subway train on a joyride.

The department released images and video Wednesday of six individuals who they say commandeered an unoccupied “R” train over the weekend.

Surveillance video from inside the train shows the group, who all wore jackets with their hoods up, as they exited the conductor’s compartment and walked through the otherwise empty car.

A video of the group on their joyride was also shared on Instagram.

The clip shows one of them seated at the controls while another appears to be sitting on the outside of the car, their legs dangling over the edge.

“Cover your faces. Cover your faces,” one of them says on the video as the train accelerates through the tunnel.

The department said Thursday that they believe the joyride occurred around 10 p.m. Saturday at the 36th Street and 4th Avenue Subway Station in Brooklyn.

Police and transit officials have not said how long and how far the suspects travelled in the stolen train. They said the suspects damaged glass panels on the train’s camera.

The group fled on foot, according to police. No injuries were reported.

Spokespersons for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said they are working with police on the investigation.

Police in September said two teens took an empty subway train in Queens on a brief joyride before crashing it and fleeing.

Found on mainstream news.

STOP FILMING YOURSELF

Posted on by neversleep

It is a great idea to go out into the night and attack the structures of domination. It is a terrible idea to film yourself doing this and post the video on the internet. Yes, even if you covered up impeccably in clothing you never wore before and destroyed after, even if you used a pawn shop camera and cleaned the video of metadata, even if you submitted using Tor running on Tails at a cafe. When you film you are always snitching on yourself and encouraging others to do the same.

Everything in one of these videos is evidence: your height build and gait, the tools you used, how many of you were there, what you touched at the scene. The video’s pixels can be traced to the recording device using digital forensics just like a bullet can be traced to the barrel it came from. If you used a phone to record, cell towers tracked your location every step of the way, even if location services or the phone itself were off. Think the cops won’t go this far for some broken windows and paint? Are you willing to bet your freedom on it? I wouldn’t.

If you agree that symbolic arrest is meaningless, if you would grab your comrade from a cop’s grip, if you would spray a surveillance cam or smash an OMNY, if you value your freedom and continuous ability to act against the state, why would you turn yourself in for a cool tweet? There are other options for making propaganda and encouraging people to take action that do not needlessly create more political prisoners. Make a flier out of your communique and paste it around. Add an inspiring graphic, song, or quote to your anonymous submission. Emphasize how your tactics are reproducible and urge others to do more than applaud as spectators. Be creative, be bold, be dangerous. But I’m begging you, don’t film yourself.

Submitted anonymously over email.

Two teens surrender after stealing subway car at the Briarwood-Van Wyck Blvd. station

Posted on by neversleep

Two teenagers turned themselves in at the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows, where they were booked for stealing an unoccupied MTA subway car at the Briarwood-Van Wyck Blvd. station and taking it for a brief joy ride just after midnight on Thursday, Sept. 12.

The 17-year-old girl surrendered just after noon on Wednesday, and her accomplice, a 17-year-old boy, turned himself in the following morning. They were each charged with two counts of criminal mischief in the first degree and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

The two teens are accused of breaking into the vacant, out-of-service subway car and operating it for about 50 feet before they struck another unoccupied subway. No injuries were reported, but the train sustained around $1,500 worth of damage to the subway cars due to the collision, according to the criminal complaint. The two teens fled the scene before officers from the 107th Precinct and Transit District 20 arrived after responding to a 911 call about the incident.

They turned themselves in after their images were widely disseminated in local media. The young man boasted about his photo, telling a detective, “That’s me in the flyer,” according to the complaint.

At an unrelated press conference at the Corona Yards on Wednesday, MTA Interim President Demetrius Crichlow addressed how the subway snatchers were caught on camera.

“We’ve continually said that we have cameras. We’re aggressively installing cameras. We’re at approximately 70% of the fleet right now have cameras in and these cars specifically do so. We have great video which has been turned over to the police, and we’re confident that they will get the people, the perpetrators in this case.”

Found on Mainstream Media