Slashdot Mirror
Phony Laser Security System Proves Perception Is Reality
Hugh Pickens writes writes "Softpedia reports that Global Link Security Solutions are offering a product that doesn't actually do anything to alert an owner of a break-in to their home or business, but it displays "one hell of a laser show in an attempt to scare potential crooks into thinking that they have no chance of breaking in without triggering the alarm." According to the security firm, LaserScan has four lines of protection: a number of lasers that move along the walls and floors (video), an LED which indicates that there's a "link" to a satellite, a beeping alert, and a sticker placed on the front door. Although the company claims that none of their current customers has reported break-ins since the system has been installed, security guru Bruce Schneier highlights that the product only works if the product isn't very widely known."
How is this anything more than a high-tech version of the old "Beware of guard dog" signs?
...as it is not widely known.
Posting it on Slashdot sounds like a great idea. :)
the product only works if the product isn't very widely known - lol.
until the cops show up and spend the next 20 minutes laughing at you because instead of spending money on a real security system, you chose to blow it on a song and dance system.
criminals are dumb, but it seems this companies customers are dumber
Real alarms use infralasers.
The thing about "security theater", is that it's not 100% useless - it provides a very real psychological deterrent to someone thinking about breaking in.
Even if a criminal knew such a system was not real, they would not know it was not also paired with a real alarm system, or perhaps this version was real somehow. The kind of people breaking into things generally are not that well educated, so how could they really tell if the system was fake or not even knowing fake systems existed?
The problem with security theater in airports is that it causes way too much grief to outweigh the deterrence gained. But in this case there is no downside and the system would be very cheap to install.
True anecdote - when going to a summer college I had a car I had to park in a remote lot. I installed an LED I could turn on with a switch, that just sat there blinking.
The ONE DAY I forgot to turn on that switch, someone broke into my car and took a $10 cassette player (the window cost more than $50 to replace). After that I remembered every time to turn on my "alarm" and never had a problem again.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The product also works if there is a similar product that actually triggers an alarm but is indistinguishable from the fake security system.
Compare that with fake security cameras - it doesn't matter if they are widely known or not. If they can't be distinguished from a real camera by the criminal, they will have an effect.
Every good security tech will suggest adding similar measures-- Security signs, dummy cameras, NRA member stickers, fake dog bark noises, even putting a huge dog bowl on the back porch. Just being a little harder target than the guy down the street helps. Criminals are usually not bright enough to figure out which threats are real or imagined.
If I saw a house with a laser security system I would immediately think "what the hell are they trying to keep hold of that's so important they need a super fancy laser security system to protect..."
When I was researching home security, I often stumble upon the "fact" that the biggest deterrent are alarm signs and having a barking dog (regardless of size - it doesn't even have to be aggressive). The last thing a thief needs is attention. If that fails and the intruder gets in (and assuming you have neighbors within an earshot), the loud alarm sound will make them panic, or at least make them rush through things and make mistakes.
Lastly, if you do have a genuine alarm, which I think it's useless, the operator will first call you to confirm intrusion BEFORE contacting the police. Even after the police is called, they consider it low priority unless there's a person in the house with the potential of the situation escalating to you becoming a hostage. But anyways, it will be 30 minutes before the police arrives at your location. This has happened 3 times at my dad's business where it was burglarized. The cops were pretty much useless and honestly && realistically, by the time the security company calls the cops, the thieves are already long gone. Why does my dad have it? For insurance reasons.
For my house, i just put up signs and stickers, and have a honeywell system setup that directly dials my cell phone. It works because I rarely use my landline, and on my cell caller ID, i renamed it to "HOME INVASION". Security system operators are largely useless, especially for home.
Part of the problem with this sort of thing isn't just that it only works when it isn't widely known. Even if it is only marginally known, it will make criminals take security systems (even real ones) less seriously because they know there's a decent chance the system is fake. Since there's evidence that criminals already have poorer impulse control and less are less risk averse than the general population http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/294626-overview, http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/71/6/720.full, http://web.utk.edu/~wneilson/EcLett-Crime.pdf, this is likely to make them more likely to break in general. This will make alarm systems be less effective deterrents. Essentially this is very close to defecting in the n-player version of the prisoner's dilemma.
Even if it does deter people, it could easily lead to more and more intimidation required to get criminals to take the threat seriously, which could lead to an arms race of ridiculous looking security measures. Overall, this seems socially irresponsible.
By publicizing this system even after well-known security expert Bruce Schneier "highlights that the product only works if the product isn't very widely known", Slashdot is clearly guilty of attempting to aid and abet burglars. Cybercrime charges for samzenpus!
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Lets nock out the power and take it.
Having fake security systems is almost as old as real security systems.
Why was this one reported on?
Where there are lasers, the sharks aren't far behind.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
"Greeting, my laser targeted guns have locked onto you and will fire in ten seconds. Would you like me to inform your next of kin?"
until your cat dies of exhaustion.
The enemy of my enemy is quite possibly also my enemy. I've made a lot of enemies.
I came up with a pretty distinct statement about this concept.
""There's no security in obfuscation" cannot be a positively true statement. Comparatively, there is absolutely *no* security in full disclosure or revelation, whereas in obfuscation there is *enough* security that many people resort to it in an attempt to secure things, typically because it's just *enough* to fool people."
You can read it at my professional (not my funny friendly one) gabe.petrie at facebook.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
Let's put aside the psychological arguments, the publicity arguments, and who-knows-what-else, and concentrate on one specific point:
MANY ATTACKERS ARE FUCKING RETARDED.
A little bluffing at the front door can shake off lots of people who don't read Slashdot, or Scheier, or even Popular Mechanics for that matter. If your primary threat comes from a foreign intelligency agency, this probably won't do crap for you. If your primary threat comes from metal theiving tweekers, then that's an entirely different story. But there's another closely related point here too:
MANY OF YOUR NEIGHBORS ARE ALSO FUCKING RETARDED.
Or to put it another way... if you and your friend are hiking in the woods and you run across a grizzly bear, you don't need to outrun the bear. You just need to outrun your friend. A little security theatre might be just the trick if the bozo next door looks like a softer target than you.
i would rather have this with a voice warning
People in an honor system breakroom pay more when there's a picture of eyes on the wall. Unconscious mind at work. Here's a link to discussion of the study. http://thinkingmeat.com/newsblog/?m=200606
It boils down to a simple fact, crooks prefer easy targets. If you appear to be more work than the guy next door, he will move on unless he wants YOU. Then nothing will stop him and will just laugh at your fake system that didn't magically become 'real'..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Some thieves target cars with NRA stickers because there are often guns inside. Easy money. So maybe place the sticker on your house instead of your pickup. I don't know how bright criminals are compared to the typical person, but I suspect as more people go unemployed and increasingly desperate, the criminal IQ will approach the national average.
What if they did something like this. If the customer wants to be cheap, they can just get the lightshow and loud noises. If they want real protection, that light show and loud noises tie into an actual system. That way the thief would have a harder time knowing if police were alerted or not.
This system could be real, or it could be fake... You gotta ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?....Well, do ya, punk?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
visual laser systems are a movie thing the real ones are IR ones.
Or they'd just say "fuck it", walk into the place in broad daylight wearing a ski mask and carrying a rifle, grab what he wants.
That's why you keepold ladies with guns running the place.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyzLHFkdv6E
I remember seeing some documentary interview with a career break & enter guy. He said he learned pretty quick to rob rich neighbourhoods; they had much better stuff to steal. The interviewer asked if he was worried about house alarms, and he said that the vast majority of houses he robbed had alarms not switched on or otherwise inoperable. He'd just try break in, if he didn't hear a siren he'd be in and out in a few minutes.
A long time ago I had a dog that had bonked her head a few times running into the sliding-glass door. Eventually, I could fool her by pretending to shut the door and she would just stand there until I pretended to open it. Dogs are fun.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
I bought a fake "security camera" for $12, just has a blinking red LED, no other real electronics... and mounted it on a pole peeking above my fence on our dead end.
Instant effects. No more people parking to have sex or eat McDonald's and throw the trash on my lawn, no more people stealing flowers or attempting to hide in my property, even the neighbors are paranoid about the "surveillance."
Most people don't understand the difference between their web browser and the file manager.
Unless you're in a very rich neighborhood which attracts high-end catburglars out of the movies, the presence of a few strange boxes with red lights is more than enough to make them go away.
This space available.
to practice the acrobatics and gymnastic moves.
I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
If you and a halfling are being chased by a dragon ...
...whip out your crossbow and attack its weak point. A dragon sleeps on a bed of pieces of soft metal because it isn't flammable (The Flight of Dragons). Some of this metal ends up embedding itself into the dragon's skin, where it acts as armor. But even old dragons that have metal fragments embedded in nearly their entire bellies are usually vulnerable in a couple parts (The Hobbit). So aim for the part of the underbelly that isn't metal-encrusted, or if you can't find that, aim for the eye.
you can pick the halfling up and toss him towards the dragon's mouth. Which I have actually done before playing role playing games.
Yeah, the technique is called a fastball special. Find someone small who's good with a weapon, and attack the dragon's weak point that way. Just be dang sure you can make the catch.
Cheaper solution
As somebody who went to school with a convicted murderer... I was not surprised when he went to jail because some cop pushed his buttons on the wrong day and he beat the cop to death with his hands! Then years later he was convicted (somewhat meaninglessly) of murdering a whole family with children execution style - Why? He was robbing their house and didn't care that they were home asleep but his partner mentioned his first name while in the house so he had to find and kill everybody in the house just in case.
This was a guy who'd punch you in the face and probably beat you to death if somebody didn't intervene-- as a kid. He was pre-emptive and would attack somebody before they could attack him. I'm sure his gun was out and simply seeing you or hearing you in any possibly threatening way he'd shoot 1st and hesitate later. Most people give you some warning or indication or hesitate-- a hardened criminal or some fucked up person will NOT.
The sound of a shotgun pumping is going to get you shot before you can pull the trigger-- and being a normal person you'll hesitate even if you do not think you would (you are lying to yourself; seriously, you'd shoot a friend or relative who needs to crash at your house? A family member? No, of course not because you'll talk right-- well that IS hesitation!)
I had an ex-con friend in college and the stories he learned in there really should wake people up -- sure the ones caught are dumb (or are in there for just doing drugs... which maybe is dumb; debatable.)
Hmm. I'm thinking something from Crimson Trace or one of its many competitors might be better for this.
I see a lot of jackasses making snide and smug sounding comments on here followed by a "LOL!" when infact they arent thinking things through. This isnt meant to protect to pentagon you tards, its for a regular persons home. No real thief is going to break into a house to steal your dvd collection and beer. Thieves that just break into normal peoples homes arent very bright. Anyone that has the brains to research something like this and knows the difference between real security and fake security wont be breaking into someones 85,000 dollar home.
Making your armchair professional opinion on here is to everyone else as insightful and humorous as having a guy at the special olympics make fun of them for not setting world records.
Most of the criminals to be deterred are not reading slashdot. If they are a criminal reading slashdot they are too busy using their Arduinos to open hotel doors.
Adding a real version of the system could make the potential of the system being real a deterrent. Maybe an agreement with brinks or such could alleviate the back end required.
I drilled a hole in my dash to mount the red light and hid the switch out of sight under the dash. Your solution sounds a little too ghetto to work, since you could easily tell something was up... a red light in the dash looks more "legit".
Sorry about the car though, that sucks far worse than just being broken into...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That eye is sure a lot smaller than the womp rats I used to nail from my T-16 back home. Not sure I can hit it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
... when the laser's mounted on a Frickin' shark's head.
The products of a typical company cease function after the warranty period is over. Global Link Security Solutions is among the rare breed of companies whose products stop working after the IPO.
The proactive approach is definiately the way forward. But you want a proactive system that actually alerts the owner, like Hydra Control Freak
http://www.hydracontrolfreak.com/
The security system will be ripped off.
I'm holding out for the holographic projector that makes the crooks think there are sharks with frickin lasers on their heads swimming in the living room.
Pretty much any security products only work if they're not well known... Once something becomes well known, people will research efficient methods of circumvention and soon that knowledge will become widespread.
Of course, this runs against the goal of any business trying to sell such a product, since they want it to become as widespread as possible in order to sell as much as they can.
Even a security system that calls the police is not flawless, if its over sensitive (or a criminal can trigger a false alarm easily without breaking in) and not an exceptionally high value target, then the police will soon get sick of coming out and start ignoring the alarms. Similarly, the police response time gives you a window of opportunity in which to commit your crime.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
looks pretty complicated... how much harder would it be to actually use the lasers to detect a break in?
in any case, I WANT ONE!!!
Sounds great... I'd love to break into a house like that!
The point with this kind of security is to look like a harder target than the guy next to you. But if you look like you take security REALLY seriously in a neighbourhood of people who are more normal, then all of a sudden you've painted a bullseye on yourself instead. Then you'd attract the kind of criminal who would be smart enough to walk by one night and throw a newspaper through the lasers on their way past, and notice the significant lack of any reaction.
So basically if you're living in a normal neighbourhood, you'd need something LESS FLASHY. And if you live in a neighbourhood where this kind of thing is standard, then you'd need something that looked even flashier. But then if you live in a neighbourhood where this kind of thing is standard, you probably need and can afford the real deal.
They don't even advertise it as a security system. They advertise it as a deterrent. It is indicated for use with an existing security system as a visual deterrent.
Nothing to be pissed about here. Move along.
if only they were dots and not the wide beam style. Just think, they would rebrand this as a $250 cat toy!
ADT, why you no have a laser module like this? I would love a laser show to add to my system, especially if they made it wireless and only active on the away mode. Better yet, if you could add motion sensors to the outside of your house to turn on the lasers it, you could have it only activate when someone is coming to look.
I saved the target from when I went to the range and hung up a sign saying "I DON'T DIAL 911" on my front door. No break ins so far. =D
This is akin to the notion that if you are walking care free with money in a bag the muggers will ignore you.
Ooh... Laser shows are pretty. It might be even prettier with some flashing lights to top it off. Blue is a nice colour. =)