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The DEA and ICE Are Hiding Surveillance Cameras In Streetlights (qz.com)
According to federal contracting documents, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have hidden an undisclosed number of covert surveillance cameras inside streetlights around the country. Quartz reports: According to government procurement data, the DEA has paid a Houston, Texas company called Cowboy Streetlight Concealments LLC roughly $22,000 since June 2018 for "video recording and reproducing equipment." ICE paid out about $28,000 to Cowboy Streetlight Concealments over the same period of time. It's unclear where the DEA and ICE streetlight cameras have been installed, or where the next deployments will take place. ICE offices in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio have provided funding for recent acquisitions from Cowboy Streetlight Concealments; the DEA's most recent purchases were funded by the agency's Office of Investigative Technology, which is located in Lorton, Virginia. "We do streetlight concealments and camera enclosures," Christie Crawford, who owns Cowboy Streetlight Concealments with her husband, told Quartz. "Basically, there's businesses out there that will build concealments for the government and that's what we do. They specify what's best for them, and we make it. And that's about all I can probably say."
They are built in. Mics, cameras, sensors of all kinds. Every-fucking-where. It's literally a dystopian surveillance nightmare.
And even if they didn't, ever fucking moron is walking around like the dumb sheep they are with a surveillance device ON THEM. Fucking cretins.
When it comes to installing equipment on telephone poles and street lights, it's all tightly regulated. If they are doing this without any notification then they are likely violating multiple city/county regulations and state laws.
Food for thought.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I want this. Now we can have video evidence of things that were only self reported and actual images of the thugs perpetuating crimes against law abiding people. There is no down side to this, unless of course you are plannng on committing a crime.
Having lived in Houston for 8 years, I asked several people about the effectiveness of the gajillion amount of street cameras at every intersection. All of them said they were just for show.
Well, that didn't make much sense. People voted the red light cameras which cost millions to install, and were unvoted a year later after people got caught, get this, running red lights.
The local governors recently put up multiple $44,000 streetlight fixtures near interstate intersections, apparently without the Cowboy Neil? Streetlight Concealments... I wonder just exactly how many fixtures, retailing at $22k and $28K, could've been purchased for this insidious TLA deployment?
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
We can finally put an end to those terrible weed smokers and migrant workers.
Well, probably not.
But all it cost us was our rights and our privacy.
And somewhere north of a trillion dollars.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Just because the company is called Cowboy Streetlight Concealments doesn't necessarily mean that's all they make.
Based on the amounts paid, this barely covers 8 cameras in total, probably a lot less if you factor in the cost of the software to support them.
Their use is often quite limited as the cellular charges for the things can get out of hand. Mostly used for tactical specific investigation, and not blanket surveilance for that reason.
Full disclosure - I have worked with this kind of camera and support them in their use, but not the brand indicated above AFAIK.
then don't shoot out streetlights. /s
Seriously, the streetlight across from my house sways so much in even a minor wind that it is out for hours at a time.
I can't imagine the impact repeated electrical outages would have on electronics,
I guess they need traffic control cams on every block. They were installed years ago with no notification of what they were for.
Of all terrorist groups DEA, NSA and ICE are among the country's most vile enemies.
This is just one more piece of evidence on the ever-expanding pile that shows every last one of them hates all of us for our freedoms and will stop at nothing to annihilate what's left of the ideals of democracy, freedom and justice for all.
They are armed, dangerous, and have openly declared war (both through "on drugs" and "on terrorism") on the entire citizenry of the United States. Every last one of them must stop existing. It's them now, or soon enough it'll be us.
A contract with DEA and ICE for 6 months, and all you managed to fleece them for is $22,000? Lightweights.
You need a better sales/marketing dept.
It really doesn't take much effort to make a "good enough" concealment. Basically, the higher off the ground, the easier. Make them look like they're part of the utility infrastructure, and you're home free. The hard part is weatherproofing and hot days in the sun with no wind. For being rain-proof you want no holes, yet to cool down you do, since heat sinks are hard to hide.
We primarily made concealments containing steerable high-zoom video cameras, the same ones used in high-end security systems, mounted to extremely accurate miniature PTZ bases. The cameras had internal image stabilization, but we also added external stabilization. Then we added automatic subject tracking, so no remote operator on a joystick was needed.
They were bought by TLAs (Three Letter Agencies), and generally needed a warrant to be mounted and activated.
When the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq started, we were asked to modify our technology to provide 360-degree surveillance for forward fire bases, who never had enough soldiers to use as sentries 24/7. Our systems turned out so good that we next had to integrate them with C4I systems, just as was done with the video from Predator drones. We initially built the systems into concealments, but soon found that beige paint was good enough, and we simply used sturdy tripods.
When Somali pirates became a problem, we modified our systems so they could be mounted to ships to again provide 360 degree surveillance.
We were riding high, a small company (well under 100 employees) who was by far the largest provider in a specialty market. Then the Budget Sequestration of 2011 hit, and all of our government customers not only became unable to buy our new products, they couldn't even fund support contracts or repairs. The guillotine fell, but fortunately we had already started a pivot toward vertical integration, to provide the communication systems needed to relay the surveillance video.
We entered that market in the right way at the right time, and soon had a long list of prospective customers. But our reduced income caused us to burn through our cash stockpile, and then the banks to stop lending to us: The company folded just as our new products were ready to go into production. That really hurt.
Looking back, my favorite product was the firebase surveillance system. We were told it had helped prevent countless sneak attacks.
It is bad enough to have a surveillance state. I understand the need for security cameras, general traffic cameras, and even SOME surveillance cameras. But I personally draw the line at *concealed* cameras [and microphones]. I don't think they have any place in a free society... public or private, government or business. Government wants one installed? Get probable cause, get a time-limited warrant, they must be temporary and have a clear, present, and provable objective.
this is why. ICE was a secondary and borderline paramilitary police force created in the wake of the 9/11 hysteria. We already had plenty of existing power structures in place to control immigration, we didn't need another. You should be very, very careful when folks are asking for entirely new police forces. Ask yourself, what can this new police force do that the old ones couldn't? You probably wouldn't like the answer.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Used to be if you said something like "The Government is Hiding Surveillance Cameras In Streetlights", you'd be labelled as a paranoid nut and probably locked up for you own good.
Difference is, in 2018 it's actually true.
Above is yet another butthurt post from the real APK pretending to be c6gunner impersonating APK. It must be because APK is mad that his roommate isn't plowing his ass in the $1 house he got from his parents.
“Until they became conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”
Two cents worth of spraypaint, and your thousand-dollar camera's worthless.
You can do things like that in casinos and other controlled environments, but on the street? Heh.
AC
The TL;DR version: "I can dish it out but I can't take it."
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Please explain how a hosts file protects against speculative execution vulnerabilities.
immigrants in ; trust out.
These sorts of cameras have been done for years. Nothing new here, except perhaps most people never heard of them...or never cared.
It's just safer to assume all streetlights have cameras, even though that's not the case. Do all your illegal acts indoors, or while wearing a mask.
Someone please tell me they're not affiliated with the Catheter Cowboy. That would be a rough merger.
Around here, you do not only have to warn people BEFORE they enter the filmed area, but you have to put up detailed infos who exactly films it and what *exactly* is done with it. And even with all that, you still can't just film and retain everything you please. E.g. on public ground, you would have to literally ask every single person in advance. Since otherwise you'd be taking away that part of the public ground from the public, even though you don't own it. Which is taking their freedom and rights.
Only the press is allowed certain exceptions due to freedom of the press being allowed to override the right to privacy, on a case by case basis.
I'm pleasantly surprised, to hear that there are US cities/counties that also have such laws...
'Their use is often quite limited as the cellular charges for the things can get out of hand. '
Their only use is to detect if a car, bike or pedestrian comes near it and it makes the light a bit brighter until it's gone again.
It's just a power saving measure.
The rest of the world has had them for years.
In my area, the local sheriff uses fake fire hydrants to conceal cameras. Some of the county parks have no municipal water supply, in fact, so all of the hydrants one sees in them are fake. I presume the local fire department is in on the gag, but . . . .
Why the fuck is a 4 digit ID replying to this verbal diarrhea? Is this what a greybeard looks like when they are going senile?
I didn't even bother to finish reading the summary, I have the flu and a hangover, which is turning out to be unpleasant, anyways just wanted to comment.
For the last year or so I have been working on Building Management Software (BMS).
Nice change for me since I have a long financial background, and tend to get head hunted by banks etc.
So since I am working with BMS I've started looking up a LOT more, because I need to talk to those camera's mounted in the ceiling, that fire detector over there etc. so I have just started paying more attention to shit mounted on the ceiling. There are camera's EVERYWHERE, it's actually fucking scary. I live in a 2nd world country (although I class it as 3rd, most others don't) so I can only imagine in first world countries it's even more prevalent. Do yourself a favor (or disfavor) and look up more, start paying attention to the shit above you, you will not be happy with what you find. We needed to check on a desktop PC that just happened to be deployed in my cities control center. Someone kicked the back of the PC and dislodged the network cable, usually we are not allowed in there, or more accurately I am not allowed in there, I'm a programmer not a desktop technician, but they were desperate and asked me to take a look. There were rows on rows of people sitting monitoring cameras from all around the city, from highway camera's to street camera's to camera's mounted outside public buildings and power lines. Each person had three video walls in front of them with different sized video tiles, I am not sure if that was the only camera's they could see, or just the ones they were currently monitoring, I wasn't in there long and when I started asking questions I didn't get any answers. There were easily a 100 people in there, probably more, all monitoring camera's all over the city. Most buildings have camera's in their elevators, think you are alone in the elevator and can scratch your balls? Think again, there is a camera in there somewhere. So now when I drive to work and get stuck in traffic I tend to look up, and spot the camera's. Look up more, you won't like what you find.
There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
I know that this "camera in a street light" has been is use by law enforcement at least since the early to middle 90's. One of the main uses was to have a camera situated so that it was focused on a phone booth. This was to watch for a specific user of the phone and in higher crime areas to observe drug dealers and other miscreants phone usage. When / if those users were using the phone, then a court order for a phone tap could be asked for. That's how long ago these cameras were being used, pay phones and court orders.
Passionately Indifferent
Now I understand why they placed a new street light at the end of my driveway.
Yeah, that's the sort of numbers I was getting. TFS isn't at all clear on whether or not the bills are purely for supplying the hardware, or for supply and installation. If it's just for the hardware, weatherproofed and batteried (so they'll still work when the light isn't powered up) ... you might cover a hundred or so of these. If it's to supply and install, then it's probably a couple of dozen only. Putting a man up on a cherry picker isn't exactly cheap. and sparkies ticketed to work on public utilities cost too. Even without getting any landsharks involved.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Zontar also likes sending totally benign post cards to APK to which APK will take as a threat. Zontar is already on APK's list of enemies so it isn't like there is any disadvantage to posting signed at this point.
I don't understand. Either this was a very specific operation limited to a small area or these things have gotten much cheaper than I realized.
It's too early in the morning for me to read the whole article.
I mean I bought some decent but very reasonably priced security cams for my home in the last year, but they're nothing stealthy. (I keep telling myself that's a feature, not a bug).
But compared to prices I hear for red light cameras or body cameras for cops or whatever, how can this be so cheap unless it was very specific and small in scope?
but never money for small class rooms, healthcare, clean water, more city buses, or anything anyone would want.
We ought to string up the owners of this company by the nearest tree. And others who runs similar companies. This is clear betrayal against their fellow Americans for financial interest. Everyone e who lives in the USA knows we're in a cold war with our own government. Just a matter of time before it heats up
They may be smart enough to build spying hardware, but they're not smart enough to use a P.O. Box or office address as their registered agent when they set up the corp. Who knew? Incorporation records are public info...
https://www.bizapedia.com/tx/c...
Registered Agent:
Christie Crawford
15702 Singapore Lane
Houston, TX 77040
We should collectively search, report and (if so inclined) knock these cameras out.
If the installer of the surveillance equipment did their job properly, why would Bubba be doing more than just changing the bulb?
What bulb? This is an LED fixture.
While I haven't yet found a picture of it, the LED fixtures that are getting installed where I drive seem to have integral LEDs. It looks like "Relamping" them means replacing the fixture.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It looks like "Relamping" them means replacing the fixture.
And that actually makes sense. LEDs are still more than a factor of two short of 100% efficient and still improving. By the time these fixtures need relamping it would probably be better to replace them even if the "lamps" were a replaceable part.
So why make them more complicated and expensive by making what amounts to the entire guts a removable unit, in the hopes somebody will buy some more of that piece ten or twenty years later?
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Red light cameras are sold as, among other things, reducing accidents, by reducing the number of people who run the light.
Turns out they increase them. They do it by reducing the number of people who run the red light, too.
At intersections with red light cameras, some drivers who notice the light went yellow (but missed the event and don't know just how long ago it happened) slam on the brakes rather than risk a ticket - and get rear-ended by someone who knew there was plenty of time left.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Link to TFA:
Slashdot can't even take credit for their own links?
Its written in Delphi. ;)
Cowboy Streetlight Concealment, for enabling government surveillance...
Jerks.