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Transparency Activists Dump 1.8 Terabytes Of Police Helicopter Surveillance Footage
tech dirt ^

Posted on 11/08/2021 5:50:59 PM PST by algore

The transparency activist group Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoSecrets, posted a 1.8-terabyte trove of police helicopter footage to its website on Friday.

DDoSecrets cofounder Emma Best says that her group doesn’t know the identity of the source who shared the data and that no affiliation or motivation for leaking the files was given. The source simply said that the two police departments were storing the data in unsecured cloud infrastructure.

The lesson here (one of many) is that if you can't adequately protect your secrets, maybe you don't deserve to have them. And there are plenty of secrets to be had here. It's not that people aren't aware police helicopters are circling overland at all hours of the day. Episodes of COPS and YouTube collections of high-speed chases have made that fact common knowledge.

The DDoS release shows law enforcement agencies aren't just deploying choppers to keep an eye on suspects in motion. They're also using them to engage in extended surveillance of people suspected of nothing, hovering over large gatherings and deploying infrared cameras to peer inside of buildings just for the fuck of it.

Putting your stuff in the cloud means opening up additional attack vectors for those seeking your secrets. That appears to be the root source of this new leak. What a time to be alive!

I mean, sure there's more surveillance than ever. But the reliance on (apparently unreliable) private contractors means government secrets are only a hack away with being shared with everyone on the planet.

That's definitely good news for the policed, who often have no say in how they're surveilled and are routinely denied access to information about government surveillance tech.

(Excerpt) Read more at techdirt.com ...


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: 2022election; 2024election; defundthepolice; election2022; election2024; emmabest; lookwhohatescops
You mean Blue Thunder was not an instructional video?
1 posted on 11/08/2021 5:50:59 PM PST by algore
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To: algore

Only the part with the girl doing yoga.


2 posted on 11/08/2021 5:55:41 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: algore

Good movie.

The series at best fair.


3 posted on 11/08/2021 5:58:25 PM PST by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure.)
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To: algore

4 posted on 11/08/2021 5:58:27 PM PST by Yo-Yo (is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: BenLurkin

Hopefully someone with the bandwidth and the time will make a best-of reel. Won’t be me.


5 posted on 11/08/2021 6:03:31 PM PST by JustaTech (A mind is a terrible thing)
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To: Yo-Yo

the only way that guy’s chances could have been worse is if his name had been “Goose.”


6 posted on 11/08/2021 6:09:55 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: algore
The source simply said that the two police departments were storing the data in unsecured cloud infrastructure."

Uh-huh.

7 posted on 11/08/2021 7:00:02 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy." ― Mao Zedong)
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To: algore

The lesson here (one of many) is that if you can’t adequately protect your secrets, maybe you don’t deserve to have them.

....unless your a Biden.


8 posted on 11/08/2021 7:02:12 PM PST by The MAGA-Deplorian ( Democrats are lawless because Republicans are ball-less! )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

It is more likely than not. I have setup s3 buckets and stuff wrongly. It is really easy and they still appeared to work properly


9 posted on 11/08/2021 7:05:51 PM PST by algore ( )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“The source simply said that the two police departments were storing the data in unsecured cloud infrastructure.”

I have no problem believing this. Most municipal IT departments are grossly negligent with security.

L


10 posted on 11/08/2021 7:08:07 PM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
I mean, sure there's more surveillance than ever.
But none of the inside of the polling places, particularly in their back rooms.

11 posted on 11/08/2021 7:59:52 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: BenLurkin

The only part of that movie I remember.


12 posted on 11/08/2021 9:50:25 PM PST by telescope115 (Proud member of the ANTIFAuci movement. )
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