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Comment by dheera | Hacker News Reader

I've always thought that an honestly useful product would be some kind of theft deterrent device that you either attach to your car, or attach to your camera equipment, and it detects the car window getting smashed or the tripod getting moved out of range of a beacon in the owner's pocket.

If triggered it should spray a combination of fart spray, glitter, pepper spray, honey, flour, feathers, ink, in all directions. [EDIT: let's take out the pepper spray, see comments]

As a bonus it would also be useful against towing people who try to tow without contacting the owner, but the primary use case would be thieves.

I've seen so many companies making dash cams and things of the like, but considering SF does nothing even given evidence, it's time to actually spray the perpetrator with something nasty and embarrassing.

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You're thinking of Mark Rober's famous glitter bombs - https://youtube.com/watch?v=a_TSR_v07m0

Oh yes, the first two are right from those. Add some more nasty stuff, productize it, install it in cars.

Booby traps are mostly illegal. The macro solution to widespread poverty and petty theft is not found in doing petty mean things to impoverished thieves, despite the fun youtube videos that result.

I wouldn't call it a booby trap. It's just spraying them with some stuff. They can run. They'll just look ridiculous and smell nasty and hopefully learn a lesson.

A micro solution to protect my own property would be nice until the macro solution people get their act together.

Also, same for tow trucks. They should call the number on the dashboard -- which does the least damage to the car and saves the most peoples' time, and is therefore the optimal solution -- before attempting to tow or they're in for a nice fart.

This is rich person thinking. Somebody who's willing to smash your car window for a camera really doesn't care if you "embarrass" them for a few minutes.

But surely it's better than standing like a sheep and letting your property get stolen?

Skunks don't hurt but people sure do fear them and the unpleasantness that may ensue if you mess with them.

I mean, I'm all for fixing poverty but I'm still going to want to protect my stuff in the mean time. In fact it's because I'm not rich and I can't afford to replace all my property. If I was a billionaire I couldn't care less about a $5K camera system but I'm not.

As i was getting a flu shot, i saw a lone young guy enter a Walgreens near oakland with an empty duffel bag intent on stealing a few hundred dollars in deodorant and face cream. As he proceed to use his arms to shovel the first batch in, the security guard, one or two employs and a bystanders just started shaming him. "Dont do it!!", "Please no!!", "you can still walk out!!". They were screaming at him at the top of their lungs for 10 second from both ends of the aisle... and it worked! it was surreal but with the empty bag, He walked out distraught. The security guard let him pass out. I couldn't believe it, but he just could not take having so many people screaming at him for it and carry it out .. i guess he just felt too guilty. maybe if he had'nt gone alone he would have had the strength to continue which is why i see people operate in groups.

Wouldn't believe it could happen before i saw it. "criminals are so desperate these no point" is not something i buy anymore, they clearly aren't always fully sold on what their doing, especially if young and any little thing could be enough for them to turn back.

Traps to defend property are very illegal.

Non-lethal traps like what he's proposing are legal and surprisingly commonplace. A ton of banks have dye packs hidden inside wads of cash that explode after a bank robber makes off with the money. There's also anti-vandal paint that coats the hands of anyone trying to climb it with a slippery greasy paint.

Even the popular myth that a fire alarm pull station will stain your hands with ink is based on an actual product. High schools with a string of false alarms will sometimes put a marking compound on the handle that is indelible and changes to a bright color when someone tries to wash it off their hands.

Spraying a thief with fart spray and glitter is not illegal.

Booby traps are illegal if designed to cause bodily harm. It's not so cut-and-dry when it's something merely annoying, like a glitter bomb, though I would definitely not want to be the manufacturer trying to defend that in court.

Pepper spray, whose purpose is to cause bodily harm, was included in the list of ingredients, so the described booby trap would, indeed, be a prohibited “intended to cause bodily harm” one. (Actually, not only do the general laws on booby traps come into play, but using pepper spray other than in immediate self-defense in California is a crime.)

I realize that. That's why I said "annoying", not "less-than-lethal", and used glitter as an example.

Hm, okay, so let's take the pepper spray out then. Ink, honey, feathers, flour, glitter, fart spray.

Any that would cause bodily harm, or be argued to cause it, definitely.

The fart spray and glitter bomb, would be interesting to see how it would be interpreted. I wouldn’t want to be the test case for it!

Why would this be a trap? They're free to run, they will just look like a glittering sticky chicken and smell like shit.

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