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Comment by instagib | Hacker News Reader

Can always use dummy cameras with a led. First it started with the ADT signs and now people are putting up cameras. If your place has neither then you’re a greater target.

Generally they are in and out in a few minutes long before police or a security service can dispatch someone.

My system has a large battery backup for an old lantern or something, recording, 4G fallback, is wired, and I regularly spend time outside.

All of which is invalidated by people staking out a place and wearing a mask.

I saw a burglar with almost all of my neighbors things and appliances. Thought they were moving or upgrading and waved.

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> I saw a burglar with almost all of my neighbors things and appliances. Thought they were moving or upgrading and waved.

This brings up another point, which is that one of the best things you can do for your security is to be well known by your neighbors. If no one knows your appearance and habits then all kinds of crazy stuff can go down while you're away and your neighbors won't know anything's wrong.

It is not always enough. Like for example my ex sister in law once held the door open for the burglar who were getting out of the building with her own TV. She only realized that when she went upstairs and found her door open.

Doesn't this actually support the argument? If she had known her neighbors she maybe would have questioned this stranger carrying out a TV, or at least given notice to their appearance.

It is quite common to seek help from friends when moving in and out, it could be the result of a sale in the second hand market, etc. I don't think knowing your neighbours is enough. The burglars were quite polite and I have to clarify it happened in Switzerland where most people don't necessarily assume malice by default. Not a country where you risk being shot for stepping in a property.

Didn't that happen in the 1st Spiderman movie, except the robber killed Uncle Ben...

> All of which is invalidated by people staking out a place and wearing a mask.

My favorite part of the beginning of the pandemic was going to the bank in a hankerchief like an Old West bank robber. Just as effective today as back then...for hiding your identity just slightly better than Clark Kent taking off his glasses.

They also didn't do anything from a disease perspective either, unless it was a disease transmitted by large quantities of spittle.

WTF? Did I accidentally make enemies of the Bandana Fashion Gang?

On a health-level, how is this remotely controversial? Bandanas--especially draped "bank robber" style--are simply a bad choice:

> Loosely folded face masks and bandana-style coverings provide minimal stopping-capability for the smallest aerosolized respiratory droplets.

-- https://pubs.aip.org/aip/pof/article/32/6/061708/1068115/Vis...

you brought the health thing to the conversation trying to drum up whatever. nobody wants to have the mask conversation here. again. you're either for or against and nothing anyone here says will change your mind. so just don't go there.

> you brought the health thing to the conversation

Dude, re-read the thread:

1. You specifically framed it as during "the beginning of the pandemic."

2. You brought up people wearing masks (implicitly for health concerns.)

3. You said those particular masks were amusingly ineffective (for disguising identity in the bank.)

4. I wryly noted those particular low-quality masks were indeed ineffective in multiple ways. (The health concerns that motivated them in #2.)

I can't make you enjoy my reply, but stop acting like this is some kind of shocking non-sequitur leap into forced realms of conversation. You more than set the stage yourself.

not once did i mention health. i compared them to clark kent and glasses as a disguise. not really sure what you're reading, but you're really wanting to push something that's not there. enjoy

There was another HackerNews story about smelling diseases. I have the rare ability to smell coronavirus, (I've diagnosed probably a dozen people correctly.) That said, if I'm wearing an n95 mask it's harder for me to detect and with n99-n100 masks I don't perceive anything at all.

From that observation I infer masks are effective at eliminating virus transmission, which is quite extraordinary given the virus is so small.

Do you have a sense of whether you can distinguish between the five endemic named coronaviruses?

And whether you can distinguish between those and rhinoviruses / adenoviruses / etc?

There was another poster on that thread who said they were able to smell colds. I wonder if this is just extremely common and / or if we can all be trained to do it like with wine?

> From that observation I infer masks are effective at eliminating virus transmission, which is quite extraordinary given the virus is so small.

This inference doesn't really make sense to me. I bet putting a cigarette in your mouth, or a chopped onion in front of your face, would achieve the same frustration of this ability.

> If your place has neither then you’re a greater target.

On the other hand, if a place has visible cameras and ADT signs, do they have valuables worthy of protection and worth the risk?

Yes. I saw an interview with a burglar in the UK. He said he preferred properties with alarms and other security features because they were much more likely to have valuables worth stealing. And, as he pointed out, nobody cares about an alarm going off in a city. It just gets ignored.

Here we live in a surveillance state where the cops don’t arrest anyone unless they have money to steal. Worst of three worlds.

People should by now have learned from all the footage on NextDoor of burglars ignoring obvious cameras. Mine are wired, but I'm not fooling myself that they're going to be all that useful if something happens.

The other glaring flaw with cameras is that they always face perpendicular to the street, so even if the getaway car has plates you'll never get a shot of them. Not that the car isn't stolen anyway...

It is good for insurance claims.

> Generally they are in and out in a few minutes long before police or a security service can dispatch someone.

With security ops like this, it is important to understand that they are not targeting joe schmoe. They are targeting specific orgs/people that have a lot to lose.

Using the "Lockpicking Lawyer" as an example: "Oh they can get into a security shed, who cares." It's not about meemaw's security shed, its about a cop's trunk with guns in it.

They did that too. Neighbor was a cop. Took all his gear, uniform, weapons, etc. Was demoted to motorcycle cop after that.

> All of which is invalidated by people staking out a place and wearing a mask.

Approximately 6 years ago, I saw a face detection demo, which detected the face of a man behind a snow mask while running in the night with minimal lighting from a side-shot. I think seeing the eye and nose geometry was enough.

The only time the system saw the face was from another camera in the same system head-on. I don't remember whether it was masked or not.

If this is available for defense, it can be made available for civilian applications, too, but it won't be, because then you won't be able sold it to that price because of depreciation.

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