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Comment by monk_e_boy | Hacker News Reader

We kitesurf and use GoPros, often on tripods on the beach. People come up and take them as soon as we're more than 200m away. It's quite easy for us to spot them, confront them and get it back. But it happens all the time

No. 1 rule - don't leave anything of value on the beach.

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>People come up and take them as soon as we're more than 200m away.

I don't have this problem where I surf, but here's some thoughts I've had about it...

- Attach a motion alarm (made for purses and such) that will go off and at least attract attention if someone moves it.

- Put a sign on it that says "Do not touch. My buddy is watching this camera." or "Due to recent theft, I have a HIDDEN camera recording this camera."

I wonder if you could put up a sign that says:

"If you steal this camera you agree to pay a $200 fine" - just having a sign is a deterrent but not a strong one.

Though, a better idea is to attach a speaker to it and when someone steals it blast vulgar sounds through it like "I'M A MOFO THIEF LOOK AT ME HAHA". I doubt any thief would want attention drawn to what they just did.

I've been wanting to do a social experiment where I leave a laptop out with a GPS tracker and a note with my information and see what happens. My guess will be that many people will attempt to steal it.

This sort of candid camera experiment has been done many times, there are many who will return the items and some who won't. If you truly don't want your things stolen then you just need a buddy to watch your stuff.

So next we need to add some stabilization to this platform and then you can just stick it out on a bouy ^_^

or weaponize the camera so that it can protect itself... :)

Maybe an autonymous paintball sentry?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc

Or you have a drone that launches to chase the perp.

What do this people say in their defense when you find them?

Usually they look guilty as hell, then cobble together something like "Oh, I was going to hand it in to the lifeguards." ... yeah, right. It's always adults too.

Don't get me started about dog owners letting dogs piss on our bags and clothes and cameras.

I've had multiple people try to take my beach chairs, so this isn't surprising at all.

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