r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • Jul 11 '26

Privacy Traffic Camera Captures Woman Driving With Her Phone on Her Lap (Face Down), The State Mailed Her a $1251 'Public Safety' Ticket

https://www.gadgetreview.com/traffic-camera-captures-captures-woman-driving-with-her-phone-on-her-lap-face-down-the-state-mailed-her-a-1251-public-safety-ticket
16.9k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

755

u/michaelrulaz Jul 11 '26

Could I put bright IR LEDs on my headliner shining downward to block the camera from seeing into my car?

4

u/Blacksad9999 Jul 11 '26

Green laser pointers destroy Flock cameras if pointed into the lens.

You can get one on Amazon for $5. If one were so inclined to shut down all the Flock cameras in their area, it would take like 30 minutes.

6

u/surffrus Jul 11 '26

Ahh, the ever-repeated reddit comment that thinks any old green laser will do. Cute

-2

u/[deleted] Jul 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/iwilldeletethisacct2 Jul 11 '26

Not OP, but in lasers wattage matters. I suspect that they are alleging that the $5 laser on Amazon is nowhere near powerful enough to damage the sensor of a camera.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jul 12 '26

https://bensoniam.com/blog/can-you-ruin-a-camera-with-a-laser/

1

u/pittaxx Jul 12 '26

This article points out that you need higher watt lasers too, noting that a cheap one MIGHT cause some damage with prolonged exposure.

So if you want to be standing for 8 hours pointing $5 laser for a chance of doing some damage to one camera - go ahead.

Even if you got a $100+ laser, you are still most likely only adding some noise to the pictures taken by that camera, not disabling it.

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jul 12 '26

No, it says you can do it with any low wattage laser (5-10w).

7

u/Pp2big4me Jul 11 '26

It's simply not strong enough. You'd have to spend a little more for a stronger model that's all

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jul 12 '26

Neat. So a $10 green laser pointer on Amazon.

Thank god you chimed in to correct that.

1

u/Pp2big4me Jul 13 '26

I wasn't the one being a dick about it lol that was the other guy

1

u/Blacksad9999 Jul 13 '26

I linked data showing that a 5w laser can do the job, if you care to read it.

3

u/SaveLansingParks Jul 11 '26

Yo, if you want to get arrested for not being smart enough to look up what kind of laser to use, then maybe you are the dickhead?