this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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I read that glow in the dark material will trigger an ir motion sensor. So don't plant small flags coated with glow in the dark paint across from the cameras because it will cause them to take and send thousands of useless images and make them think their camera is broken.
I work in security engineering, including massive video systems. With any commercial unit made in the last 5 years and any software past entry level consumer grade this is a non-issue. Especially if someone is using descriptive visual search when pulling up video vs just scanning through every motion event.
As far as I'm aware these are basically just trail cameras, they snap a photo on motion and send it over mobile data to be processed server side for ocr. They claim they can also identify make and model and anything different like bumper stickers. I wouldn't be surprised if their object recognition is just people in India. I also suspect that their OCR is, or at least was provided through 3rd party api calls.
You'd be surprised how much can be done at the edge with current cameras. I'm not sure exactly how these particular ones are set up, but the other major players in the space (Axis,Bosch,Panasonic) all have pretty surprising levels of local compute dedicated to "AI", and leveraging external VMS platforms can exponentially increase capabilities. It's pretty idiot proof once set up, as it's aimed at desk jockies that monitor and report with minimal systems training.
Again, not this specific system but this stuff is far from sci-fi anymore.
You’re assuming competence is part of the equation. Some passive resistance of the operators could make this viable.
Most of them will trigger from reflected IR, which is easy to do with some metallic mylar. Those emergency blankets cut into strips should work like a charm.
That requires an IR source. The glow in the dark might trigger without an external IR source. So depends on the capabilities of the system in question. Some have active IR scene illuminators, some are passive.
It's been a while since I did that sort of thing, but from what I remember: The vast majority of "night vision" cameras are active IR, or sensitive enough that proper reflective surfaces trigger activity if they change a large enough area.
And the type of imagery these searches are looking for, would most likely be fooled by a couple of reflective strips blowing in the wind. Although I might recommend using strips of that reflective stuff on safety vests, that way you'd really "poison the pool".
EDIT:
Don't tape the strips across the street. Hang them nearer the camera so they occupy a larger area of the footage and triggers more easily. Although not on/close to the lens, that will make them notice too soon. You can even just tape a stick on top of the camera that goes up like a fishing rod, with some strands of fishing wire to reflect light in the moisture that condenses(basically a fake spiderweb).
Or, they'll just develop downstream garbage filters and effectively ignore the little flags. Sure, some energy will be wasted, but it won't be occupying too many analyst brain cells.
Source: I have such a setup at home. My camera goes crazy detecting motion in the dark, CPU usage goes up. Main thing I notice? CPU temp rises from 50C to 55C. That's it.
These are also on solar/battery and use cell data.
Might give them trouble in pre-dawn hours, might not depending on the design. I doubt the municipalities and government agencies pay much of anything for data usage.
Fun fact, most places the department of transportation pays nothing for the electricity that runs street lights - electric company just gives it to them unmetered - in exchange for good and valuable consideration like right of way usage.