I have often been accused of being an old fuddy-duddy, very set in my ways and against the concept of “change”.
Mostly, I would plead guilty to such charges — and proudly, at that.
However, I am very open to change in one circumstance, that being on the issue of this godless system known as “flocking” — you know, those seemingly-ubiquitous cameras installed to spy on people’s cars and movements thereof. I proudly created this little picture, in fact (and feel free to copy or pass on, as the mood inspires):
I purposely used the word “grex” (Latin word for flock) because as a generic collective term for sheep, it doesn’t refer to any company or individual. Also, I’m a cultural snob (likewise by self-admission) and have an abiding fondness for classical allusions.
Anyway.
So great is my hostility to these fucking things that I may once even have suggested a DIY method for their de-installation:
Of course, as any fule kno, this was merely a tongue-in-cheek suggestion because counter-surveillance (cameras spying on cameras — does it ever end?) makes such an action foolish, even though as a curmudgeonly man of the elder demographic, using something as old-fashioned as a shotgun to take down something so horrible and offensively-modern would give me great pleasure.
But no, we should move with the times, methinks, especially when contemplating the “delenda” part of the above suggestion. So how about something like a “loitering munition“? (I love that particular euphemism, by the way.)
Now, this is also a tongue-in-cheek suggestion, because it’s easy to see that objects like this are waaayyyy overkill — there’s no need for a loiter function, for example, and given the typical fragility of a small camera device, there’s no need for any munitions, per se. Even a kamikaze drone (as used by the military) would be overkill, for the same reasons — and in both cases, too spendy for Mr. Average Citizen to use.
So looking at the matter from a clinical perspective, there’s no need for such things.
But blessed as we are by living in the U.S. of A., there are always other options, such as this one, at only $40 per pop (so to speak):
(link in pic)
I would imagine that an accidental collision between a flocking camera and a drone controlled by a fumbling amateur first-time user might indeed compromise the camera’s operation somewhat.
If you see what I mean.
Progress: not always a Bad Thing, no?
