https://hackaday.com/2022/12/12/students-rebel-against-heat-sensing-crotch-monitor-surveillance-devices/
This happened in Northeastern University’s Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex (ISEC), home to the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute. As you might expect, graduate students working in this field are keenly attuned to spotting aberrant hardware that mysteriously shows up overnight. They were also rather perturbed to learn they were suddenly being surveilled.
Lmao, yeah, start by tracking the grad students who are studying tracking and all the ways that tracking systems violate people's privacy
it seems pretty smart to start with them imo. if you could get those people to accept a new surveillance tech, you could get anyone to accept it
According to university admin, it didn't need ethics approval or consultation with the student body (that they'd be tracking) because "it tracks heat, not humans." 🙄
"These cameras only record photons, not people. I don't know why you're all so worried!"
And even if it was tracking students they should just accept it 'cause the students 'trust the university to give them a degree' lmao
ok, so i saw this yesterday, almost posted it, didn't, saw this post, and somehow didn't register that it was from literally the same article. shit's wild, i assumed they were using regular heat monitors to like, count crowds at events, but no, just actual thermal cameras pointed right at every student's individual crotch.
The devices in question were part of an “occupancy monitoring system” developed by Spaceti, a company which specializes in maximizing efficiency for commercial buildings. The university installed a series of heat sensors under desks aimed roughly at crotch height, intended to detect when a human (or other suitably warm object) was sitting at a desk
Techbros nowadays really don't think for a second before making their products, do they?
That we know of. This might be just a prototype.
Wearing a miniskirt and geometrically patterned underwear to fool the crotch-monitoring cameras.
Printed resistor heating circuits to fool the infra cameras. The miniskirt has a battery yo
Why not just have like, a weight sensor on the seat or a button that says occupied or something. Why do tech bros come up with the most convoluted creepy method for doing something so simple?
The more complicated the technology is, the less buyers will know about it. You can charge far more money that way.
Nobody has a legitimate use for a systems that constantly monitors if people are sitting at desks. This is completely superfluous technology. The world repair have been a slightly better place if it hadn't been invented.
a company which specializes in maximizing efficiency for commercial buildings
:so-true: No, you see, the capitalists need to know how every milimiter of their property is being used every second, otherwise they might be losing precious prooofit
first Cuban mind lasers, now heat seeking North Korean boner radar ? what depths of evil will these commies not plumb
What if learning makes so horny that I throw all the heat sensors off. Like they're staring directly at the sun? :tofu-cool:
The devices in question were part of an “occupancy monitoring system” developed by Spaceti, a company which specializes in maximizing efficiency for commercial buildings. The university installed a series of heat sensors under desks aimed roughly at crotch height, intended to detect when a human (or other suitably warm object) was sitting at a desk.
Why can't they just count hands...?
The Twitter thread indicates they literally already have motions sensors at every classroom door to track foot traffic and get a rough sense of attendance
This was clearly a case of someone getting a kickback
I would put money on this being the reasoning. They want to stop having assigned spaces and cut down the space required.
It's the appearance of value to capital (especially dipshit investors/prospective students)
My "not actively involved in sabotage of the security systems in this room" shirt has lots of people asking questions already answered by my shirt
:frothingfash:: "You're voluntarily wearing a mask? Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither!"
Also :frothingfash:: "Of course we need moar surveillance! We need to stop the gays. Stop asking questions, knee-grow! Nothing to hide, nothing to fear!"
