Bong hits, fake names and park cameras: What’s behind the unusual public comment at today’s city council meeting

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/bong-hits-fake-names-and-park-cameras-the-unusual-public-comment-at-todays-city-council-meeting/

More background on the subject can be found on Louis Rossmann's video a couple days before this meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kkAo9faois

10 points · 2 comments · view on lemmy.world

2 Comments

reddig33@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 339d (1 reply)

Good article. People speaking at city council meetings is great, as long as the people speaking actually live here.

Not thrilled about cameras, but a park is a public place, so I have mixed feelings about it. Are any of these being planned along the lake where people mysteriously keep “falling in” and drowning at night?

sobchak@programming.dev · 2 pts · 339d

AFAIK, they're meant to catch car burglars, so will be in the parking lots. They are "AI" cameras, so I assume at least license plate readers. The company said they don't do facial recognition in an interview, but their company's page says their cameras do facial recognition. It's a large expense ($400k - $2 million) to tackle a small problem. There's probably some corruption/bribes going on, IMO. They could put up regular solar powered cameras for peanuts if they wanted. IDK if they plan to install cameras around that Rainey Street area.