
Extracting video and audio from used police body cam - alexfromapex
https://twitter.com/d0tslash/status/1278414895487365121
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floatingatoll
Ethically, it’s inappropriate to post some of these photos without blurring
identifying details that are not material to the newsworthiness at hand.

We _don’t_ need to see the officers’ unblurred faces to confirm that these
were successfully extracted from a random eBay purchase, as their precise
identities are not relevant to the story.

We _do_ need to see the cop cruiser unblurred, because that’s materially
relevant to the story and serves as likely (but not certain) evidence of the
source of the images.

We _don’t_ need to see the exterior shot of someone random person’s house,
because that could result in their location being identified and the press
mobbing them pointlessly.

We _do_ need to see the safe interior shot of someone’s house, that doesn’t
reveal any identifying information, since that protects their identity while
supporting the story at hand.

~~~
dependenttypes
I disagree, ethically it is not only fully appropriate but also mandatory to
post everything that said cameras contain.

~~~
VWWHFSfQ
Body camera footage has to be reviewed and made public if appropriate. But not
all body camera footage should be made public. To protect the rights and
privacy of the innocent.

~~~
xfitm3
It's this exact mechanism that allows police to bury mistakes. Rarely are the
innocent truly protected.

~~~
VWWHFSfQ
not really

~~~
dependenttypes
Yes, really. There have been countless cases where the police "accidently"
"lost" footage critical to a case.

~~~
floatingatoll
I think that loss of bodycam footage should be treated equivalently to
discharge of a police weapon, with the officer assigned to desk duty until
forensic analysis by an independent third party can confirm that the loss was
caused intentionally.

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GhostVII
Seems crazy to me that they don't encrypt the videos on the device given how
much personal information about other people can be on there. There is a full
video of the inside of someone's house in that feed. Couldn't they just have
some kind of public/private key encryption, where they put the public key on
the bodycam and have it encrypt all the videos it takes? Then you could just
decrypt them at the station with the private key.

~~~
bob1029
PKI is insufficient protection in this case. If someone obtains the hardware
and has a few years to sit on it, it is possible that private keys can
eventually be broken (or compromised via other channels).

~~~
Wowfunhappy
Maybe so, but not using encryption at all is clearly worse.

What would be a better system?

~~~
bob1029
Hardware security. These devices should have been built from day 1 with the
idea that they would eventually need to be retired from service. They could be
designed to self-destruct their own memories if a certain signal is not
received within a certain timeframe. Procedures would be built around this
such that cameras would need to be periodically checked-in for audit and
refresh of the hardware kill timer. If an officer fails to check in a certain
camera (presumably with the intent to expire the hardware timer), you could
assume malicious intent and have whatever arbitrary penalties to discourage
this behavior. Set the timer at 48~72 hours and it would be virtually
impossible for even the most sophisticated attacker to physically breach the
HSM in time for extraction of the data/symmetric key.

Combine this with a PKI and you should then have a solid solution. If you want
maximum traceability, you could throw in LTE or satellite connectivity for
logging major audit events or triggering certain device features remotely.

~~~
sansnomme
Your Honor, the department misplaced the devices during the chaos of
debriefing. By the time we retrieved it the data has self-destructed.

~~~
bob1029
You could spin any bullshit story around any device. If you do not have some
degree of discipline with your meatspace domain, there's no hope for the
hardware domain either. Even the most secure devices on earth can eventually
be compromised if you allow all policy to fall away and just let the hardware
fend for itself.

The police can and should be held to a higher standard regarding evidence and
chain of custody. The tools are only half of this picture. It is a synergistic
approach.

~~~
ksaj
Shouldn't that policy or standard be about proper data disposal in the first
place?

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TheChaplain
Uh, I'm not sure it's a good idea to post pictures of the camera footage on
Twitter? Especially as one also have military personnel in it...

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damagednoob
There's a few comments about the legal status of doing this. In the US,
wouldn't this be considered dumpster
diving([https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster_diving](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster_diving))
and lawful?

~~~
bob1029
I believe if the device is obtained lawfully, there isn't much anyone can do
regarding what you then decide to do with it or any of its contents.

This is precisely why you should drill through hard drives and flash media
before removing them from your secure areas.

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x87678r
From the link it isn't clear. The guy bought a cam from ebay and found the
pictures still on there, which is what he's posting on twitter.

[https://www.azmirror.com/blog/fort-huachuca-police-body-
cam-...](https://www.azmirror.com/blog/fort-huachuca-police-body-cam-footage-
easily-accessible-after-an-ebay-purchase/)

Its kinda sad, I love the idea of reusing old electronics instead of dumping
them, but is usually too difficult to secure.

~~~
david422
Yea, this is why companies destroy perfectly good hardware- so this doesn't
happen :(

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LockAndLol
I this guy opening himself up to a lawsuit by publishing everything like that?
Last I remember, people got nailed for simply pointing out there was an issue
on a server and with anti-repair laws out there, you never know what's gonna
happen.

~~~
loeg
This isn't a remote server; the cameras were acquired legally by the tweeter.

~~~
colejohnson66
Was it legally obtained? Purchasing an illegally obtained good is still
illegal in the US.

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icholy
I just see two pictures of a disassembled camera. Is there more info?

~~~
Jaruzel
It's all unrolled here:

[https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1278413772680507392.html](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1278413772680507392.html)

Personally, I think this is bad form. He should have quietly told the seller
that the data is recoverable rather than broadcast it all over Twitter. The
last thing we need is the Police finding reasons NOT to wear bodycams.

~~~
grawprog
All police body cam footage should be public. Their work is paid for by tax
money, they are supposed to be public servants. Governments, including their
police force should be transparent to public they're supposed to be serving.

~~~
tmoravec
While I agree with the sentiment that public workers should be accountable to
the tax payers, let's not forget they are still humans. Would you like your
employer to point a cam at your desk and have it recording at all times?

~~~
gruez
>Would you like your employer to point a cam at your desk and have it
recording at all times?

You can always... get another job. If you don't accept the surveillance that
comes with your power to inflict violence with impunity, maybe you shouldn't
be given the power in the first place.

~~~
me_me_me
I agree with that sentiment, however...

In EU there are shows where TV crew is embedded in highway police (traffic
police). They never let people off with a warning. I literally never seen it
happen.

And in Europe in real life you have a chance to be caught for small infraction
and receive waggle of the proverbial finger of the law.

So having all police live stream their cams might not only curb bad behavior
of bad cops, but also good behavior of good cops.

~~~
gruez
I hear this argument a lot (ie. "body cams will eliminate/reduce police
discretion"), but I always wonder, is that a bad thing? If the department
policy is that everyone that goes 10mph over the limit is ticketed, and you
don't get off because of your charisma (or not being a minority), is that a
bad thing?

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coronadisaster
I'd be scared for my life if I was him... hopefully he posted that stuff
anonymously. I've seen some white people getting killed on video in a similar
manner to George Floyd's killing, but even worst (i.e.: The police have the
medic inject the victim with strong drugs right after he passes out from
getting choked to death). This video is very troubling but if someone wants to
see it I will post it (what is even more troubling is that no one lost their
job).

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pininja
A little further down the thread they post the success!
[https://twitter.com/d0tslash/status/1278458524742361089?s=21](https://twitter.com/d0tslash/status/1278458524742361089?s=21)

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WarOnPrivacy
Completely made my day. I can just gush with love for stuff like this.

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lsh
what a doofus.

> Me trying to extract video from this body cam like: OHHHH please work!

more like: "me putting my head in a lion's mouth"

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mothsonasloth
A more appropriate medium would have been a technical blog post, with redacted
information and blurred photos.

Not an attention seeking twitter thread with lolspeak...

