Wednesday, April 24, 2019

[Updated] NYPD releases pics of suspect wanted for smashing LinkNYC kiosks


[Image via @Machiz]

Updated 4/25: Police made an arrest.

As Gothamist reported, someone smashed 30-some LinkNYC data harvesters kiosks around the city over the weekend, including on 14th Street. You can read all about it here.

Anyway, the 9th Precinct tweeted out pics of the suspect...

14 comments:

DrGecko said...

heroes ... capes ...

Anonymous said...

Lots of homeless use these to make phone calls and get info. They do serve a purpose. Destroying these makes one an idiot not a hero.

Anonymous said...

Kickstarter to support this guy -

Anonymous said...

I didn't know these things have cameras in them and are recording at all times.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely important for the homeless and not only, I've made a call a couple of times when my phone died. No reason to praise vandalism.

cmarrtyy said...

The price for tech is the harvesting of our data... and now we find out that there 's 24 hr. surveillance. Not good. I'm not a Luddite.. but the only secure way to transmit information today seems to be smoke signals.

Anonymous said...

How fabulous to have THIS be the way we find out those kiosks are surveilling us 24/7 - big brother is here & sending the feed to the NYPD?

PS: Then how come the NYPD can't do more about the crusties who set up camp under the kiosks all summer?

Anonymous said...

Why would you assume the image was obtained via the kiosk? Isn't it reasonably possible that it was another nearby camera? Wouldn't we have a couple dozen images of him of all kiosks had cameras?

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:35pm- The NYPD won't do more about the crusties because the mayor and city council have told them not to. Its that simple. This is a question for your city council member. See what response they give you. It will be along the lines of 'being homeless is not a crime' or 'we cant arrest the problem away'. The issue isn't these people being homeless- its the crimes they commit that is the problem. But the 'progressive' mayor and city council don't want to be seen as tough on criminal vagrants. Bad optics. Especially with a mayor who wants a job in DC- assuming a dem wins the 2020 election. Expect this problem to get much worse. Quality of life issues are not being addressed and wont be until a new mayor comes in or some horrific crime involving tourists takes place.

Giovanni said...

There are three camera on every LinkNYC kiosk, two on the top for “security” which is where the video footage of the perp came from, and one camera on the tablet which can be used in the future for video calls. Supposedly the footage is only stored for 7 days, but who knows what agencies are using it with facial scanning technology and other tracking to watch our every movement. Here’s tha FAQ from LinkNYC. You are being watched:

Q. Do Links have cameras and what happens to the footage?

There are two security cameras on each Link. Footage captured in the cameras is stored for no longer than seven days, unless the footage is necessary to investigate an incident.

All data and footage from LinkNYC cameras is subject to CityBridge’s privacy policy and we will not use or share this footage except (1) to improve Services and ensure the performance and security of the structures, (2) to detect or address illegal activity with a Link, (3) in response to vandalism, or (4) when required by law or to protect your safety, including during an emergency involving potential harm.

There is also a camera built into each Link tablet that could be used for video calls in the future. This camera is user-activated only. This camera will not activate automatically during phone calls, wayfinding, charging or accessing any tablet feature. Footage from the tablet camera is not stored.

NOTORIOUS said...

I’m sooo glad I thought to wear a disguise.

Gojira said...

As far as I'm concerned this guy is doing a public service by fighting Big Brother.

Anonymous said...

"Footage captured in the cameras is stored for no longer than seven days, unless the footage is necessary to investigate an incident."

Uh, how would they know if they needed to store it for longer? The presumption is that anything will come to light in a week? Weird.

Unless in fact someone is WATCHING the feed from every kiosk camera every single day...

NOTORIOUS said...

The Rethink LinkNYC twitter account is a good source of information.

https://twitter.com/rethinklinknyc