> low-impact black-swan events like serial packet thiefs?
I live in Seattle. Package theft is a white swan event here. Everyone I know has had packages stolen. Most people are forced to come up with some strategy to deal with it: get things shipped to work, use Amazon lockers, get a camera on your porch and make sure to bring the package inside as soon as it shows up, etc.
You are right that materially it is a low-impact event. However, psychologically it isn't. It sucks having shit stolen from in front of your own home. It immediately undermines that "sense of trust and community" you mention. My home no longer feels like a sanctuary, and random people ambling down my street no longer feel like friendly neighbors. Any of them could be a thief scoping out porches and the evidence is clear that at least some of them are.
It is a maddeningly disempowering feeling to know that I am unable to prevent someone from stealing shit from my own property. Worse, I know the police won't do a thing about it either. I literally have video of the dude grabbing shit off my porch, but can do nothing about it.
I think it is that feeling of helplnessness that leads people to buy security systems.
In that case, what is the security system really doing for you?
And if it misidentifies the person?
(Whether we are materially safer is a separate question. But given that I think we are actually quite safe in general, the product is worth it to us in terms of peace of mind alone.)
> I literally have video of the dude grabbing shit off my porch, but can do nothing about it.
The only thing all this security theater does is aiding super convoluted scenarios where your neighbors system informs you to take your package in, if you have one currently out, and are fast enough, and are at home. In the long run, all this does for prevention is creating an arms race easily won by covering up your face and randomizing routes as the thief...
So: Make a startup selling big-ass secure post boxes. Minimize crime by, you know, education and financial aid. Kill this excessive package-delivery culture which is super damaging anyways somehow. Make the police force more efficient. Make small package-taking centrals. Whatever. I understand. But this cloud-based security is the absolute worst thing you can do.
edit: spelling
My first sentence said I agree with your overall point.
In my case, the main reason we have the cameras is because my wife felt they would help her feel more secure. They have been somewhat useful and/or worthwhile for other things:
* We can see who's at the door and ignore them if they are solicitors.
* When we're not home and someone knocks on the door, we can respond to them since the camera also has a speaker. When our friends dropped off a few Christmas presents while we were out at dinner, it was cool to be able to say thanks right then.
* On the off chance a more serious crime is committed, we may have footage of it. The police don't care about package theft, but they are likely to investigate trespassing, breaking and entering, etc.
* Sometimes we see bunnies and baby raccoons meandering around the alley, which is always cute.
I'm not a big fan of the system, but it is occasionally handy or rewarding to have access to a live camera around my house.
Because it's a single system and not part of a network. If it were part of a network then, theoretically, the thief could be tracked back to their car/home and arrested. Hackernews loves to jump to the dystopian when it comes to public surveillance but somehow has a blind spot for the utopian possibilities. A sufficiently broad and technologically advanced public surveillance system would essentially eliminate crime in public. Why steal a package off a porch if you're going to be immediately identified and then automatically tracked via camera until it's convenient for the police to arrest you?
These seem like reasonable solutions. Why not just do them?
> I literally have video of the dude grabbing shit off my porch, but can do nothing about it.
So what will more surveillance technology do? Maybe the innovation needed is apartment-community style mailboxes or dropboxes where only the mailperson and the tenant can have access, but scaled to single-family-home use.
Because that's bending broken backwards to accept a broken neighbourhood and society.
Where this stops? "Drive-by's are a thing, accept it and just were a bulletproof vest, it's a sensible solution"?
Furthermore, insurance companies don't like to lose money, and they are likely the ones to encourage you to install a surveillance network. If anything, to make sure that you aren't stealing your own packages.
These are the types of deliveries that should require a signature for drop-off.
==Furthermore, insurance companies don't like to lose money, and they are likely the ones to encourage you to install a surveillance network.==
Profitability depends on the pricing strategy. If police departments don't act on these videos anyway (as stated prior), more of them would likely just act as a visual deterrent. No different than taping an old cell-phone to your front door.
==If anything, to make sure that you aren't stealing your own packages. ==
Fraud exists in every industry insurance companies serve.
What I'm saying is, the problem isn't people stealing your packages. It's that you leave valuable property outside. Perhaps a good analogy is locking your door.
This is going to be a bit ranty, so be warned...
I think people in general are kind of dumb in terms of useful vs shiny.
When I first heard about Amazon wanting to unlock your door to prevent theft, my immediate response was roughly: "It'll be a cold day in hell before I ever give control of my home access to any company".
I then went on to describe what I WOULD do, and that is purchase a box with a lock on it, chained to something. But here's the thing. There are so many low-tech ways to solve this problem.
- The aforementioned box with a child-safety lock on it and a plate on the inside lid that immediately disables the lock and springs the box open.
- An alcove in the side of your house that does essentially the same thing as the box, but looks more like a mail slot but for packages.
- The same thing as above, only in your garage door.
What these things all have in common is that they're low tech and effective, which isn't the new shiny. People are so goddamned dumb about this stuff that they would rather string up cameras everywhere, or give control of their home access to a company and allow strangers into their home. It blows my fucking mind.
And so many people haven't picked up on the fact that Amazon didn't go for the low tech solution because it doesn't lock you in. Your local chinese restaurant can just as readily use that box as Amazon can, whereas, if they haven't already started doing it, they're going to start giving other companies access to those doors and charging for it. They're going to start charging the grocery store delivery service to open that door for them, and that delivery service is going to pass that on to you. You're literally going to be paying amazon to open your goddamned door.
I feel like a sane person in a sea of crazy.
