BlackVue's dashcams broadcast users' live location and footage to public

11 hours ago by themachinestops to c/technology

It may be a good idea to double check your dashcam settings.
tidderuuf 69 points 11 hours ago

BlackVue used to be the best and everyone went for these as they were really easy to install and use.

Over the years it has quickly degraded, their app got worse, privacy got worse, intrusive ads, hardware malfunctions, support going downhill... Enshittification at its finest.

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dogslayeggs 17 points 11 hours ago

Thanks for this. I used to have one about 6 years ago and thought it was pretty good. I have been too lazy to buy a new since that one died, so it is good to hear I shouldn't look at them again.

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CmdrShepard49 12 points 9 hours ago

I watch a lot of dashcam videos on YouTube and the Viofo ones are consistently good quality video. I wound up getting the A119 but haven't recorded anything interesting enough to pull footage yet.

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BlueOysterCultist 8 points 9 hours ago

You should pull footage now to ensure it’s working the way you want. I realized my date/timestamps were broken cuz the camera was only powered when the car was. Misc stuff like that is good to know ahead of time

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CmdrShepard49 2 points 7 hours ago

That is something I've been meaning to do since installing it but haven't yet months later. I do keep mine powered constantly so I might not have your same issue but it would be really shitty to actually need it someday and find out it hadn't been recording this whole time.

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grue 2 points 8 hours ago

One of these days I need to get around to hard-wiring my dashcam so that it can always be powered.

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artyom 11 points 9 hours ago

This is pretty much what happens with every company that becomes popular. Eventually they begin to exploit their popularity to take back value from their own customers.

I wouldn't ever spend money on something that requires an app, an account, or an internet connection. Fortunately my car has dashcams built in.

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grue 6 points 8 hours ago

I wouldn't ever spend money on something that requires an app, an account, or an internet connection. Fortunately my car has dashcams built in.

What car has built-in dashcams but isn't itself an enshittified nightmare?

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rumba 3 points 8 hours ago

What car has built-in dashcams but isn’t itself an enshittified nightmare?

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PancakesCantKillMe 1 point 6 hours ago

Sometime pre-2015ish. Probably up to early cellular connectivity cars as those bands are defunct now.

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artyom 1 point 6 hours ago

All modern cars are, unfortunately. But I can't go back to driving a gas car. I have a Slate on order.

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tidderuuf 1 point 8 hours ago

I want to know this too

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artyom 1 point 6 hours ago
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stylusmobilus 1 point 5 hours ago

I find this often aligns with purchase of the company by hedge investors.

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EggInDisguise 50 points 10 hours ago

Sounds like the perfect dash cam for law enforcement.

Allow anyone to view and know their location. It's all in the name of safety! Think of the children! If I have a heart attack and my phone got stolen and my child needs to know where the closest cop is, they can check! think of the children reeeeee

Unironically want these in cop cars tho. It should help keep an eye on them when they pull shady shit if everyone can view their dashboard camera at all times

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HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 1 point 2 hours ago

I love what CalFire (or UC San Diego I'm not sure) did with the fire cameras all around the state. Wanna watch?

It would be great if there were something similar with police cameras, but at the same time, do we really want to go down that rabbit hole of an oversurveilled society?

Wait. Shut up. Pretend it's the 70s and I said that.

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warm 23 points 10 hours ago

Why do dash cams or their apps need any connectivity at all?

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KairuByte 14 points 9 hours ago

Cop sees camera, cop grabs camera, no proof of camera.

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WhoIzDisIz 12 points 10 hours ago

I guess it's good if your vehicle goes up in flames after being hit by a tanker or something. Grabbing my dashcam's SD card might not occur to me on the way out of escaping my burning vehicle.

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Zarobi 0 points 2 hours ago

They tried to upsell me with my new car a few years ago. $1200 for one of these dashcams, Jesus. I said no and bought a $80 one at Officeworks.

But they said that basically the idea is if your SD card is destroyed or lost you have no evidence. This device always streams to the cloud, so theoretically it's more robust. If the police takes your SD card at a crash (common in Australia), and then it's lost or "lost", your SOL. But of course you get privacy problems with any cloud...

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Almacca 9 points 7 hours ago

I have a Blackvue camera, and just checked the settings. I don't think I've looked at it before when setting it up, but it seems to be defaulted to off. You have to opt in to this. I'm not sure why anyone would. Maybe to attempt tracking your car if it gets stolen? I'd be pretty easy for any thief to thwart by unplugging the camera, but in the heat of the moment they might miss it.

Or maybe it's for those vain idiots that constantly broadcast their lives as if anyone else gives a fuck, in which case I hope they get everything they deserve.

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ironycanal 11 points 7 hours ago

Have you traffic sniffed it or are you just trusting?

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Almacca 4 points 5 hours ago

I was in bed when I checked the app, so no, but I will.

Later: looking in the app while the camera was on, I couldn't even find the screen that showed other cameras on the map. :shrug:

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HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 1 point 2 hours ago

I am learning so many new words today

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Imgonnatrythis 9 points 11 hours ago

Why in the world would they make this a thing? This is the dumbest feature since glass doors on public bathroom stalls.

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ace_garp 8 points 5 hours ago path: 0 24388715, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 1
Agent641 1 point 4 hours ago

.

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FireWire400 5 points 11 hours ago

That sounds like a pretty obvious feature, though? I'm not saying it's good but the original article by Nine News Australia just makes it sound like it's just a feature of the app.

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unitedwithme 5 points 11 hours ago

Absolutely disgusting. Who would intentionally broadcast this??? "Hey guys, I'm not home and won't be for a while, so please rob me!"

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snooggums 5 points 10 hours ago

It would be a great feature for someone who is being harassed by authorities like ICE and wants a public record to be available even if they are abducted or killed.

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unitedwithme 1 point 6 hours ago

But you'd have to go into it knowing that's happening. I wouldn't otherwise want this around for any other reason. Personally.

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snooggums 4 points 6 hours ago

You asked who would intentionally broadcast this. It is a feature that some people would want, and I provided an example. That example person might want it on all the time because they don't know when they will be harassed.

I personally would not want it either.

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unitedwithme 1 point 5 hours ago

Well, Touché

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Venator 0 points 6 hours ago

Except that it'll also help ICE abduct and kill them...

Would be a better feature in that situation if it could store the footage on a self hosted server with a dead man switch to publish the footage...

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CubitOom 5 points 10 hours ago

If you want to buy anything, don't get one that has an app associated with it.

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Peffse 0 points 4 hours ago

It's an impossible ask. Even the cheap $20 imports require an app to set them up.

Privacy nightmare on multiple fronts, given the latest wifi/bluetooth scanning revelation.

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CubitOom 2 points 4 hours ago

I literally bought a no name dashcam a few months back that's 4k on the front and 2k on the back and it just records to an SD card.

I skipped any product that showed an app, phone, or android icon.

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Peffse 1 point 4 hours ago

Got a link? I'm actually in the market for a replacement and have had no luck finding a simple device.

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Atropos 2 points 3 hours ago

I've been very happy with my viofo which is SD only and no app. But damn, have prices gone up in the last 5 years.

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beep 1 point 10 hours ago path: 0 24384006, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
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