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Porch Piracy Deterrent: A Security Camera that Fires Paintballs and Tear Gas

What could go wrong?

By Rain Noe - April 17

in Tech

For the record I think this is a terrible, terrible idea. Sadly I think it's one that a subset of Americans will love, particularly those who suffer from package theft.

The PaintCam is a night-vision-equipped security camera that uses facial recognition and "deters intruders with paintball markers," write the developers, OZ-IT. When it spots someone it doesn't recognize, it issues verbal instructions to skedaddle via its speaker. If the intruder chooses to stick around, it fires a paintball at them. Alternatively, you can load it with tear gas projectiles. I'm not kidding, that's what the company says.

If you don't fancy autonomous operation, the device can be set to ask you for instructions during an intruder event; it pings your smartphone, then you decide whether to pull the trigger. "If an unknown face appears next to someone known – perhaps your daughter's new boyfriend – PaintCam defers to your instructions. It's security on your terms, even if your kids don't always follow them."

The company, which consists of "experts in security and software development," say that the system can also detect pets, but doesn't elaborate on how the facial recognition applies to animals. Are we meant to believe this thing (which of course has "advanced AI technology") would tear gas a racoon and not your dog?

By the bye, OZ-IT hails from Slovenia, a country with citizens perhaps less litigious than America's.

Here's the demo video. (Pixar will be unpleased that they've given the camera a white body, a black face, a female voice and named it "Eve.")

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The PaintCam will go live on Kickstarter next week, where I imagine it'll be crowdfunded the same day.

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Michael DiTullo

8 months ago

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Cringe... and the video makes it worse.

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Ale C.

8 months ago

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I wonder, as with some other "AI" visual monitoring systems, if the cameras rely on banks of Indian computer operators monitoring each feed ping manually.

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Stephen Knifton

8 months ago

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this says 'murica like no other. can it be hacked so a loaded gun can be installed instead of paintballs ?

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