A sight previously thought to be science fiction is very real at a southeast Kansas City shopping center. Instead of a police officer, a security robot has been patrolling sidewalks and shoppers are taking notice.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19944734

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A sight previously thought to be science fiction is very real at a southeast Kansas City shopping center. Instead of a police officer, a security robot has been patrolling sidewalks and shoppers are taking notice.

Since Marshall the robot has been on the job, shoppers say the experiences have completely changed when they come to these stores. The robot can spend 23 hours a day monitoring the parking lot from all angles which gives people a new sense of protection and ease they don’t always have when out.

Marshall took over security at Brywood Centre in April. Before that, Karen White noticed a lot of trouble outside the shopping center.

“Sometimes it’d be concerning for your car like someone could take it or something,” White said.

Knowing now that Marshall is always watching, the risk of crime does not worry her or others as much.

“It made it very better, like you can’t be in the parking lot without seeing the robot,” White continued. “So, I think it scared them off.”

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
      13·
      2 months ago

      I’m pretty sure privacy goes out the window when you commit a crime. If it isn’t robots it would be humans arresting you.

      Don’t support criminals in any form as they are the ones who are actively creating a need to stop crime.

      • swim@slrpnk.net
        3·
        2 months ago

        The bootlicking version of “why do you need privacy if you have nothing to hide?”

  • lazylion_ca@lemmy.ca
    42·
    2 months ago

    He has a license plate reader, he has facial recognition, he can read IP addresses from your cell phone or watch,”

    Uhhhh… How is it reading the ip addresses of people’s phones?

    • Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works
      131·
      2 months ago

      I imagine it MITM’s the wifi? Obviously wouldn’t work with cellular but thats the only this claim can ve even remotely true.

      That being said they could do some shit with malicious bluetooth/NFC behaviour but that would be a crime.

    • icedterminal@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      2 months ago

      Someone made a mistake here. It’s not getting your IP address. An IP address is assigned by the gateway when you’re connected to an access point. An IP address is not an identity. They are always changing and can be shared. This has already been tested and upheld in court.

      It’s actually collecting your MAC address. Which is exchanged when your phone or tablet scan nearby WiFi points or Bluetooth devices. However, this can already be defeated. By default iOS and Android both have the option to randomise the MAC address in intervals. Making it extremely difficult to prove anything. This feature exists because the devices real MAC address never changes. It is unique. Alternatively, users can disable WiFi and Bluetooth scanning entirely. However, your device no longer participates in the Find My Devices program by Apple and Google, location does take longer to acquire in some scenarios, and accuracy may take longer to triangulate.

      • Westcoastdg@lemmy.ca
        2·
        2 months ago

        Counter-argument, this is all correct, but when the application is against shopping mall criminals it will work well enough. Not talking masterminds here

  • Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
    34·
    2 months ago

    One of these hit my car. It was out patrolling randomly in a parking lot and I pulled up to get a better look at it. I stopped like 6 ft in front of it but it just kept on coming and ran into my fucking car.

    • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
      211·
      2 months ago

      On the one hand, yes, on the other hand, it’s unlikely to brutalize or kill people for minor offenses, so maybe a win for a public space?

      • EherNichtEnglish
        101·
        2 months ago

        I don’t know about you but I don’t like to be watched by big brother all the time.

          • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            maybe no legal expectation, however I ask you when were you or any other common person asked about legal expectations. don’t come with “everyone at election”, because everyone knows its not true, in any sense

            • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
              4·
              2 months ago

              Dude, we’re on the same side in this, I just know what some battles have already been lost.

              • ReversalHatchery@beehaw.orgEnglish
                2·
                2 months ago

                i understand, and sorry if I offended you. my problem was you were referring to a legal expectation as if that should be everyone’s personal expectation

                • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  2·
                  2 months ago

                  Not offended, just seemed like you thought I was excusing it. I’m not - just acknowledging it. 🙂

      • nocturne@sopuli.xyz
        7·
        2 months ago

        Unlikely, but there is still a chance. It could always call its pig cousins to brutalize or kill you on its behalf.

  • Dr. Wesker@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    264·
    2 months ago

    This is relatively low on my list of privacy concerns, being that it seems to be patrolling and surveiling privately owned property.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
    201·
    2 months ago

    First of all if you’re too scared to go into a store because you think your car is going to be robbed You’re probably too scared to live in public. However from the description it sounds like this thing’s just a tall camera? It can’t do anything except monitor? So how is this any better than those towers with cameras on them?

    • jeffhykin@lemm.ee
      3·
      2 months ago

      Psychology. Ever see ring doorbell footage where the owner says “drop the package” and people do? Its not like the owner could do anything, but for some reason it makes people behave differently.

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    185·
    2 months ago

    I live under a rock and don’t get out much due to physical disability, but I don’t see a security improvement. I see a data mining monstrosity and further reason to avoid local retail.

    • gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world
      12·
      2 months ago

      Avoid local retail in favor of what, a website? If you’re concerned about the data mining potential of this robot rolling around a strip mall then you should avoid the internet at all costs.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      It’s a roving mobile camera. It doesn’t get distracted easily or bored or tired and isn’t apathetic and It doesn’t hate its job. Criminals don’t want to be filmed doing their crime.

      Normally if you are not actively doing anything provably wrong the mall cops will just kick you out, this thing is going to provide evidence to the actual police.

      But I have to admit any significant security advantages that it provides are going to be short-lived while the thieves just change their plan. They’ll just have to be faster and more aware of where this thing is, or do a better job of hiding their face.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
        2·
        2 months ago

        It’s gotta be pretty easy to disable.

        Wear a mask and gloves, walk up with what, a stun gun and give it a nice jolt. Or just throw a wire mesh bag over it.

        Other similar bots have been pushed into fountains.

        • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          2 months ago

          Yeah taking it out of the picture isn’t the problem but that starts the timer. The thing’s being remotely monitored and that would bring the police

          Ideally the criminals want to loiter. Look for targets.

          I strongly suspect if you were able to get enough tagged data for shoppers versus Nair do wells, purely from video surveillance footage you could target potential thieves based on location of movement characteristics.

          • delirious_owl@discuss.online
            3·
            2 months ago

            Aaand target loads of people who are from a different culture and innocent in the process. Usually these false-positives fall hardest on people of color, historically

        • superkret
          2·
          2 months ago

          In a few years, they’ll adjust the laws, so that would count as assault on a police officer.

    • IllNess@infosec.pub
      31·
      2 months ago

      They are already data mining you without these robots.

      They use facial recognition on cameras. They use OCR on your license plate and scan your toll pass. They use your phone location if you connect to their “free” wifi. They track your bluetooth devices that’s constantly looking to connect. They track you foot traffic and see what stores, what aisle, what product you picked it up and how long you had it in your hands.

      Google “Target loss prevention” stories of frequent shoplifters that had profiles on them for months and stop them when they can charge for grand larceny rather than petite larceny. There is a reason why Westfield malls are everywhere. It’s easier for them to control their own data than to constantly buy or contract out data from other companies.

      These bots are probably getting more data but they are more for security. A moving camera is more of criminal deterrent just because it is moving. These bots are so they don’t have to pay for more security guards than anything else.

      • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        It is not like I fail to understand the use case. My issue is that data mining me is stealing from me. It is taking a part of my digital entity to manipulate me. It is digital slavery. To be okay with such a thing is to enslave one’s self; it is to fail at a fundamental understand of the three pillars of democracy and the role of freedom of information and the press. Forfeiting your right to ownership over your digital self undermines the entire democratic system of governance and is an enormous sociopolitical regression to the backwardness of feudalism.

        No ancient citizen of a democracy wanted feudalism. These things do not have a parade to welcome them, a coup, or a changing of the guard. This change is a killer in your sleep and a small amount of poison added to each of your meals. Every little concession is a forfeit of future people’s rights. This is that poison. I will go hungry. Enjoy your meal, I respect your right to eat it; after you’ve been warned of its contents. I reserve my right to speak of the poison to any that will listen.

        • IllNess@infosec.pub
          2·
          2 months ago

          I agree with you that it sucks and is horrible. I wish there were more laws to protect us.

          Everything I stated is just a quick summary of why these robot really don’t do much for data collection and is more of a money saving matter to not hire more security personal.

          • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            2 months ago

            I would agree more if the thing was a product purchased and operated by the establishment, but these things are always run by a third party and their interests and affiliations have no oversight or accountability. What happens when there is an abortion clinic with one of these present. What happens when the controlling company is in KKK christo-jihad hell where women have no rights like Florida, Texas, or Alabama? What about when the police execute someone at random, who loses that recording? No one knows any of these factors or should need to when they wish to walk into a store. This device is stealing your right to autonomy and citizenship as a result.

          • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            2 months ago

            From me specifically? When I was first disabled, I still used most corporate social media and stalkerware. In an isolated environment like I’ve been stuck in for a long time, it became clear that the user retention through suggested content manipulation algorithms and notifications were not able to compensate for someone in my condition and availability. What had always seemed like minor manipulative annoyances, became obvious manipulative annoyances. I started to see how the interruptions had altered my behavior. There were some interests I sought out on my own, but many pointless and frivolous distractions and things or projects I bought into because I felt like I had found or discovered something on the internet. Over the years of isolation, I can more clearly see the pattern of what was really my interests and what was suggested to me in manipulative contexts. One of the prime ways it happens is when I’m frustrated with something I’m working on and getting no where. Suddenly I get a seemingly unrelated suggestion or start getting what seem like random notifications. Those seem to target my emotional state specifically in a targeted way to tended to push me into new things or areas I didn’t really expect or want to pursue prior.

            I could write off that kind of thing. I became alarmed most around 2018 when Dave Jones showed some search results on YT and was talking about them. I could not reproduce his search or even find the reference at all. A week or so later, it came up. I had it happen again a couple of months later. No matter what or how I searched I could not find the correct results. It is because google was being paid to funnel me into another website some imbeciles thought was related to my search results but the website in question is a garbage third party referral linking middleman. When they showed up in my search results, I couldn’t find anything I was looking for. They were quite literally paying so that I could not find what I needed. It wasn’t ads placement. It the top 20 pages of google, the results were simply not present at all for what I was looking for. In this situation, I could empirically check and see what was happening. Any company that can do such a thing with what I can see should never be trusted with what I cannot see. That type of manipulation is world changing and extremely dangerous. There are only two relevant web crawlers by size, Microsoft and Google. Every search provider goes through these two crawlers either directly or indirectly. When google failed to work, so did DDG, Bing, and most of the rest. At the time, Yandex still worked.

            Since I have offline independent AI running, I’ve been able to test this a bit further. If I start searching for certain niche products in a search engine I will get steered in bad manipulative directions. I do not fit the typical mold for the scope of experience and information I know about going back over two decades ago. When I search for something commercial and industry niche specific, I’ve seen many times when relevant products and information are obfuscated as I am steered to consumer land garbage due to what I shouldn’t know. These are situations where I may have forgotten some brand name, but when searching for all of its relevant properties and use cases, the things never come up in search results. I can chat about the product with a decent AI for a few sentences and it gives me the answer. After I plug that into search results, suddenly I start seeing all kinds of related products in other places popping up like it is some kind of organic thing. It isn’t limited to search results either, it was YT, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and even reddit I noticed similar anomalies. If this kind of connection works in one direction, it must work in both directions, meaning my information bubble is influenced directly by all corporate platforms. It makes me question what interests and ideas are truly my own. I primarily find it deeply offensive that, as a citizen, any corporate shit can cause me to question my informed reality in such a way. Any stranger that asks you to trust them, is nothing more than a thief and con. They are an irresponsible gatekeeper. That is the prima issue.

            • delirious_owl@discuss.online
              1·
              2 months ago

              This robot doesn’t run or have access to google or Facebook servers. Again, exactly what information do you think its collecting from you?

      • Izzie🌴@freeradical.zone
        2·
        2 months ago

        @IllNess @j4k3

        I turn my Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi on when i need to use them, otherwise they’re off.

        Partly for privacy but also for battery life.

        Do most people leave those on all the time?

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        I personally am all for stopping shop lifting as I don’t support crime. Maybe we just need humans stopping humans instead of freaky tech. I think part of the issue is lack of people.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
        23·
        2 months ago

        And that makes this thing OK?

        “More for security”. How does boot taste?

        These things track every Bluetooth device, every phone, every watch, every headset, etc, etc.

        It’s yet another increase in surveillance, and “it’s not a big deal because that’s already happening” is your response?

        Oh, and I’d bet a year’s salary these are leased, and the vendor owns all the collected data.

        This is about data collection, not security.

        • IllNess@infosec.pub
          4·
          2 months ago

          Me explaining how they track you does not mean I agree with it.

          Your emotional state does not change reality.

          • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
            15·
            2 months ago

            In a country with many vocal boot lickers (“play stupid games . . .”) it seems like a fair term to have in your lexicon

  • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
    121·
    2 months ago

    “Sometimes it’d be concerning for your car like someone could take it or something,” White said.

    Wow, that couldn’t be a better sentence to highlight the layers of meaning in that comment.

  • Mwa@lemm.eeEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    Imagine it had guns and tasers its gonna end horribly