This is extremely dangerous, and would only work with hardware/software that is nonfree (i.e., not under the user's control, or any attestation could be spoofed).
This is effectively PKI for personhood. The State DMV acts as the Certificate Authority (CA), signing a "leaf certificate" that is bound to the device's hardware Secure Element.
It’s less like a TLS handshake and more like OpenID for Verifiable Presentations (OID4VP). The "non-free" hardware requirement serves as Remote Attestation—it allows a verifier to cryptographically prove that the identity hasn't been cloned or spoofed by a script. The verification happens offline or via a standard web flow using the DMV’s public key to validate the data signature, ensuring the credential is authentic without requiring a phone-home to the issuer.
The main issue is that fearmongering, aggressive marketing (as seen here), and subsidized pricing has convinced people to buy that spyware. The playbook is very much the same as for the Alexa and other "bugs" people now willingly pay for and place in the middle of their homes, constantly recording and monitoring their activities.
In reality, these cameras are next to useless when it comes to protecting the owners as seen in other news. If you fear a home invasion, it's a shotgun that you need, not a Ring camera.
> Should you get rid of your Nest camera over privacy concerns?
Absolutely, and you shouldn't have bought and installed this garbage in the first place. Their primary purpose is not to protect you but to spy on you for Google's benefit, much like the rest of their dis-services (email, cloud storage, mobile operating systems).
If you absolutely need surveillance cameras for your safety, use generic IP cameras connected to your own NVR (network video recorder), possibly with Frigate for offline AI processing and notifications. Nothing should ever leave your network; the data should be encrypted and only shared with the police when it is in your interest.
I have that sort of arrangement. I've been wondering though. What's the proper data access protocol? Like I want it available, easily, if the police need it and I'm not there but at the same time, I don't want anyone to just screw around with it because I've got directions and password printed on paper somewhere.
We did have some repeated night time visitors (long story, but it was some mistaken identity that took a while to sleuth out) it wasn't difficult to export data for the police but it wasn't something I'd just ask my wife or kids to do either. Scan the footage, find the timestamps, export the data then upload the data somewhere where they can get at it. It wasn't hard but it was chores and it took time with high emotions.
First off, it's not inexpensive. It's not a giant investment either but my cameras cost in the same range as the Nest cameras do and then there is a relatively powerful mini pc, and an accelerator for AI detection and then drives to store the data, PoE switch, network segmentation... I'm rocking home assistant and frigate and 8 8k cameras. Then the much more subtle part is I have a pretty good idea when I'd like the police to have all the data and when I don't want that. That's not so easy if I was abducted. Perhaps an off the shelf complete solution is better and has that sort of law enforcement access situation sorted out. This is sort of the 0.000001% kind of thing though. Over the years, I've replaced drives a couple times too, it's becomes a living and breathing system that needs support and love.
The problem is that your advice doesn't work for 99% of the customer base. Go the average person "if you absolutely need surveillance cameras for your safety, use generic IP cameras connected to your own NVR (network video recorder), possibly with Frigate for offline AI processing and notifications." and see what they say. It's important to remember if you are on this site you are an extreme minority and the average person isn't even aware enough to think about these things, let alone set up their own offline AI video processor.
Fair point, but security cameras, despite their name, do very little for your security as evidenced by the news. Most people don't need one, and only have Rings/Nests and other similar spyware because of a combination of fearmongering, aggressive marketing, and pricing subsidized by data collection (spyware). If you truly fear for your safety, you should purchase a shotgun, not a Nest camera.
In any case, when you don't have the skills required to do something, you can hire someone who does. I pay a plumber because I don't have plumbing skills and tools, so it's not unreasonable to pay someone to set up a local camera system for you if you want one.
Our camera has been of great use. In fact has largely made us money. We had an incident where a fire truck damaged our car in the street with its hose. We thought a kid with a bat did the damage at first. The camera though showed the real culprit. When we told the fire department they denied it and said there were no firetrucks in the area. We sent the video footage and then they sent a city lawyer with a checkbook.
I had a situation where a tree limb fell on to an early morning garbage truck. The truck transported the limb a few hundred feet. It then
Slid off and smashed thru my van window. It started to rain. I appeared shortly after trying to figure out how a 10’ heavy limb would smash thru my window, things are just starting to get wet, and there are no trees around.
>Their primary purpose is not to protect you but to spy on you for Google's benefit, much like the rest of their dis-services (email, cloud storage, mobile operating systems).
I know! i’d sure hate for Google and the police to be able to identify someone who has kidnapped and/or perhaps murdered me. I’ll be uninstalling all my cameras
immediately. Whose with me? /s
(Notwithstanding: My cameras thermostats etc all go through a wrt3200 router logged into expressvpn on a dedicated ssid/vlan . Amazon and Google pissed me off purchasing Ring and Nest (respectively) so they can plug that into their advertising bullshit and that was my reaction to both of those companies… they get iot devices connecting from some vultr VPS or whatever, and the other way they get you is with all the crap and trackers in their smartphone apps — at least according to Exodus Project - so THATS on a burner android piped through the same SSID too.)
Granted some of that’s by necessity because half the apps for this kind of crap aren’t available in the Mexico iTunes Store but I’ll just shut up now.
> i’d sure hate for Google and the police to be able to identify someone who has kidnapped and/or perhaps murdered me.
You seem to overlook the more likely scenario where the camera is used against you in some way, whether by a government agency or for tracking and profiling by tech companies. You also, perhaps involuntarily, enable surveillance of your neighbors, family and friends.
For most people, those same family and friends are often more of an (actual) risk than the gov’t, especially the current gov’t right now.
The current gov’t is going after minorities in high profile, low effectiveness sweeps to ragebait everyone. That by definition is only going to impact a very tiny percentage of the population at once.
> Their primary purpose is not to protect you but to spy on you
Here I was thinking the primary purpose was to see who's at the door and check if Doordash and packages have been delivered. We've also used them to "spy" on our cats to be sure they're using the litter box while on vacation, and even to "spy" on wildlife in our backyard.
Not everything needs to be a conspiracy. These devices are useful and practical and have value.
Also, lest it get lost in the chorus of voices telling us to throw these things out: the actual news here is that the device appears to have provided an actual evidentiary lead in the investigation of an actual (and horrifying) crime. That has value too, even if kidnappings are rare.
> The US averages 23 pedestrian deaths per million people per year. The EU averages 8.
Americans drive significantly more miles per year, and larger/more comfortable cars are in part needed because Americans spend far more time in their cars than Europeans.
Euro governments are also increasingly anti-car, which means citizens are loosing their freedom to travel as they wish and unreasonably taxed, policed, and treated like cash cows for the "privilege" of driving.
> which means citizens are loosing their freedom to travel as they wish
Most of my European friends brag about how they can get anywhere via train and how much more comfortable it is to travel that way. When I visit Europe I have to agree. Just haven't really seen this viewpoint, though I do think I would feel this way as an American if I moved to Europe to some extent (though I'd be extremely happy to have viable mass transit).
Meta gets to spy on the communication habits and networks of half of the planet through Whatsapp. Since Meta is essentially a mass surveillance company, the acquisition makes a lot of sense.
> He said YouTube Premium - its service letting users pay to remove ads between videos, or songs on its music service - had helped boost paid subscriptions across Google consumer services to more than 325 million in 2025 overall.
325 million people that don't know about Firefox and uBlock Origin?
I pay for YouTube premium and it’s one of my happiest expenditures. YouTube is a miraculous, unbelievable treasure trove. Learn any language, any musical instrument, any academic subject. TV clips from the 80s that someone taped in VHS for some reason. Isaac Arthur, Veritaseum, numberphile. I’ve gotten more value from YouTube than any other single site on the internet, and it’s not close!
I want to use it on my Apple TV and don’t want to fiddle around with VPNs. It’s the only streaming service I pay for and I’m happily doing it. It also pays creators I’m watching which is a nice feel-good benefit.
It is very amusing to read HN comments that complain about the "enshittification" of free platforms while simultaneously mocking those who would pay for stuff they like. YT is dollar for dollar the best digital subscription I pay for and I pay it gladly.
I don't think one should mock people who are paying for youtube. If they find it's good, then it's laudable to pay for it. But that said, I personally can't relate to that position. There just isn't any content on youtube that I find interesting enough that I would pay for it. It's a time waster for me, not something I seek out because it's a compelling way to spend my time.
Youtube has reached the terminal stage of enshittification:
• the good stuff is VHS-quality TV content that somebody pirated
• the ads, once nonexistent, are typically disreputable and now incessant
• the few 'creators' worth watching are lost in an ocean of audience-captured, brain-dead garbage "hey guys... [product placement disguised as organic content]... misinformation... remember to like and subscribe... [product placement disguised as organic content]"
• access becomes increasingly arcane due to ad-blocking measures
• one of the lowest quality comments sections - largely inorganic, rogue state-sponsored - on the internet
• increasingly just AI slop
The day I can't scrape videos via yt-dlp is last day I permit youtube domains on my network. Personally, I would prefer to eat a rotten cat carcass than pay a single cent to Youtube.
In a better world, youtube would be some kind of a protocol, not a mediocre company serving as a middleman.
i am a subscriber as firefox + ublock origin does not work on phone (on android, i think? last time i checked) and neither on smart tvs (mine is rokutv)
NewPipe and IronFox (hardened Firefox) for Android, although I suspect these need to be "sideloaded" as Google won't allow them on the Play Store. (I run Graphene so this does not apply to me.)
For the TV, I would suggest VacuumTube (a frontend to the Leanback interface) on a free/libre box running Linux.
Firefox and ublock origin won't help you play music in the background on your iphone while using another app......tons of other situations like that. Think a bit more instead of wasting peoples time with pointless and braindead comments please. I say this as an android/linux user.
Why was this posted to HN? There is nothing new or original in the setup presented. People have been self-hosting all kinds of things on commodity hardware for decades, even things said to be "impossible" to self-host like email.
Also, nobody should be buying an (overpriced) Raspberry Pi for self-hosting, when used mini-PCs are faster, more reliable (no SD card, better cooling), and often cheaper.
Finally, I don't think you should use Proxmox in a home setting: too much abstraction, too much overhead (mainly memory). Use Docker where it makes sense, and deploy the rest bare metal.
There's nothing new or original in a lot of things that get posted here. Reading about someone starting a journey provides an interesting catalyst for discussion. What they did right, what they did wrong, other things to try, or even just providing a push to someone else to also try.
I'll take my turn on the soapbox to say I hope people keep posting about their adventures and misadventures in trying something new. I'd much rather be reading that than seeing yet another post on LLM-based agentic startups or pelicans riding bicycles.
reply