Stolen Campaign Lawn Signs Tracked with Hidden Apple AirTags (businessinsider.com) 79
An anonymous reader shared this report from Business Insider:
It's a political tale as old as time: put up a campaign poster in your yard, and thieves come to snatch it. But according to The Wall Street Journal, those fed up with front lawn looting are embracing a modern solution. Apple's geo-tracking AirTag devices are helping owners find their signs — and sometimes, even the people who stole them.
The practice has already led to charges. In one example cited by the outlet, Florida politician John Dittmore decided to hide the coin-sized gadget on one of his posters after waking up to a number of thefts in May... [Two teenagers were charged with criminal mischief and the theft of nine signs.]
In other cited cases, stolen signs don't end up with teens, but in the homes of electoral opponents. After Chris Torre became the victim of poster snatching, AirTags led him to the residence of Renee Rountree, the Journal said. Both were running for a seat on the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors in Virginia. Her son-in-law was charged with a misdemeanor for stealing the property, while Rountree faced a misdemeanor for receiving stolen goods. In a December trial, she noted plans to return the signs. Rountree has since been ordered to 250 hours of community service.
"I would like to think that this will have a huge deterrent effect," the trial's judge said in the court's transcript, quoted by WSJ.
The practice has already led to charges. In one example cited by the outlet, Florida politician John Dittmore decided to hide the coin-sized gadget on one of his posters after waking up to a number of thefts in May... [Two teenagers were charged with criminal mischief and the theft of nine signs.]
In other cited cases, stolen signs don't end up with teens, but in the homes of electoral opponents. After Chris Torre became the victim of poster snatching, AirTags led him to the residence of Renee Rountree, the Journal said. Both were running for a seat on the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors in Virginia. Her son-in-law was charged with a misdemeanor for stealing the property, while Rountree faced a misdemeanor for receiving stolen goods. In a December trial, she noted plans to return the signs. Rountree has since been ordered to 250 hours of community service.
"I would like to think that this will have a huge deterrent effect," the trial's judge said in the court's transcript, quoted by WSJ.
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People, and thieves, our smart enough to look for them, and remove them, in nearly every situation, where they were used for theft deterrence.
Smart thieves, yes; but I would guess the average thieves IQ is somewhere near room temperature.
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NAK
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Thank you for your censor mod points? That's probably the best metric available on Slashdot to detect having said something worth reusing with emphasis...
Obviously can't challenge the trolls to a battle of wits. The think about picking on the unarmed opponent.
A lot of this is driven by online chatter (Score:2)
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Much of it from troll and bot accounts. So it will very quickly get around if they need to check for the air tags and that they need to dispose of the signs quickly. Because they're instructions are coming from professionals
Maybe, although suspect in my neighborhood it's the MAGA folks that get so enraged by a D sign they feel the need to grab it. I get multiple signs so as soon as it's down another one goes up, and I live rent free in their heads with a big FU to their desire to have only their side heard.
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Maybe, although suspect in my neighborhood it's the MAGA folks that get so enraged by a D sign they feel the need to grab it.
In the article they list three people. The first is John Dittmore (R), stolen by "teens". The second is Chris Torre (I), stolen by Renee Rountree (I). The third was Vinny Panico (R), stolen by a "local committeeman", no name or affiliation but in NJ I'm betting they aren't (R).
I've seen numerous stories in the news over the last few years and the ones being stolen from are invariably (R), I'll leave it to you to figure out the affiliation of the thief
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Maybe, although suspect in my neighborhood it's the MAGA folks that get so enraged by a D sign they feel the need to grab it.
In the article they list three people. The first is John Dittmore (R), stolen by "teens". The second is Chris Torre (I), stolen by Renee Rountree (I). The third was Vinny Panico (R), stolen by a "local committeeman", no name or affiliation but in NJ I'm betting they aren't (R).
I've seen numerous stories in the news over the last few years and the ones being stolen from are invariably (R), I'll leave it to you to figure out the affiliation of the thief
I suspect it depends on the local population, and where I leave its the (D) signs that disappear, so yea, I pretty much can "figure out the affiliation of the thief".
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Re:Air tags are not a deterrent. (Score:4, Interesting)
If thieves were smart, they wouldn't be thieves.
Let me fix this: if thieves were smart they wouldn't be regarded as thieves. There is a saying in Romania that goes something like "The uncaught thief is a honest merchant".
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Did you even read the post? Apparently in this case they worked just fine
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History says otherwise (Score:1)
People, and thieves, our smart enough to look for them, and remove them, in nearly every situation, where they were used for theft deterrence.
First of all, you are plainly wrong with the "removed in nearly every situation" when this very summary has stories of people finding the signs based on them and also of course countless tales of cars, backpacks and bikes that have been recovered via AirTag.
But beyond that who would actually think to look for an AirTag on a sign? Few people would expect that.
You also
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Nobody in their right mind would assume somebody put a $20 Airtag on a $2 sign.
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People, and thieves, our smart enough to look for them, and remove them, in nearly every situation, where they were used for theft deterrence.
If you're stealing high value things like bikes, kinda. The addicts stealing them may not think to look for them but the fence certainly will.
Campaign signs on the other hand. That's either an impulse crime (so you may not be thinking clearly), or a strategic crime where you need to steal a lot to affect the election, and checking for airtags isn't really feasible. Either way, even if you know about the airtag possibility that's a lot of effort (looking for it) and risk (you might miss it) for very little r
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People, and thieves, our smart enough to look for them, and remove them, in nearly every situation, where they were used for theft deterrence
That might be true for thieves who are professionals and clever. People stealing campaign sign are very often neither.
And an Airtag has a battery life of a year. Which means I can built it _into_ the campaign sign where you never find it.
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Nonsense (Score:1)
We all know the real threat to our democracy is Russia, not your neighbor.
Re:Nonsense (Score:4, Insightful)
We all know the real threat to our democracy is Russia, not your neighbor.
Unless Russia is your neighbor.
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We all know the real threat to our democracy is Russia, not your neighbor.
Why can there be only one real threat to democracy?
In my opinion, the real threats to the US democratic system is less from a hot war and more so from Americans who use the legal system to chip away at the democratic institutions and processes and Americans who use extra-legal mobs and maneuvers to do the same.
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Nah (Score:1, Troll)
Political lawn signs are an eyesore - regardless of party affiliation or level of government. I don't care if they cost money. I don't care if your property is "private" or not. Fuck all the political signage.
Re:Nah (Score:5, Insightful)
Fuck all the political signage.
You are entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to express your opinion in offensive ways.
So are other people.
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That's fine. Don't do it with dumbass yard signs. And definitely don't put them in a tree lawn, if your house has one, as that land is, almost always, owned by the city. As such, I especially have no problems with removing the signs from the city property as I can now classify it as trash.
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Do you live in the US?
I had to look up the term "tree lawn" as I was unfamiliar with the term, it's just not used where I grew up in Washington State.
In this part of the US your single family zoned property line will extend to the curb and your responsible for taxes on and maintenance of that property.
The city or county the property is in may require a sidewalk and there is often a parking strip (you referred to this as a tree lawn) between the curb and sidewalk.
The property owner still owns these areas and
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Tree lawns go by many, many different names - parking strip is one of the stupider ones. And as I said, their almost always owned by the city. Not yours clearly. Most other cities, you're still responsible for maintaining it, but don't own it. If you leave your personal property unattended on city property AND it has next to no actual monetary value (i.e. political signs) AND I don't want it there, then I'm removing it and putting it the trash where it belongs. Keep your shit to yourself. And I'm not steali
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I don't care if your property is "private" or not.
FAFO*
*Not a fan of stupid lawn signs... but a believer in karma and in private property... Fuck Around and Find Out what the consequences are.
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That's ok. Karma is a bullshit and doesn't exist. You want private property, put a solid wall around it.
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FAFO, bro
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Already have. The finding out part seemed to be a bit of a letdown.
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simpler solution (Score:1)
Just douse them with lighter fluid and set fire. Don't bother moving them anywhere.
Re:simpler solution (Score:4, Funny)
Brilliant. Convert a misdemeanor theft into felony arson.
This is a real problem (Score:5, Insightful)
This was a real problem in the last Canadian election in 2021. Signs were being stolen and vandalized at an incredible rate. On one main corner near my house, they actually set up a security camera on a long pole just to keep an eye on the sign and stop it from being vandalized.
The fact that people think it's OK to do this is sad and scary and not a harbinger of good times for democracy.
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How are roadside political signs good for democracy in the first place? Unless Canada's signs have nuanced political position details as opposed to a colour, photo and name, they have literally zero positive impact on any kind of meaningful democratic process.
Re:This is a real problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Whether or not you think roadside signs are good for democracy, unilaterally deciding to vandalize them is bad for democracy.
If you think roadside signs are not good for democracy, by all means campaign to have them forbidden... but do it in a legal and democratic manner.
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Campaign signs can't be forbidden in the U.S. The ACLU has made it clear that if a town tries to enforce its sign laws on your signs that are on your property, it will fight the town in court based on free speech. Therefore there is nothing anyone can do about the spammy proliferation of campaign signs placed on private property, besides complain about it on the internet. So don't tell us we should mount a campaign against it, such campaigning would go nowhere.
This is aside from the far more widespread prob
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So don't tell us we should mount a campaign against it, such campaigning would go nowhere.
Well, I will oppose you too. It's not just the ACLU. Welcome to democracy, maybe you should put out a lawn sign in front of your house opposing lawn signs.
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Note that I was referring to a situation in Canada, where the ACLU does not exist.
I am pretty sure, however, that our Constitution's guarantee of freedom of expression would protect political signs just as much as the US Constitution does.
In Canada, election signs can be placed on public and private property, but they are regulated. You can only place them in certain spots, you can't place them more than 45 days before an election, and you have to remove them within 72 hours of the election. The rules
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How are roadside political signs good for democracy in the first place?
They aren't good. They aren't bad either, being a nuisance isn't a problem for democracy. But okaying the practice of theft and vandalism of something belonging to a political opponent is objectively anti-democratic and dangerous.
There was a kid in my high school... (Score:2)
who was arrested for throwing rocks and breaking windows.
Turned out his dad owned a window replacement business.
Point is, teens will do these things of their own volition.
Community service for theft? (Score:3)
250 hours of community service is not exactly a punishment for a person of politics. She is going to gain more political mileage with this. She will claim she is all to serve the community and serving the community is her sole purpose in life... blah blah blah. Instead, she should have been ordered to walk on the streets of her constituency with handcuffs. That would have had a "huge deterrent effect."
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she should have been ordered to walk on the streets of her constituency with handcuffs
She should be trialled and punished accordance with the written laws of the land. No more. No less. Can you point to where a public humiliation is listed in sentencing guidelines in her state?
For the record you're talking about someone running for political office here. The idea that you should make up a punishment in this specific case is objectively dangerous to democracy. At least it is if you're not Donald Trump since the idea if arbitrarily locking up rivals being dangerous is behind his understanding.
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Agreed, there is no law that could sentence her to "public humiliation". That was an emotional response.
But my point is that, that particular punishment is not really a deterrent. But again, she wouldn't be an ordinary person if she is running to become a law maker. The laws much change to factor in such behavior by potential law makers. Unfortunately, law makers won't pass any laws against themselves. At least the election commission should have laws against such behavior by candidates that would have a "h
Missing From the Summary (Score:3)
For context: Although this election isn't supposed to be partisan, Rountree is a conservative with close ties to the state Republican party. From The Smithfield Times, a local newspaper:
"In the supposedly nonpartisan supervisor election, Yoakum dug up âoedirtâ on the write-in candidate, Chris Torre, and fed it to then-Supervisor Dick Grice and his anointed successor, Rountree, we learned from a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request earlier this year. This is what the Isle of Wight GOP has become during a time when Virginia Republicans should be riding high over the success of one of the nationâ(TM)s most popular governors..."
https://www.smithfieldtimes.com/2024/06/17/editorial-craziness-from-iw-gop/ [smithfieldtimes.com]
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For context: Although this election isn't supposed to be partisan, Rountree is a conservative with close ties to the state Republican party
I actually took the time in a comment above to look up everybody involved in this article. Rountree and Torre are both independents. The other two stolen from were both (R).
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No, you didn't.
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No, you didn't.
The article doesn't mention party affiliation so how do you think I found out these two were both registered as Independents? And that the other two were Republicans? The answer is because I looked them up. Pffftttt
she had plans to return the signs (Score:2)
i wish the article could have dug in a little further on Rene’s plans to return the signs. were the plans documented? was there a concrete date that the signs would be returned? i even want to know who was going to return them, the thieves or her? i have so many questions.
I wish they'd put this much energy... (Score:2)
... into enforcing the removal of signs in a timely manner after elections. They're supposed to retrieve them all right afterward; but the signs seem to linger for many months afterward around here.
Re: I wish they'd put this much energy... (Score:2)
I like political signs (Score:1)
The logic, background and other information conveyed by a sign with a candidate’s name helps me decide who to vote for. That said, I find that I change my mind a lot the more I drive around town and see other signs.
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You jest, but it works. Plenty of people are strongly influenced by apparent popularity, and having far more signs out than another candidate is going to shift some votes. Or from the other perspective, having far fewer signs than an opponent can discourage people from voting because they don't want to vote for a losing team.
It's the same kind of herd mentality that results in a small number of extremely popular kids in high school. We're just wired for it.
thanks for the information (Score:2)
Wrong approach (Score:2)
Surprised they were charged (Score:4, Interesting)
Dollars ehh (Score:2)
Way more fun this way (Score:2)
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Youtube has many a video of signs that were boobytrapped [youtube.com]. Thieves got a good wakeup.
Re: Way more fun this way (Score:2)
air tags are not hard to spot if you know to look (Score:2)
Thanks to these stories, now people know to check.
Not a campaign sign but (Score:1)
community service (Score:2)