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How to steal a bike in NYC

uneasysilence
Demos
YouTube
Cited on HN 3 times, 2009–2015, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN cites it as a demonstration of bystander indifference to bike theft.

A 2006 video showing a man openly cutting the lock and stealing a bike in New York City while passersby, including police, ignore him.

“reminds me of this video showing indifference in NYC (even with cops in sight).” (HN, 2009)

3 citations · Demos

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@Jach Dec 2014 Cites it
on HN thread What happens to your bike after it’s stolen
Read more
Bit of a difference from harsh punishment not deterring theft of something you need to live vs. theft of something like a bike. When the punishments for stealing anything at all are as severe as hanging, exile, or losing a hand, do you really expect much else besides necessities to be stolen? I suppose you still might expect all sorts of things to be stolen if the chance of getting caught is nil, as it is with bikes -- you still need a strong enough probability of getting caught to back up whatever punishment is decreed, which is why bait bikes can be a helpful tool. I doubt better locks would work, I remembered this video from years ago on how even ridiculous methods of stealing a bike won't get much attention: [this video] (And if they did, a thief can probably convince most people it's their own bike and they lost the key/combo -- I kind of suspect that possibility goes through the minds of onlookers anyway.)
Shows bike theft draws little attention.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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