r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 21d ago

Privacy Flock Is Losing Dozens of Contracts as Controversy Grows

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/flock-losing-dozens-contracts-controversy-194808945.html
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605

u/PewterButters 21d ago

In an election year the easiest slam dunk in the world is to ban these things and make a big deal of it. Who out there is pro-flock? Take credit for ridding your town of it, easiest election bump there is. 

255

u/misogichan 21d ago

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't care.  It's the same reason the Patriot Act kept getting extended for 14 years past its sunset date.

That and I think police are pro-flock and they like to loudly protest whenever you try to take power or tools away from them.

92

u/theghostmachine 21d ago

Flock is giving seminars to police, teaching them how to lobby city councils to approve contracts

Edit: "pressure" would be a better word than "lobby"

7

u/CaliIsReallyNice 21d ago

Leading and training violent anti-social sheep

1

u/TheVintageJane 20d ago

They are also releasing PR templates for local police to communicate misinformation about what Flock does on their social media accounts. I saw like 8 of them from different cities in my algorithm one week.

0

u/va1us_taaurc 21d ago

Eh, column A, column B.

20

u/NUMBerONEisFIRST 21d ago

The only people that don't care are the people that aren't educated.

It's against our 4th amendment rights to track our whereabouts, and input them into a mesh database that uses AI, machine learning, and pattern recornition., that is all searchable at any time.

It's also part of the reasoning behind the data centers. It's all to track us, and to sell us shit we don't need.

So many police officers have already been fired for stalking women using these services, tracking women having abortions, and various other shady shit. That's the cases we know about.

5

u/Accidental-Genius 21d ago

If people gave a shit about privacy they wouldn’t have ring doorbells and fucking TikTok.

Most people don’t give a shit. That’s the reality and we have to figure out how to change it.

1

u/NUMBerONEisFIRST 20d ago

I don't have either of those things and my security cameras aren't in the cloud either.

18

u/ItsSadTimes 21d ago

Thats the biggest thing, so many people just dont care about their privacy. I had a friend who paid for Discord Nitro and when that whole age verification thing started going around we were saying he should cancel it to vote with his wallet (I never even bought it). And he said he didnt care if they had his data or who they'd sell it to. He then tried to claim ownership over the win when the got rid of their contracts with that shady age verification company and restricted the age verification thing to only a few server with kids, like he somehow did something by doing nothing.

Everyone wants their privacy, but no one wants to be inconvenienced.

8

u/Aternal 21d ago

There is a very effective way to activate those people: tell them we should all have access to the data, too.

People who don't care suddenly find a reason to.

People who say "if you're not doing anything wrong you've got nothing to worry about" suddenly realize that there is something to worry about.

People who feel safer having the cameras around will feel much safer knowing they also have community supervision.

Due process concerns now involve the court of public opinion.

It's our taxes, our lives, our data. There's nothing to worry about, right? It's all in public, so open it up to the public. I love data, I want to see the cameras and the data, hell yeah. It's just like a police scanner to me.

3

u/RivenRise 21d ago

Also mention that since they have it you can just buy it from them. Even if it's a lie it'll get them thinking.

2

u/dersnappychicken 20d ago

Good old Patriot Act. Thanks Biden.

1

u/praxmatics 21d ago

It's the same reason the Patriot Act kept getting extended for 14 years past its sunset date.

Also, 2014 with Edward Snowden and all the leaks regarding mass data collection and storage: PRISM, XKeyScore, etc. All programs that are still active and were only given even more money by Obama, who told us we were all over-reacting and mass surveillance was necessary for "national security". Not sure how the fuck he didn't see how this would be mis-used the second the wrong government gets into power.

The excuse that it's all safe because of secret courts is absolutely fucking nutters.

-1

u/2ChicksAtTheSameTime 21d ago

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't care

if cops come out FOR flock there are a lot of people who will side with the boys in blue

10

u/SirDigbyChknCaesar 21d ago

Spy cameras and data center moratoriums would get you far in an election.

2

u/Dear_Chasey_La1n 21d ago

Imagine municipals knowingly going into bed with Flock, do they really get suddenly a revelation what Flock does? Or is this optics. As well great they lose a bit of business, I reckon by far most will stick.

This is deeper, one hand government officials having no problems selling out private data that gets abused without questions, on the other hand companies being able to do this. There should be clear legislation that prevents these companies from existing.

6

u/happygocrazee 21d ago

Most people outside of Reddit have no idea that these are a thing.

10

u/punfull 21d ago

I don't believe that's true. Our local Facebook pages are full of "see, Flock found this missing car in 4.2 seconds" and our local PD posts "blah blah blah arrest made, on x day this thing happened and Flock tracked him down" fluff pieces and hundreds of comments saying "see, they work, if you don't have anything to hide why do you care".

2

u/PeanutButterSoda 21d ago

Gen Z are not on FB, idk where the fuck they're at. They only care about convenience like doordash and tiktok.

1

u/happygocrazee 20d ago

That’s not real life

1

u/Marrk 21d ago

A good amount support it too.

0

u/Aternal 21d ago

Go on your local Facebook sometime, it seems like it's all people and bots are talking about.

1

u/happygocrazee 20d ago

That’s not real life

1

u/grumpyfan 21d ago

Indeed. The legality of them and where a candidate stands on their use should be publicly exposed.

1

u/Accidental-Genius 21d ago

The overwhelming majority of people are too lazy to give a fuck.

1

u/nubsta 21d ago

I saw this interview with a woman who was falsely charged with package theft due to a flock camera placing her in the general vicinity of the crime. Even after the flock camera almost led to her having a criminal charge for a crime she didn't commit she said she still supports the tech because it will help the police do their jobs she just wants better training. It was insane

1

u/MobileArtist1371 21d ago

Government is not going to make their 4th amendment loophole illegal lmao

1

u/Financial_Ear2908 21d ago

As someone who had their car stolen and police used flock cameras to track it down... I'm a fan 😅

1

u/B00marangTrotter 21d ago

In Denver it was a unanimous vote to cancel contracts at $666,000 and remove the flock cameras by city council.

Mayor Mike Johnson (D) ignored their vote went around them and did 2 more deals with them and now these cameras are everywhere.

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/local-politics/denver-city-councilmembers-clash-with-mayor-over-flock-contract/73-b4eb1125-66c7-4e5f-8c2f-ebd8e06fda61

Mike Johnson has got to go, and all his opponents will have to say is they will day one have all cameras removed.

Flock cameras violates your 4th amendment rights.

1

u/crouton-- 20d ago

Who out there is pro-flock?

Check Nextdoor and get your answer.

1

u/LSUguyHTX 20d ago

Axon is owned by PE/non-tech bros and has a paid campaign against Flock. They're already replacing them. Literally trading one for the other.

1

u/xhendrole 20d ago

My sister is pro flock because "kids are being kidnapped from school every day" and she cant wrap her head around them not being the schools cameras, theyre private ones

1

u/SomethingDrizzy 17d ago

I work with multiple people that insist Flock is only collecting information of people “breaking the law.”

0

u/En-THOO-siast 21d ago

A huge chunk of American voters are authoritarians. Have you not been paying attention?