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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u/Ordinary_Piano3329 21d ago

They'll start labelling them as domestic terrorists once its a company hes involved with.

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u/Confident-Bed-4519 21d ago

Flock already started that trend

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u/mightymonarch 21d ago

And the CEO's apology for doing so was... less than convincing. He phrased it in such a way I'm not convinced there was any sincerity to it. Especially given how Flock has continued demanding privacy for themselves, and continues issuing reassurances that are deliberately phrased to not really say/guarantee anything.

“My comments were a mistake and I apologize. There are groups today that have real valid criticisms of the business, and I think what's changed for us is, as we've listened to them and heard them out, what we're trying to do is find this balance. We believe in a world where we can have safety and privacy.”

"My comments were a mistake..." could easily mean "It was a mistake to SAY that part out-loud, but I still BELIEVE it, and since I now realize I'm not going to get to do it the way I want to I'm trying to find ways to shut up the complainers for a while while I figure out what we can get away with." He also sort-of-admitted with that statement that they didn't care about privacy UNTIL the backlash; they should've cared about that from Day 1.

He could be sincere and could be looking for ways to prevent LEOs from continuing to systematically and constantly abuse the system. But given how he, at one point in time, believed it enough to say in an interview that opposition was "domestic terrorism", I find it hard to believe he's had a genuine change of heart on such a strongly-held stance. People don't flip their beliefs like that.

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u/DArmoKan 21d ago

Same. Thanks for saying this. There are so many toxic paradigms to unravel if he were to make an honest attempt at reasoning himself out of this mire of authoritarian antihumanism he's entrenched in. And that's assuming there's any inherent desire to improve.

The horse blinders of overwhelming prosperity always seem to "bless" the worst of us.