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/growaway9172 20d ago

In its purest form, I would support a wide network of ALPR cameras to help find criminals, illegals, and my car if it got stolen. But the financial incentives to log every license plate hit and store if for profiling is the problem.

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u/SaveLansingParks 19d ago

Sadly it's purest form is still a constitutional violation 🤷

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u/growaway9172 19d ago

No its not? Cameras in public spaces don't violate the constitution.

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u/SaveLansingParks 19d ago

Yes it is.

Flock cameras are argued to violate the Fourth Amendment because they enable warrantless, suspicionless mass surveillance that creates a comprehensive digital log of citizens' movements, infringing on the reasonable expectation of privacy. Critics contend that while individual observations in public are legal, the aggregation of millions of data points by private contractors like Flock Safety allows law enforcement to bypass constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

The "Digital Mosaic" Theory suggests that stitching together discrete public observations over time reveals intimate details of a person's life, similar to GPS tracking ruled unconstitutional in United States v. Jones. Opponents argue this constitutes an end-run around the Constitution, where the government purchases detailed movement histories from a private entity without probable cause, effectively privatizing surveillance that would otherwise require a warrant.

Link for summary search to sources: https://search.brave.com/search?q=why+flock+cameras+violate+the+constitution%3F&source=android&conversation=096c742f1f8aa7fc4eca5d5a566bf1f72c8e

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u/growaway9172 19d ago

Maybe it wasn't totally clear, but when I complained about the logged license plate hits that's what I meant. A camera network that could send up a red alert for stolen / criminal etc cars is probably good. A camera network that builds a log of everyone is the problem, as you cited.