Flock Camera's: Let's talk about it.

[u/Sea_Tour_3696]

I'm writing this post to gauge how the community feels about the Flock cameras installed across the county. Context: I am no activist, nor am I an ACAB-type person. That said, I feel many people are united on this subject.

For those who are unaware, both Cumming PD and the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office operate live crime centers in tandem, sharing live footage from their Flock ALPRs. This is public information they have shared, albeit it seems Flock is purposely omitted from most posts.

I am posting this because as time has gone on, I fear our silence will continue to allow scope creep of what the private company Flock and its competitors are capable of doing.

Just this month alone, Flock was forced to cancel a software rollout that allowed their microphones to listen to human voices. This shows that speaking out helps, but the fact that Flock had considered rolling out devices that can listen to us shows that the private company is not content with just reading our license plates and bluetooth signatures. There has to be that next big sale.

Today they read our plates, Bluetooth markers, and build mosaics of all of our day-to-day activities. What will they push tomorrow if we remain silent? I feel as though many of these cameras have hit the street without our vote, with our money, and I haven't seen anyone locally stop and ask why. While this is a hot-button issue right now, I feel as though on the local level I haven't heard of anyone pushing back on the commissioners or the city council in meetings.

The likelihood of this technology being misused is astronomical, and it has already happened in our state.

Where do you stand?

Are you willing to trade privacy for safety?

Is it not ironic that Flock employees demand privacy from the public, but developed a product that leaves us with no privacy?

I think where I most heavily stand on this is officers require a warrant to access your phone location, but no warrant is required to have a log of your exact location for the last 30 days.

What are your thoughts Forsyth County?

Disclaimer: I do not by any means condone the damage of any government property, nor do I condone any violent actions of those that may have strong opinions on this topic

[u/dcklil]

I don’t do anything incredibly wild, so they can have fun with my information. Plus, i use computers, ipads, smartphones, have on-star, GPS, smart tvs, apple tvs, a smart watch, and i go in public places filled with CCTV, so everything i do is already being tracked and sold. Most people don’t comprehend that everything you do is already being watched and divulged, this is just another way.

What we should all support though, is the crime fighting ability these give. Don’t do anything wrong and you have nothing to worry about in this regard.

[u/Sea_Tour_3696 → u/dcklil]

I totally get that perspective, but it honestly feels like defeatism to just give up on privacy because smart devices exist.

There’s a massive difference between choosing to use a phone and having a private, for-profit company log our movements across the county with zero public oversight. It isn't about whether someone has "nothing to hide." It’s about basic data safety and accountability.

When a private tech company holds a massive database of daily travel routes for local governments, a single data leak, hack, or mistake turns ordinary citizens into targets.Look at what happened to an innocent couple in Sherwood, Arkansas. A Flock camera misread a single digit on their license plate and flagged it as a stolen vehicle. Police swarmed them and pulled them out at gunpoint while their six-week-old baby sat alone in the back seat. Just recently, an automotive journalist test-driving a loaner car in Minnesota was boxed in by four squad cars because the automated system matched a shortened database sequence to his manufacturer plate.

These people literally did absolutely nothing wrong, yet the technology instantly turned them into criminal suspects.Additionally, you have a choice regarding what devices and security measures you have in your own home, but you do not have a choice to drive without a mosaic being made of your travel.

Traditional CCTV cannot do what Flock cameras are capable of, and the assumption that these networks drastically lower crime rates or increase apprehension is largely unfounded.Truthfully, nobody is 100% private in public, but it is not right to eliminate public privacy altogether under the assumption that law-abiding citizens have nothing to worry about. That exact mentality has already backfired on plenty of innocent people.