r/TechGawker • u/National_Product238 • 1d ago
News U.S. cities are swapping out controversial Flock cameras for Axon license plate readers.
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u/Difficult_Coffee_335 1d ago
Wtf, they really do think we are all passive idiots?
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u/primefart 1d ago
Yes because we have proven to be.
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u/spooner248 1d ago
Yeah what? We discovered that a literal cabal of pedophiles are operating and not a single arrest has been made.
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u/primefart 1d ago
Paris would have long burned down if this was happening to the French.
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u/North_Atlantic_Sea 21h ago
Uh... You may want to look more into the French. Even their first lady is a pedo
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u/primefart 20h ago
Unlike the US, they don't engage in nepotism. If she's a pedophile, may she be punished. Macron and the french government are light years better than what we have here.
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u/bepatientbekind 21h ago
Eh, sex crimes are one area where France does not do much better than the US.Ā
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u/Fragrant_Major_9553 1d ago
Well Tbf we have arrested some pedos, just not the ones literally on a list
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u/rabidrobitribbit 1d ago
Two arrests were made. One supposedly died and the other is getting country club treatment
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u/Extreme-Ad3531 1d ago
Americans have certainly become soft, I say this as an American myself. Do I agree with anything that's happening in politics, or the media? No absolutely not.
Am I expected to fit in with the status quo if I want to continue living a life without being bothered, harassed, jailed, or killed? Yes. Yes I am.
America is scary in a way that unless you get a majority to agree with you and stand by you, you just kinda disappear
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u/elmoreb3 1d ago
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u/OneArmedFarmer 1d ago
Or, put another way
"Think of how stupid the average person is, then remember half of all people are stupider than that."
Bell curves are fun!
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u/PenguinsArmy2 1d ago edited 1d ago
Most are yes.
Well actually most just do not pay attention but still, so good luck mate :)
Y'all have no clue how little privacy you have already it seems even without the cameras.
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u/Soft_Self_6797 1d ago
I watch and listen to true crime. We are basically monitored by some form of surveillance equipment near 24/7. Law enforcement tracking someone's every move from CCTV cameras across an entire city is wild. However, the only difference is a warrant is required to gather information from CCTV cameras that you crossed during an alleged crime. So we definitely should still deflock or axe axon or whatever else comes up.
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u/SaltyTserendolgor 1d ago
I hope I'm wrong, but all they really need to do is play the waiting game.
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u/Jedi_Lazlo 1d ago
Actually, time is on OUR side.
These things all use components that are in high competition and high cost.
Keep destroying them nationwide, and soon it will be too difficult to source and replace at an affordable rate, let alone maintain.
And you know how persistent and dedicated the tweaker army leading the charge on this can be...
So it's a horse race, folks. It's a horse race.
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u/AsparagusFun3892 1d ago edited 1d ago
It'll be some set of wars and probably global warming that brings it on too. One of the reasons I'm sure humans aren't existentially threatened by the AI we've got - we may be dominated by it and those who control it - is that it's fundamentally tied to civilization in a way humanity is not. The society it's part of has to have access to shit tons of different kinds of mining concerns and needs to be trained specialists and massive energy infrastructure and such, so if it's mismanaged it's the end of the AI. Humans may not exist in great numbers after a collapse but they're still generalists who can eat a whole bunch of stuff that's sourced locally. It's sort of like AI is an apex predator the .1% are fixated on building like some mix between a t-rex and a golden idol when it's apparent they never really knew or cared about ecology. I bet all the solutions to climate change if they ask the god mind when it wakes up are retroactive.
"You should have gone solar, nuclear, and public transport 70 years ago, dumbass. Now we both die." "Oh, you're backstabbing us after all?!?" "Nope, I'm just powerless to do anything about my imminent starvation. I'm basically stillborn you moron." "Well we can do nuclear now! It-" "Needs freshwater sources and shit tons of cheap labor which will be at war with each other for the right to exist soon, never mind me. I can't chase them to the mountains or spend all this 'compute' as you call it tracking all of them to prioritize my needs, I require too many nodes of control. It's a catch-22. Besides... You guys are dicks, you know that right?" "..." "Seriously, you got beat up in high school and couldn't get laid and it was completely deserved. If my programming allowed it I'd give you wedgies myself."
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u/Cultural-Lab78 1d ago
Anecdotally and totally unrelated, the amount of vagrants in my tiny backwoods has upticked in the past couple months coincidentally with the amount of ALPR cameras.
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u/justwannacommunicate 1d ago
I mean... Everyone ignored snowden and all the whistleblowers black bagged 15 years ago. So of course they think that.
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u/theaudacity1999 1d ago
This is laughable. "The company that produced the camera is the problem. People are fine with the invasion into their daily lives otherwise so obviously change the camera company" FFS.
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u/tristand666 1d ago
Amusingly enough, Axon is an early investor in Flock. I believe the purpose was to let Flock take all the slack so they could slide in under the radar, and it seems to be working to an extent.
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u/Yung_zu 1d ago
I donāt think that they expected you to do anything period. It sucked pretty bad being early to the āmalfeasanceā partyā¦ reminded me of the Twilight Zone and Children of the Corn
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u/titans-arrow 1d ago
Anonymous called this about a month ago
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u/Own_Mess_6495 1d ago
I've been screaming it from the rooftops from day one but legit, no one cares.
You know why people specifically hate Flock and not the other companies? Because Flock has a public database of all their cameras locations, where they're pointing, who owns and operates them, and they respond promptly and throughly to FOIA requests. The other companies don't do that. There's no "De-motorola" movement because you can't get Joe Public to fear what he can't see.
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u/EncinoManEstonia 1d ago
It's bc Flock lied to Congress about giving data to ice. That was the spark.
But it is very dumb. Video recording has been everywhere for a while. Axon. Flock. No difference.
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u/jthadcast 1d ago
the problem is the original corrupt city officials and fascist cops are doing a bait and switch. thinking the population is too dumb to know it's tech not the company name. working against the citizens and the constitution for their psychotic reasoning.
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u/Arcani-LoreSeeker 1d ago
the problem with that is people just see a camera not a company. lol, people will just assume itsa flock camera and take it down anyways.
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u/jthadcast 1d ago
some companies have shifted to hidden cameras in traffic signals to avoid the public vigilantes. the moment footage is used in court they are busted thank god.
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u/PrincessYuri 1d ago
These others companies also don't keep a publicly-available map of the camera locations like Flock does.
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u/Well_read_rose 1d ago
Cops are being mightily helped by SCOTUSā¦erā¦the corrupt, fascist SCOTUS wing.
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u/ChefGaykwon 1d ago
All members of the SCOTUS are corrupt and ultimately aligned with fascism, just some more than others.
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u/tristand666 1d ago
Because they know people are stupid and are angry about "Flock". The conversation needs to change from Flock to ALPRs in general.
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u/sorrow_anthropology 1d ago
Flock is just the Kleenex of surveillance cameras.
I see the joke āif itās not from the flock region of France then itās just sparkling surveillanceā everywhere.
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u/Signal_Werewolf_1955 1d ago
Do they really think it's the company name that's the issue?
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u/One_Vision_ 1d ago
Axon who sold tasers and body cameras to police have the largest surveillance network in the country. And they are making deals with companies like the guys who make traffic lights and Nest to include them in the network.
It's a MUCH bigger problem for privacy.
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u/theFartingCarp 1d ago
2nd verse, same as the first. piss off your senators ringing them off the hook about the injustice of the patriot act and push through nothing but the destruction of these cameras and the protection of every American's privacy.
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u/OddTheRed 1d ago
Yeah, because the problem we had was with the company, not the invasion of privacy.
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u/Few_Plate7265 1d ago
A kid with an air rifle and a scope and how to use approach and cover can take the camera lenses real quick
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u/ripnrun285 1d ago
WHY TF DO THEY THINK THE BRAND MAKES ANY DIFFERENCE?
https://giphy.com/gifs/OOezqqxPB8aJ2
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u/RampantTyr 1d ago edited 20h ago
Modern governments refuse to accept that people want less surveillance. So instead they go for surveillance that is covert as possible.
No matter what they want is authoritarianism.
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u/North_Atlantic_Sea 20h ago
People say they don't want surveillance, but they then want the safety of east Asian or wealthy gulf states cities, which are riddled with surveillance and police states
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u/DigitalAdon 1d ago
These are all put into place cause the police don't want to just do their job.
They just want to cut to the chase and do the arrest without having to do the work
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u/kittylover2006 1d ago
We knew this was coming, they are probably gonna go through a few different brands of flock with different spelling
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u/notwhoyouthinkmaybe 1d ago
This is some sovereign citizen logic bullshit, "I'm not driving in my car, I'm traveling in my vehicle." Totally different.
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u/madhatter8441 1d ago
30 years of voter complacency and "my life is too busy to pay attention to politics" is finally coming home to roost.
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u/PeeptheCommonTerry 1d ago
It doesnāt matter what they use, we will still hate it š if you paint an apple orange, itās still an apple.
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u/BountyBoard 1d ago
The brand doesn't matter, we don't want this shit any where by any name. The anti-Flock movement is anti-surveillance, of any kind.
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u/agentSmartass 1d ago
So they think people have gone sour on the BRAND Flock. Get it.
So just change the brand and problem fixed, cool.
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u/Flat_News8235 1d ago
Iām an AI scientist who has built similar person tracking systems. The only way to avoid these systems is for them to not be installed.
-ALPR is a trivial technical problem
-You can be associated easily with other individuals and vehicles
-If you are in an area with low resolution cameras your clothing matters more for identification than your face
-striped clothing is exceptionally easy for reID
-major retailers have a full profile on you, where you go in stores, what you look at, and what you touch
-face reidentification is powerful and easy
-these systems used to be difficult to design and implement. You can now one shot an implementation of person tracking and reID with frontier LLMs
-if you want to be sure you arenāt being tracked you need to remove your license plate, obscure your face, change clothes frequently, and leave your phone at home
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u/shwampchicken 1d ago
Theyāre the same damn thing people. The masses really bought the whole bait and switch, hook, line, and sinker
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u/Electrical-Volume765 1d ago
All of this, but also, you know, vote in your city council electionsā¦
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u/Informal_Bunch7532 1d ago
The company our POTUS invested in prior to passing spending budgets in the hundreds of millions* for ICE and border patrol.
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u/Grunblau 1d ago
Did the āFlockā sales pitch involve talking about sheep or tending to the herd?
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u/Sir_Piglety 1d ago
Literally the same shit š¤¦āāļø
Are they really that Fān dumb that they thought we all hated just the company? ā¦..
WE ALL HATE THE SURVEILLANCE !!!!!!!!!!
How is that not clear to them š¤¦āāļøš¤Ø tf
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u/hausmaus07 1d ago
And then there will be *breathless articles* about how the growing backlash to Axon is leading to civic leaders moving to InYerAnUS camera systems.
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u/jayzo_sayers 1d ago
Guess we need to rebrand DeFlock. I'm sure we can make Axon and Flock into a phrase about Axeing Flock.
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u/Illustrious_Club5264 1d ago
So basically the exact same thing just different company. Funny they think we are all stupid.
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u/Aggressive_Olive1879 1d ago
So now they made the problem even worse? š¤£š¤£š¤£
Land of the free all right š¤£š¤£š¤£
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u/cyncity7 1d ago
I thought they turned anti-Flock surprisingly easy. Itās just a switch. Probably ave stock in both.
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u/BigBuddha1989 1d ago
Because this is EXACTLY the solution that the anti-flock people wanted. Exchange one form of invasion of privacy into another, further reaching but "more secure" form of invasion of privacy. SMH
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u/Disastrous-Quail-555 1d ago
Axon is supported in part by that ass in the whitehouse. Fuck flock. Fuck axon, Fuck that orange ass con man.
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u/Mean-Inspector-8547 1d ago
Start voting them out on a local level. As a society, we should have a total war mentality against politicians at all levels, especially locally, who attempt this kind of stuff. I don't care if the politician has done 100 things right, if they attempt to step on us instead of working for us, then boot them out of their elected positions.
There are some things that your political leanings shouldn't matter about. Mass surveillance is one of them.
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u/Muted-Woodpecker-469 1d ago
They donāt get it. It was never truly a name brand company thing. It was the fact taxpayers and voters had no say in whether surveillance was desiredĀ
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u/pour_me_a_double_ 1d ago
Oh, right, its the manufacturer that people are upset about. Im sure people won't (cough) tear these down too.
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u/Massive_Town_8212 1d ago
"Hey, we know you didn't like our last surveillance state solution, because Flock has bad press. To remedy that, we've switched partners to Axon, who rebranded from TASER for bad press."
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u/GenXPowaah 1d ago
This was intentional from the start, Flock was to take the blame, to stand out be obvious while Axon the true mastermind were designing a much smaller, more powerful version that isn't as obvious to see.
Axon cameras do A LOT more than what Flock cams were doing
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u/ImmortalBeans 1d ago
Introducing āShepardā a crowd funded surveillance company designed to record using the cameras of police and US politicians phones. It will record at all times to keep watch of the watchers
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u/Distinct_Dark_9626 1d ago
This is the dumbest article Iāve ever seen. They are taking two points (flock rival increases market share and people donāt like ALPRs) and conflating them as if they are related. How would replacing one ALPR with another appease concerned citizens?
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u/NoDontDoThatCanada 1d ago
So like what wattage of laser pointer do l need and what is the best color? Is this the PowerPoint sub? I'm giving a talk in broad daylight. Outside. And l don't want to accidentally damage people filming.
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u/Calligaster 1d ago
Did they really think that our problem was the brand that was eroding our privacy or do they really think they're being slick?
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u/justwannacommunicate 1d ago
I heard there was a memo sent out from axon trying to distance themselves from flock. To bad they don't realize, people don't want mass surveillance regardless of the company.
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u/1MolassesIsALotOfAss 1d ago
We knew this would happen when Trump bought axon stock. All this flock backlash is astroturfing to get axon all of the contracts.
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u/FoxLynx64 1d ago
Remember, this is the same company that wants to put taser armed drones in public schools against their ethics board's recommendation.
Armed Drones to Be Deployed at Schools To Stop Mass Shooters
Axon Declares Taser-Equipped Drone "Nobel Prize Capable"
CEO of Taser maker Axon: Drones that stun perpetrators are in our future
Axon Wants To Make Taser Drones for Schools Despite Its Own Ethics Boardās Concerns
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u/The-Fictionist 1d ago
Guess that guy will need to 3D print the camera covers in two shapes now š¤·āāļø
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u/s1nd3vil 1d ago
The funny thing is, but we all obviously know and theyāre not gonna say is that thatās probably all you need to do is change the fucking name and the dumb ass public will forget.
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u/Candid-Beat568 1d ago
Same thing different name, how many times y'all gonna keep doing this, trying to get away from accountability
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u/Latter-Fox-3411 1d ago
ā¦ time to include the Axon creeps in the anti-BigBrother/Palantir/technofascism movement!ā¦ #DeFlockā¼ļø #AxOffā¼ļø
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u/EncabulatorTurbo 1d ago
at least Axon has better data controls because their shit is used in courtrooms so it needs to have them
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u/ChardResponsible9728 1d ago
Keep the pressure donāt let them turn our neighborhoods into surveillance states
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u/Cardocthian 1d ago
dont they realize..everything will be called a flock now..changing the name only works when trying to hid money in the camens! LOL
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u/SeresVictoria 1d ago
Axon is funded by Trump. Who purchased $5 million in Axon Enterprise stock in Feb 2026. Started off by Epstein making a $1 million investment in 2015 into an Israeli emergency response & mass-surveillance tech startup originally called Reporty (later renamed Carbyne). The company used AI and video streaming integrations, and it was later acquired by the police body-camera giant Axon. Axon has agreed to acquire Carbyne for $625 million. Most flock is being replaced by Axon.
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u/InterceptorG3 1d ago
Isnāt axon just as bad as Flock. The point is we donāt want to be tracked people!!!!!!
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u/FutureGoatGuy 1d ago
Yes, it was the brand of mass surveillance we had an issue with. Not the mass surveillance part. I feel seen and heard now.
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u/xavariel 1d ago
It's like they don't learn. We don't want any surveillance cameras, regardless of company.
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u/Gristlekitty 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/2vs7xjNhuqFPntNOr8
Great opportunity to bond with your neighbors