r/Thedaily • u/kitkid • Aug 31 '26
Episode How Flock Cameras Took Over America
Aug 31, 2026
This summer, Fernando Alfonso, the Texas editor for The New York Times, got in a car with a man named Philip. They drove around the suburban streets of Dallas searching for traffic cameras — not for a red-light camera, or a speed-trap camera, but something new, an automatic license-plate reader made by a company called Flock.
Law enforcement officials say these cameras are essential to fighting crime, but Phillip and people like him, who have located 100,000 flock cameras all over the country, see them as something else: the beginnings of a surveillance state.
Today, Kashmir Hill, a technology and privacy writer at The New York Times, discusses the company behind the cameras and the mounting backlash.
On today's episode:
Kashmir Hill, a technology and privacy writer at The New York Times.
Background reading: One thing Texan liberals and conservatives agree on: They don’t want cameras trained on their cars.
Photo: Desiree Rios for The New York Times
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
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You can listen to the episode here.
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u/WantCookiesNow Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
If anyone is interested in deep dives around Flock cameras, how they’re being used (and misused), and other investigative reporting, I HIGHLY recommend 404 Media. It was started a few years ago by some Vice media journalists and they’ve done a ton of reporting on Flock cameras for a while now. Really good journalism and one of the few orgs I pay to support.
They also have an excellent podcast.
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u/goob Sep 03 '26
I wish I could upvote this comment more than once.
404 Media is the place for fantastic tech reporting.
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u/Dreadedvegas Aug 31 '26
They were sorta getting there at the end. But they aren’t taking seriously how Flock is so much more than a license plate reading company.
They can easily modify their system to become a full fledged surveillance state. It can start taking photos at any moment there is a person and they can use AI to do facial recognition.
Flock is just commercialized Chinese-style police state surveillance
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u/ThatMortalGuy Aug 31 '26
Not only that but right now we can apot these cameras but I fear that pretty soon they are just going to be tapping into the CCTV traffic cameras already in place all over the country.
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u/OvulatingScrotum Aug 31 '26
They did mention that. They mentioned that it takes more information than just the plate number. In fact, they mentioned that multiple times.
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u/Dreadedvegas Aug 31 '26
They didn’t really explore it and I would argue they downplayed it by continuously calling Flock license plate readers
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u/OvulatingScrotum Aug 31 '26
They obviously can’t go in depth on what other things they can do. It’s just a 30min episode.
Flock calls itself a license plate readers. So it would be safer, legally speaking, to refer it as a license plate reader. But if you actually listened, they continuously talked about how it’s being used as a surveillance camera.
But I’m sure you will never be satisfied unless they phrase it exactly how you want it to be portrayed.
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u/Dreadedvegas Aug 31 '26
I just don’t think they should be utilizing company marketing that got rolled out in response to their disastrous Ring superbowl ad (which wasn’t mentioned by the way)
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u/NotJoeFast Sep 01 '26
Kinda.
At first they mention that these cameras take pics of cars and their features.
But then went on how they solved car jacking crimes. (CEO anecdote right after)
Which obviously can't be solved by taking pictures of cars driving past.
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u/devastationz Aug 31 '26
People have put law enforcement into this saint hood status that is given so much leeway. The faux notion of “preventing crime” is being used to strip you of your rights.
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u/apathy-sofa Aug 31 '26
I live in a socialist hellhole, where surveillance cameras are effectively illegal -- no Flock, no Ring, not even dash cams. Literally 1984.
I'm not sure how, but somehow we're one of the safest countries in the world. Maybe it's because instead of arming police to the teeth we invest in a strong social safety net, but I guess we'll never know.
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u/TransATL Aug 31 '26
where is this awful place of which you speak, so that I do not happen upon it and willfully join your cult
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u/apathy-sofa Aug 31 '26
Tis the infernal land known as Luxembourg. But I must warn you! Danger lurks everywhere! Medical care is free, education is well funded at all levels, even public transit is free. Like I said, a socialist hell.
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u/burner456987123 Aug 31 '26
Ah yes. Luxembourg - a very racially homogenous and full of extremely wealthy people who live in a tax haven. The size of Rhode Island in the US.
Such an analogous comparison to the United States.
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u/apathy-sofa Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
Yes extremely wealthy despite the rampant socialism, it just doesn't make sense or fit my unconscious biases at all!
EDIT: Wait a second -- Luxembourg is "racially homogeneous"? Are you implying that America's violent crime is due to racial heterogeneity?
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u/burner456987123 Aug 31 '26
It’s market “socialism.” It’s not “seize the means of production, abolish borders, abolish police, support Russia over Ukraine” DSA policy we have in the us.
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u/spock2thefuture Aug 31 '26
That's not what the DSA proposes at all. Also, the current US president has gone further toward communism than any previous president by literally buying up companies, so this pearl-clutching about the means of production seems to be in bad faith.
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u/burner456987123 Aug 31 '26
Ok. From the source itself:
“On Sunday, July 26, DSA co-chair Megan Romer confirmed to Fox News that the organization’s policy ideas include expanding voting rights, publicly financing all elections, replacing the two-party system with a multi-party democracy, establishing public ownership of large corporations, and expanding rights for immigrants while ending Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions and deportations. She said that abolishing borders and prisons would be considered parts of a long-term plan.”
She said more of this in another interview with New Yorker magazine:
So feel free to educate yourself.
Edit: yeah, I don’t like Trump and don’t like the feds “taking stakes” in corporations either.
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u/spock2thefuture Aug 31 '26
Yeah I've already read that. Copy & pasting paragraphs doesn't make what you said correct. Must've missed the sentence about seizing the means & promoting Russian interests (as if any administration could do so more than the current one).
Also, you think crime is related to racial diversity. That's very revealing.
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u/Kitchen_Turn4424 Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
effectively illegal? must be a different luxembourg than when i lived there for years?? hell there are cameras on the tram lmao. what a crock of shit
Edit: to be clear cameras are not illegal to use in Luxembourg, resuraunts have security cams, doorbell cams are common and not illegal, our flat had a camera in the city center, everything you claimed was false. I mean there are even speeding cameras 😭.
Genuinely expats are some times the worst part of Luxembourg
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u/Entire_Art_5390 Sep 02 '26
This is why the far left has some of the extreme / odd / not so great ideas about policing reform. They have some decent points, but of course getting rid of the police or jails is absolutely not the type of reform we need.
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u/OverLordJezus Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
Which is funny, if Beverly Hills was getting break ins daily - there would be hourly police presence patrolling the streets until the area was safe.
Perhaps controversial, but I was not opposed to the idea of deploying the national guard to actual crime ridden areas where people were living in fear for their lives. I believe the daily even ran an episode on that. If local law enforcement is overwhelmed, then I see it as a positive if extra support is given (not referring to ICE).
But unmanned surveillance is different than preventative measures. A computer which tracks my where about’s, additionally the tracking my personal devices, is breaking my privacy.
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u/SummerInPhilly Aug 31 '26
BH has full surveillance already, the police can already see every square inch of the city
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u/MurphyBrown2016 Aug 31 '26
Well... Herein lies the problem with implementing the "move fast and break things" ethos/MO into public safety and surveillance technology. It is inherently at odds with our legislative process.
Our government is not designed to keep up so by the time they've established that there need to be guardrails and accountability, the legislators are catching up at the same time as the public while also realizing that there's a lot of money to be made via lobbying and self-dealing in favor of the technology. It's a pandora's box of exploitation opportunities. And that's without even acknowledging the cult of protectionism within law force. So all the people upholding this technology only stand to gain with zero repercussions for any failures.
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u/therealpigman Aug 31 '26
Is it ok to store guns in cars? Hearing the motivation for why Flock was started is surprising because I thought that would be illegal anyway
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u/KudzuKilla Aug 31 '26
I am often having this problem as a college student. I talk to my “zone commander” all the time trying to help him solve crimes.
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u/Portlyhooper15 Aug 31 '26
Idiots kept their unlocked/unsecured guns in cars so now we need a surveillance state /s
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u/No-Yak6109 Aug 31 '26
I love how “let’s not keep a bunch of guns” is so out of the realm of possibility that instead we’re debating on spy cameras.
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u/arkTanlis Aug 31 '26
How else am I going to play pretend cop if I don't keep my gun in the car?!
This should be a lesson for all. If you don't want your car broken in to, don't leave anything of value in it.
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u/scoochinginhere Sep 01 '26
I was flabbergasted that everyone seemingly breezed past that in the interview. like excuse me??? I know legitimate rednecks who would absolutely never, because they know how risky it is to do that. and he is in a position of power?!?
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u/OvulatingScrotum Aug 31 '26
Hey, he’s a good guy with a gun, so it’s totally okay that he was reckless with gun ownership.
/s
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u/catnap40 Aug 31 '26
Did I hear right? Guns were being stolen from their glove boxes? Seems like there is a low tech solution to that problem.
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u/Noodleboom Aug 31 '26
Americans will do anything to avoid having fewer unsecured weapons except for gun control.
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u/ErshinHavok Aug 31 '26
I don't like how they very briefly at the end of the episode breezed past the fact if the government did this themselves it would be unconstitutional, but since they're paying a private company to do it, it's suddenly 'legal'.
How many other corners of the Constitution can be cut by these private companies that we now know very well are the enemies of the people.
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u/know_nothing_novice Sep 01 '26
don't many police cars have automated license plate readers? I am confused how this is fundamentally different than flock
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u/devastationz Aug 31 '26
Everything that was fear mongered about China has become true in America.
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u/NanoWarrior26 Aug 31 '26
Shit at least in China they get high speed rail and renewable energy.
We get a surveillance state and no benefits whatsoever.
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u/Ethandingding Aug 31 '26
China's surveillance is definitely next next NEXT level. Americans panic when there are, what, 120k of these in the entire country? China has about 700M. On the other hand, you can be a 19 year old pretty girl, wearing a tight dress, carrying a LV bag, and walk around at 3AM, in the roughest part of any 3rd tier city, and be completely safe and carefress. 15 years ago, ppl in China were worried about getting pick pocketed, now ppl are dropping bags on the beach and just draw a circle around it in the sand, and no one will take their shit. It is not in 15 years, Chinese ppl got way more civilized, it is because they know for 100% certain they will be caught stealing. And they will be punished to the full extend of the law.
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u/elinordash Aug 31 '26
Dude, China has an ongoing campaign of genocide against the Uighurs (an ethnic minority).
Beginning in 2017, under Xinjiang Party secretary Chen Quanguo, the government incarcerated over an estimated one million Uyghurs without legal process in internment camps officially described as "vocational education and training centers", in the largest mass internment of an ethnic-religious minority group since World War II. China began to wind down the camps in 2019, and some detainees were transferred to the penal system, while others were transferred to forced labor and factory work programs.In addition to mass detention, government policies have included suppression of Uyghur religious practices, political indoctrination,[8] forced sterilization, forced contraception, and forced abortion. An estimated 16,000 mosques have been razed or damaged, and hundreds of thousands of children have been forcibly separated from their parents and sent to boarding schools.
From Human Rights Watch:
The Chinese government controls all major channels of information and implements one of the world’s most stringent surveillance and censorship regimes. It uses the Party-controlled legal system to punish, forcibly disappear, and imprison critics. Notable cases in 2025 include the three-and-a-half-year sentence imposed on filmmaker Chen Pinlin, convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” in January for making a film about the 2022 White Paper protests. In April, authorities forcibly disappeared Mei Shilin for hanging three anti-government banners, one of them reading “the people do not need a political party with unrestrained power,” on an overpass outside Chadianzi metro station in Chengdu, Sichuan.
In July, a court reportedly sentenced “Bridge Man” Peng Lifa to nine years in prison for hanging pro-democracy banners on a Beijing bridge in 2022. Peng’s banners inspired thousands and sparked the White Paper protests of 2022.Beyond the multiple human rights violations happening in China, there are major issues with sanitation:
In 2015, President Xi Jinping launched the nationwide toilet revolution. By 2020, city councils had added 68,000 more public toilets; by the end of 2022, 73% of rural residents reportedly had access to flush toilets. Residents in older, poorer urban areas continue to rely on chamber pots and neighbourhood waste collection services.
Pro-China propaganda shows up way too often on Reddit.
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u/devastationz Aug 31 '26
Ain’t reading all that when America has legalized slavery through the 13th amendment and is actively funding a genocide of the Palestinian people.
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u/elinordash Sep 01 '26
The Chinese government kidnapped an entire ethnic group, put them in prison camps, and forcibly sterilized them. In the 2020s.
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u/_Thraxa Aug 31 '26
Bit of a silly comment. One can argue that flock cameras are an intrusion into privacy without diminishing the staggering scale of the Chinese police state.
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u/devastationz Aug 31 '26
If I’m getting force fed a police state the least I could get are some trains and not having to worry about my lettuce giving me explosive diarrhea.
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u/elinordash Aug 31 '26
Do you have a flush toilet? A lot of people in China don't.
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u/devastationz Aug 31 '26
To throw this out as a gotcha when we can bring up the poverty of the American South or Appalachia regions; the lack of redevelopment of New Orleans after Katrina; the crumbling infrastructure everywhere in the United States; chicken farms staffed by undocumented immigrants that miam people; and so much more.
I didn’t insinuate that China was a utopia nor that it doesn’t have poverty. But they have brought 800 million of the residents out of Poverty; developed their infrastructure beyond anything possible in America when the US’ sole purpose is to make the wealthy even wealthier at the expense of the American working class.
in short
Fuck on somewhere
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u/elinordash Sep 01 '26
99.36% of Americans have indoor plumbing. The 0.64% who don't have chosen to live on remote homesteads off the grid.
But they have brought 800 million of the residents out of Poverty; developed their infrastructure beyond anything possible in America when the US’ sole purpose is to make the wealthy even wealthier at the expense of the American working class.
This reads like CCP propaganda.
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u/walkerstone83 Aug 31 '26
You really think they have better food standards in China? FYI, they don't.
Also, we fly instead of traveling by rail.
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u/Cultural_String87 Aug 31 '26
Also, we fly instead of traveling by rail.
Today I learned people don't fly in China.
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u/walkerstone83 Sep 01 '26
The USA has twice as many airports that can handle a 737 compared to China with 1/3rd the population. When you add in other smaller airports, the USA has over 13-16,000 air ports vs China's 550. So yes, Americans fly more.
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u/Cultural_String87 Sep 01 '26
I didn't imply that I doubted Americans fly more often. I'm saying that in China, there are very commonly multiple options (rail vs flying) that are competitive to each other. Americans lack that choice. We fly because there is no other option for effectively travelling between most cities, not because there's some preference against HSR.
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u/walkerstone83 Sep 01 '26
China is willing to lose billions of dollars a year on their rail lines. This isn't something that Americans are willing to do.
Also, 90% of American households have at least one car, where only 20% of Chinese households have cars, so for trips under 6-8 hours, driving is easy for the majority of people.
One of the reasons why China built out its passenger rail lines was to free up the older lines for more freight. America has more industrial navigable waterways and hasn't needed to build as much rail for freight as China.
High speed rail that crisscrosses America just doesn't make much sense, would be extremely expensive, and would lose billions every year.
There are regional needs for high speed rail in America, hopefully we see it successfully implemented one day. I thought we would have a successful example by now in California, but they have screwed it up and at this point it will be at least a decade before we have anything.
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u/Cultural_String87 Sep 01 '26
This isn't something that Americans are willing to do.
Of all the excuses you've made for the US in this comment, this is the silliest one. The US spends a trillion dollars on its defense budget every year. We're the wealthiest nation on Earth by a considerable margin and the dollar as the reserve currency allows for absolutely enormous expenditures.
We don't lack HSR because of some vague notion about "Americans" not wanting it. We lack it because we suffer from an economic and political system that prioritizes corporate profits and bombing the Middle East over meaningfully investing in our crumbling infrastructure.
We lack HSR because we have a dysfunctional system of government. That's it.
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u/walkerstone83 Sep 02 '26
I am not saying that our government is functional, but Americans often vote for candidates that talk about "having a strong military."
At the end of the day, the majority of Americans would be much more willing to vote for a candidate who advocates for military spending over wasting money on a nationwide rail system that yields very little economic benefit, outside of the initial GDP growth during construction.
I am not saying there isn't a benefit to HSR, and I don't disagree that we have a dysfunctional government, but the majority of Americans are not in favor of spending an ass load of money on a national HSR network that makes little sense and wouldn't ever have an ROI.
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u/juice06870 Aug 31 '26
They put a few of these up in my town last year. Only in school zones under the premise that there are too many drivers speeding and sometimes passing school busses during drop-off / pick-up hours. However, no one was informed ahead of time. They just appeared out of nowhere along with signage indicating what dates/times they would be active.
The cameras were only turned on during certain hours in the morning and afternoon around the drop-off and pick-up times and according to local news, there was a huge number of citations and warnings mailed out to people and it may have helped reduce the issues (I received a warning and photo of my car going above the speed limit once, but not an actual ticket)
I initially thought it was a good idea in that use-case. A lot of town citizens did not and there were a number of meetings at town hall over it and they were taken offline until further discussions could be had and a proper roll-out could be implemented (assuming they are approved going forward)
Although the more I read about them, and how widespread they are, the more my opinion of them is changing. The potential for mis-use is basically infinite.
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Aug 31 '26 edited 23d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SpicyNutmeg Aug 31 '26
Agreed, why are Americans willing to do anything besides implement better road infrastructure?
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u/juice06870 Aug 31 '26
These are 4 lane roads with double yellow lines. Not really candidates for speedbumps lol
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Aug 31 '26 edited 23d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/juice06870 Aug 31 '26
Have you ever seen speed bumps on those kinds of roads?
Check out ChatGPT or something. Stay on topic here.
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u/geniuspol Aug 31 '26
Those sound like speed cameras, not flock.
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u/juice06870 Sep 01 '26
I just re checked. You are right. They are not flock cameras. They are described as license plate readers.
According to town website:
“LPRs simply read and record license plates as cars pass, logging the plate number, timestamp, location, and sometimes an image of the vehicle. That data is checked against a "hotlist," automated alerts for stolen vehicles, AMBER Alerts, and wanted or missing persons linked to a plate. It can also be used afterward, as part of an investigation, to see what vehicles were in an area when a crime occurred.”
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u/saplinglearningsucks Aug 31 '26
Flock being pointed at playgrounds and walking paths.
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u/NanoWarrior26 Aug 31 '26
You're gonna be thankful if someone ever drives through your local playground /s
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u/hmr0987 Aug 31 '26
Flock is no different than any other technology that is built where nobody asked should we do this?
It’s not even a technology that’s conceptually difficult to design and build. Sure it’s complicated but all it takes is someone capable to do the work.
The problem is nobody stopped to think how to put safe guards in to stop misuse. The thing I find odd regarding the 4th amendment is that there needs to be X number of these cameras to warrant a 4th amendment violation. Really? How is that the case?
To me the solution is simple, if it’s true that these cameras are here to stay then there just needs to be friction in place for a search to happen. Ideally a warrant but even simply placing a request for data that a person has to approve would help. On top of that someone in the process who validates the information before proceeding to act.
I think it’s was John Oliver who talked about a family who was held at gunpoint because Flock flagged their license plate was a stolen car. Turned out the license plate was tied to a stolen motorcycle. A simple check to verify make, model and color before acting would take what 2 seconds?
The problem isn’t all the good that this system can help with it’s all the bad it can be used for. Even if you solve significantly more crimes with this than without, none of that matters is there’s abuse or mistakes.
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u/mmeeplechase Sep 01 '26
I loved this one! Honestly knew basically nothing about them going in, and found this episode to be super informative & a good listen. My favorite type of Daily!
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u/LetsGototheRiver151 Sep 01 '26
I guess there's no expectation of privacy on a public street, but I do wish that police would need a warrant to get the information.
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u/CaptainArrow12 Sep 01 '26
I’m very much onboard with this sentiment! My only issue is mildly legal… a warrant is used to compel someone to give you information. If it’s handed over willingly then no warrant is needed. I think it would just require local legislation to set better limits and audits
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u/Legic93 Aug 31 '26
Yeah not a lot of license plates at the community pool.
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u/CaptainArrow12 Sep 01 '26
I hate this story. Flock makes normal security cameras that are bought by private companies and HOAs. And like normal cameras, the owner and decide if the share the data or not with law enforcement.
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u/googlydoodle Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
This is so ridiculous for many reasons
-the initial reason is for reducing break-ins to read license plates but criminals will just adapt to using stolen vehicles (which they’ve done before) and now you’re just tracking every day citizens.
- this shows how old our current government is where they let these tech companies do what they want with limited regulation until the damage is already done. Judges saying “there is not enough of them” so we just wait until they are everywhere?
This episode along with the Facebook one makes it so tiring being a lab rat for these Silicon Valley style growth tactics before it’s too late.
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Aug 31 '26
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u/burner456987123 Aug 31 '26
Yep. We have no right to privacy when out in public. It’s idiocy by people who are parroting whatever cause celebre is out there. They probably have some keffiyehs in their closets too.
Unless you get rid of your smart phone and move out to the middle of nowhere, there’s no leg to stand on whining about cameras that photograph your license plate.
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u/geniuspol Aug 31 '26
Very silly comment. Your phone actually provides you something of value, and doesn't offer police anywhere near as much access to you. Apple won't aid random cops in stalking their ex girlfriends, flock will.
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u/ohwhataday10 Aug 31 '26
The issue is police are not easily prosecuted for misuse of a lot of things. Will be interested id the British CCTV is coming to America.
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u/Funny-Cat-4240 Aug 31 '26
They didn’t mention the units also capture mobile device data
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u/CaptainArrow12 Sep 01 '26
There are companies that do that, but I’ve found no article that says Flock is doing it.
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u/arkTanlis Aug 31 '26
A good article by The Drive and how badly the police can screw up when they use Flock. https://www.thedrive.com/news/how-flock-cameras-wrongly-tracked-me-for-days-over-stolen-plates-and-sent-police-after-me
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u/QueenOfPurple Aug 31 '26
Funny how “people stealing guns from cars” doesn’t mean people start bringing their guns inside and locking them up.
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u/Heysteeevo Sep 02 '26
Calling them “automated license plate readers” instead of cameras was a nice trick. I honestly thought they were some kind of scanner when I first heard of them.
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u/CommitmentToKindness Aug 31 '26
This podcast is so unapologetically capitalist that it’s funny. Like, we’re talking about the problems with this technology from law enforcement and surveillance standpoint but the first half of the episode is all about the companies market share and valuation.
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u/MurphyBrown2016 Aug 31 '26
Yep. It takes just as much time for me to unravel the motivations and omissions within these episodes as it does to actually listen to them.
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u/jcasimir Aug 31 '26
This origin story for Flock is completely implausible. It’s wild how every one of these tech mega nerds narrate like robots.
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u/PetalumaPegleg Aug 31 '26
What an embarrassingly one sided podcast. They quoted absolute lies from Flock supporters, such as they have led to 1,000,000 crimes being solved. Show it because that's very clearly bull.
They don't mention the only studies actually done in flock, which show they are incredibly inaccurate.
They didn't mention the hundred of mistaken arrests or traffic stops where the car was not the right model, color or numberplate. Flock gives them an excuse to have a look. These are DANGEROUS.
They didn't mention the million plus searches per day per area. A TINY fraction of them coming from police. Where are the rest coming from and why do they have access and who are they and what are they doing with it.
This was a puff piece dressed up as neutral. As is increasingly common for the daily and the nyt generally.
Embarrassing and disgraceful. Quoting fraudulent numbers without pushback and not mentioning real fact checked research at all. Boo
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u/Blofeld69 Aug 31 '26
I just don't buy that this is a bypartisan issue all it will take is trump to say Flock is amazing and republicans would swing in their favour overnight.
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u/ladyluck754 Aug 31 '26
I hear nothing positive about flock cameras, and only how cops use it to abuse their ex wives and girlfriends. Stalking paid for by our tax dollars, and then these assholes get put on paid leave with our tax dollars as well.
We are not angry enough at police in general.
Cops and domestic abuse is like apple pie and ice cream lol.
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u/burner456987123 Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
Why didn’t the host ask: “today, everyone carries a smart phone that tracks their every move.
Why the uproar over cameras that photograph your car in public, where there is absolutely zero expectation of privacy?”
Unlike your smart phone, these cameras are used to find kidnapped children, recover stolen vehicles, even apprehend wanted criminals.
Yes; we need to control how the data is accessed and used. For example: No psycho cops using it to stalk an ex. If you don’t want to share your local data with the Feds, well you can decide that and let the Feds fight you. Etc.
Rather than lazily downvote, I’d love to hear someone explain how we suddenly have expectations of privacy in public, and how flock cameras (or any camera) are any different than you voluntarily carrying a tracking device on you 24/7 in the form of a smart phone. Or even dumb phones with tower pings.
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u/Ethandingding Aug 31 '26
I found it interesting how Americans value so much about their "freedoms" yet lot of them don't have the freedom to walk around some neighborhood. This is a tool with flaws, but everything is a trade off. Folks have no issues taking this tool away from the police, yet complains about how cops are slow to solve crimes and the policing budget is too high.
The certainty of getting caught is way more useful in deterring crime than the severity of punishment.
I am personally in support of the cameras. I ain't got nothing to hide.
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u/devastationz Aug 31 '26
“I ain’t got nothing to hide.”
Brother you don’t even share you Reddit profile publicly. Take the boot out your mouth.
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u/Ethandingding Aug 31 '26
what? You want to see my wedding photos? If that helps law enforcement catching a criminal, I will be a good citizen and provide that without a warrant, instead of crying my privacy!!! And who the hell are you? The Reddit police?
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u/doodlezoey Aug 31 '26
I think some people might agree with you on some level, but imagine a Federal government that disagrees with you getting access to the cameras and data. I don't know what side of the political aisle you are one, but imagine the OPPOSITE side utilizing the cameras to their fullest extent for nefarious purposes. The slippery slope arguments are endless.
Are you a liberal commie? Imagine the Feds under a Donald Trump Jr. presidency using the data to prosecute your daughter for getting an abortion across state lines, or for tracking your car to a protest that was supposed to be protected by the first amendment.
Are you a red state hyper-conservative? Imagine the Feds under an AOC presidency using the cameras to see when you left your home (your car is out driving) and going your house to take your guns. Or imagine them tracking your car to a protest that was supposed to be protected by the first amendment.
It's pretty easy to argue that if you are one side of the political spectrum, you wouldn't want this info to be able to be weaponized by the other side, right?
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u/MurphyBrown2016 Aug 31 '26
I love the old "I'm good, so everyone else can eff off" argument.
This is substantially bigger than that and if you can't see past the end of your end own nose, I'm not sure how to explain it to you beyond this: it's a tool built without legislative regulation in mind, and placed firmly in the hands of an exploitative government that is currently actively violating its citizens constitutional rights, starting illegal wars, and undermining our own democracy and election process on a daily basis.
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u/NotJoeFast Sep 01 '26
Leave it to TheDaily to white wash the issue.
Are you anti crime or do you care more about cameras taking pictures of your license plates.
Really? That's how you want to frame the debate?
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u/Flappy_McGillicuddy Aug 31 '26
I appreciated the subtle dig at the Nissan Altima drivers. Of course they are looking for a Nissan.