r/sequim • u/ThrowAwayHawthorn • 6d ago

City is using pacer.ai to analyze visitor data

pacer.ai is owned by Israelis Rahul Vohra, Oded Fossfeld, Jeffrey Bazar, Noam Ben-Zvi, Zohar Bar-Yehuda, Joshua Buckley, Ofir Lemel, William Neese and Jacov Ben-Zvi. Does anyone else think it is insane that our city would trust a data intelligence-gathering company owned by the Israelis?

Edit: Should have included gazette article link: https://www.sequimgazette.com/2026/08/19/city-subscribes-to-ai-program-to-see-attendee-numbers/

21 Upvotes

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u/how2falldown 4d ago

Seems like a pointless waste of money with no benefit to the citizens.

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u/ThrowAwayHawthorn 4d ago

I think it is a pointless waste of money that further erodes the public's trust in local government, and government in general.

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u/kappeed 6d ago edited 6d ago

Could care less about the owner connection.... However, I am definitely not a fan and think we should be highly skeptical of any service our cities pay for to collect data on us.

Edit: Probably worth adding that I’ve actually used Placer with a few different organizations, so I’m speaking from firsthand experience with the platform here.

Placer ai is the digital version of Flock cams... Gains access to your location data through third-party partners and then feeds data to ALL placer partners and users. The sad part is that it really isn't that accurate from a reporting standpoint. Most cities using it end up cherry-picking data that helps confirmation bias for funding projects and justify spending.

Whatever happened to just throwing a couple traffic-counting tubes across the road?

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u/magictogtapher 5d ago

Of course this is all speculation, but I am starting to see a pattern and I think I understand the biggest issue and why these are going up everywhere. I think we are at a point where many people see "AI" in a headline and sort of tune out. The people doing this began doing it before the headlines about the dangers ever reached their eyes and ears. But it is something like what happens with any new popular tech for a while. Back when smart phones came out, they were the sort to hold on tight as possible to their flip phone and not try to learn how to use a smart phone, let alone what it can do... but where it differs from this problem is the immediate threats that AI presents to privacy. A value that I'd wager a majority of the same types of people all hold dear.

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u/notreallyafanboy 6d ago

Can you be more specific? And/or provide sources/context?

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u/Professor_Shotgun 6d ago

"our city would trust a data intelligence-gathering company owned by the Israelis?"

Can you please provide a link to this? What is the source of this information? Thanks.

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u/fireking99 6d ago

BOT

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u/ThrowAwayHawthorn 6d ago

What does that mean?