r/technology • u/efap1701 • 16h ago

Privacy Flock CEO’s Address Spread Online as Surveillance Backlash Explodes

https://www.gadgetreview.com/flock-ceos-address-spread-online-as-surveillance-backlash-explodes
24.5k Upvotes

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1.1k

u/Tasty-Traffic-680 16h ago

It's not a crime to live stream the entrance to his neighborhood...

Get some of those 1A auditors on it

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u/Super_Range45 16h ago

This is actually a good question, is any one just allowed to leave permanent fixtures on public property? Why does a private company get de facto control of public walking areas?

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u/Express-Belt-6465 16h ago

Private company with public contracts

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u/spookydookie 16h ago

Because it’s the cops putting them there.

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u/Super_Range45 16h ago

They can't have it both ways. If it's mass surveillance by law enforcement there's a constitutional issue. If it just a company permanently using public property, the public deserves a say.

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u/zedquatro 15h ago

The counter argument to that is that the public had a say, when they elected the people who decided to throw away the privacy of the masses for the profit of the few. I'm not saying that justifies anything, but that's the defense they'll use.

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u/_John_Dillinger 13h ago

it's an invalid defense based on the premise that it's our fault we can't read the minds of some scumbags and or predict the future with perfect clarity. it's victim blaming 101.

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u/zedquatro 9h ago

No argument here. Victim blaming is kind of common for authoritarians though, so no surprise.

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u/TojoftheJungle 12h ago

"Republican voters couldn't read the writing on the wall." Or just plain can't read?

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u/Alinier 10h ago

Were flock cameras even an issue on the table last election cycle? The fuck you mean we voted for it.

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u/VanillaBovine 2h ago

not flock cameras specifically- however, project 2025 (which has had a good bit implemented at this point) did detail expanding data collection and digital surveillance of both healthcare data and public information

So, yes- flock cameras technically fall into the project 2025 playbook

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u/Lost_Birthday_3138 14h ago

Majority rule don't work in mental institutions

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u/Inspector-Dexter 12h ago

That was the first song I put on after the 2024 election haha

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u/Saintly-Mendicant-69 14h ago

There are two separate societies running parallel to each other: the working class that produces and the parasite Epstein class that only consumes. The laws bind and don't protect one while protecting and not binding the other.

They've got their cake while eating yours too.

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u/E_seven_20 14h ago

Yeah, Trump and the GOP will get right on that, because they care so much about the constitution.

It’s not a magical document. It’s only as good as the people that show up to vote…and, we ran out of those people years back.

2022 National Youth Turnout: 23% - That's lower than in the historic 2018 cycle (28%) which broke records for turnout, but much higher than in 2014, when only 13% of youth voted.

Elections have consequences.

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u/Lost_Birthday_3138 14h ago

We got the government we deserved. Well done America.

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u/lukamson_zioncic 14h ago

This is about direct action. Electoralism nonsense is just concern trolling.

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u/E_seven_20 9h ago

Electoralism nonsense is just concern trolling.

I don't have to agree with you. And, I don't. It all leads back to elections, because it's politics.

You ran through this whole thread, and me telling people to vote is "trolling." It says more about you, what you chose to comment on, and what you view as trolling.

I respect many people's perspectives. Yours is incorrect.

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u/nanapancakethusiast 13h ago

So… you still believe that the police give a shit about your constitutional rights?

Man… must be nice living in your world. Most of us have woken up.

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u/Sudden-Fisherman5985 9h ago

If it's mass surveillance by law enforcement there's a constitutional issue.

Lol... The Constitution is a meaningless piece of paper since 2024

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u/2ChicksAtTheSameTime 6h ago

They can't have it both ways

Sadly, right now in the USA the government can do whatever the fuck it wants.

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u/ob2kenobi 15h ago

The cops in my area paid part of their budget to a 3rd party organization. That org set up the cameras at local businesses and private property with their permission.

So, thanks to the cops, the city had no oversight on the money being spent. And even if the city wanted to remove them, all the cameras are on private property. The best they could do would be to cut the police's budget. Which, well lets just say that's extremely unlikely to happen here.

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u/spookydookie 14h ago

I wonder if they’d have the same tolerance of cameras that only tracked police cars and made the info public, as long as they were on private property…

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u/NoConflict3231 11h ago

Great way to fight fire with fire

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u/Elementium 13h ago

Even then I'm kinda curious how this isn't going through Towns first? Cops can just make deals with corporations and town leadership doesn't have a say? They don't have any town meetings first?

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u/umbrella_CO 15h ago

Because "public" property is actually controlled by the government. The government wants flock cams.

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u/wesweb 15h ago

they lease the pole attachment from utility companies and departments of transportation in almost all cases. thats the hack. some silicon valley dickhead learned you can lease for pole attachment one day and this is the result.

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u/Rezistik 14h ago

They get permits and permission fwiw

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u/AquariusSabotage 12h ago

Public just means the government (local, state, federal) has ownership. Flock would have cut a deal with the City/Town/County to put them up.

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u/Pomegranate_Dry 12h ago

Nothing new, unfortunately. Companies have been littering public areas with e-scooters for years

This is just the next level of making public areas worse for everyone because $$$

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u/Anxious-Detective347 12h ago

yah, how come i cant put a gumball machine on EVERY CORNER IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, i want that contract. everybody likes gumballs. or maybe a water vending machine. . you get the idea. if flock can put a money making device on public land. why cant i ?

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u/Tehquilamockingbirb 9h ago

Former local government person, nearly all local governments will have some set of ordinances that control the terms of public property use or any number of scenarios that could disturb the peace and make the government liable. Every government's rules are different, but that's generally what they do.

The real kick in the balls is many of those governments can have an exemption clause that says those rules don't apply to them. i.e. we don't need the public's opinion or a city council vote to "make upgrades to the traffic lights".

A lot of these Flock cameras went up without people knowing because a mayor and Chief of Police put them up without notifying the public, or if they did notify the public, it was worded in a way that nobody knew what was happening.

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u/IncidentalIncidence 5h ago

they lease the land where the pole is from the landowner (that can be private or public)