Meanwhile everybody drives Nazi sleigh Teslas and other car makes with computers, smart TV’s and Alexa that records everything and sends
Some of us drive old, IC engine cars because we don’t want car makers collecting and selling our driving details to insurance companies.
Likewise, some of us also refuse to connect our television sets to Wi-Fi because because we don’t want Sony, Samsung, LG, and Vizio using “automatic content recognition” (ACR) to take screen shots of everything we watch and selling that data to advertisers.
The fact cars, phones, and TV collect data doesn’t mean we have to agree to let a privately held company, funded in part by Palantir co-founder, Peter Thiel, track our location every time we leave our homes by car or bicycle (some models of Flock cameras, such as their Condor model, track bicycles).
For anyone who wants to understand Flock’s business model, please read their 2022 U.S. patent for a “Dynamic Surveillance Network”. https://patents.google.com/patent/US11416545B1/en
What’s it going to take to learn that our privacy is being infringed upon? A major flock up?
Get the flock outta here!!
I think if someone vandalized one, no they didn't and actually they were at dinner with me the next city over.
@Aileen And If you watch those videos carefully, they are specifically saying you should definitely not follow each explicit step they are giving you in complete detail and then inviting you over to dinner at their house. 😉
When I say DA I’m referring to the DA’s office that is full of Deputy District Attorneys, do you think the Chief DA try’s all cases? We call all Lawyers trying cases for the state or county DA’s because they are , they work as District Attorneys for the county I work in. I’m not talking about the Chief DA who is elected. All other DDA’s are hired. It’s like the Sheriffs Office. You have the Sheriff but you have Sheriff Deputies. All deputies are also Sheriffs but they are not THE Sheriff.
I do not know of any departments in the Bay Area where I work or California in general that work with ICE. We are prohibited from providing them anything.
There’s a difference between being convicted on bad evidence vs a flock Camera which is a basic tool used by LE to go after car theives and people who are wanted for serious crimes. How can you possible go to trial when it’s easily verifiable that a vin doesn’t match a plate? It takes one call to dispatch or a look up in CAD. There is no grand scheme here and it makes zero sense what you’re saying. A simple investigation would clear any mishap up.
There’s all this hysteria about Flock when nobody here has ever even seen it used or know how to use it. Departments across the state share track flyers of murderers , Rapists , child molesters etc and send to all departments to look out and put in flock if their associated vehicle hits in their city. Hot lists are made of wanted criminals.
The information provided by flock is the same information anybody can pull from the DMV about a registered owner . The purpose of Flock is to alert LE when a suspect vehicle has entered their jurisdiction. That is all. Even then you need PC to stop the car, most alerts are just heads up about cars involved in lesser crimes like petty theft and there is no PC for a stop just a field interview if justified. There is nothing top secret or crazy about flock. There are much more in depth methods we have If we need to find somebody , this whole Flock thing is social media hysteria and media hype about nothing.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/exclusive-next-frontier-deportation-wars-college-campus-flock-cameras?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
I’m late to the conversation and haven’t read some of the comments but I’m with @Kense on this one. It doesn’t bother me because I’m not doing anything wrong, I know that some agencies using them can probably access anything they want about me, i can only control my own behavior so I do. In general I read so much paranoia from members on this site and it always makes me wonder what they’re so worried about (others here have wondered the same)). Nothing to hide in my case and if someone tried to harm me, they could work in my favor.
How can you possible go to trial when it’s easily verifiable that a vin doesn’t match a plate?
Who's saying they make it to trial?
Also, saying that because something doesn't openly happen in California, it doesn't happen anywhere is quite a stretch. And completely ignores all the places where law enforcement does work with ICE and happily gives them whatever info they want.
Found these three articles after a very quick search.
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/usa-flock-safetys-alleged-involvement-in-mass-surveillance-by-federal-agencies-raises-privacy-and-due-process-concerns/
"A division of ICE, the Secret Service, and the Navy’s criminal investigation division all had access to Flock’s nationwide network of tens of thousands of AI-enabled cameras that constantly track the movements of vehicles, and by extension people, according to a letter sent by Senator Ron Wyden and shared with 404 Media."
https://www.gadgetreview.com/a-police-officer-turned-whistleblower-exposed-flock-camera-network-the-data-backs-the-claim
"Federal “back door” access: University of Washington researchers found U.S. Border Patrol accessed data from at least ten Washington state police departments without those departments explicitly authorizing it"
https://jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/2025/10/21/leaving-the-door-wide-open/
"Flock audits reveal apparent “back door” access by U.S. Border Patrol to the networks of at least ten Washington police departments which did not explicitly authorize Border Patrol searches of their network data."
That's just the tip of the iceberg. And maybe I'm being paranoid, but seeing how many places, including the federal government, are trying to outlaw my existence, I think my paranoia is quite justified.
"Only criminals have something to fear" is the cry of a tyrant. And the definition of "criminal" is always subject to change.
"Only criminals have something to fear" is a very poor justification excuse for "guilty until proven innocent".
I agree 100%. I also find it encouraging how Flock cameras are uniting people who disagree with each other on many other topics.
I travel a lot and meet a lot of people. I have discussed Flock cameras with self-described MAGA voters, Libertarians, and Democratic Socialists. I’ve discussed them with Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Atheists and with Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers.
From my numerous conversations, about 75 to 85% of the people I have talked to do not like or want them. The only demographic difference I have found is people in large cities (maybe population of 400K or larger) tend to be more supportive of the cameras than people who live in smaller cities or rural areas. Even then, opinions seem split about 50-50 among people who live in big cities. But get into smaller cities or rural areas and people who tend to disagree on many other issues are coming together to push back on Flock.
For those saying you have nothing to fear, cool. Let's monitor your every action 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Put it up on Twitch.TV. Every photo you take, every text message you send/receive, every "private" conversation you have.
If you think I'm being a bit extreme with this example, this is literally what the tech bros want. For others, not for themselves.
And its completely unnecessary. It doesn't make us safer. Its an illusion, like so many "security programs", of control.
Chrisanna Elser already had to deal with a guilty until proven innocent situation thanks flock cameras.
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/flock-cameras-lead-colorado-police-wrong-suspect/
"On her doorstep, the officer issued a summons, without ever looking at the surveillance video Elser had.
"We can show you exactly where we were," she told him.
"I already know where you were," he replied.
Her Rivian -- equipped with multiple cameras -- had recorded her entire route that day.
"On Sept. 22, I definitely drove through Bow Mar and went to my tailor," she said.
It took weeks of her collecting her own evidence, building timelines, and submitting videos before someone listened.
Finally, she received an email from the Columbine Valley police chief acknowledging her efforts in an email saying, "nicely done btw (by the way)," and informing her the summons would not be filed."
It's a dogshit technology pushed by dogshit people to do things like watch children's gymnastics security footage from the comfort of their pervert offices.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/flock-safety-employees-watched-kids-181539475.html
hearing flock defenders is about as insane as this comic
I have a controversial opinion. I like flock cameras. They're fantastic. Each one is a brand new high quality solar panel and directly compatible lithium-ion battery just sitting there. For free! They're great. You can make so many wonderful things with them. My favorite is an encrypted peer to peer communication node called meshtastic.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/inside-the-flock-dragnet-how-systemic-errors-led-to-police-ambushing-me-for-no-reason
Now ask, what's the worst that could reasonably happen? Well, it's entirely reasonable to think that the cops wouldn't like the look of the people in the car and shoot them. Imagine the cops think your car is stolen and you're DWB.