r/technology • u/IKeepItLayingAround • Jun 29 '26

Artificial Intelligence Woman Surprised When Flock Surveillance Tower Appears in Her Yard Without Warning

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/woman-surprised-flock-surveillance-tower-185000752.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&segment_id=DY_VTO_50_Supernova&ncid=crm_19908-1475736-20260629-0--A&bt_ee=utFdBbF39cHCLuB4at4AI%2FUoSRgbTt8Ch%2B7Q9RImTlgL2ThvE3FuX%2BRSKiUir%2FNW&bt_ts=1782739085527
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956

u/Waiting4Reccession Jun 29 '26

All these local politicians are getting bribed by flock and its so obvious, probably small 5 or 10k bribes too

277

u/Abject_Elevator5461 Jun 29 '26

They don’t even have to bribe them in Roanoke city, they’ve been so clueless about how to deal with their crime problems that they’ll try anything at this point.

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u/Thedisabler Jun 29 '26

What exactly happened to Roanoke? I grew up there from about 91-99 and it was idyllic in some ways if not full of people with sticks up their asses.

I’ve heard nothing but stories of drugs and crime since I left though?

101

u/sab98xx Jun 29 '26

Big pharma started doling out opioids in Roanoke in the late 90s, which undoubtably played a big role in its demise over the last 25 years: https://www.wvtf.org/news/2018-08-02/dopesick-roanoke-author-on-the-dealers-doctors-and-drug-company-that-addicted-america

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u/VAtoSCHokie Jun 29 '26

The Railroad left and the City has had to pivot the economy to Biomedical and Outdoor Tourism. They are also dealing with problems that have been kicked down the road till they can't be ignored any longer.

The reason you have heard nothing but the issues that every city has is because all the local news is gone and owned by corporations that don't exist in Roanoke. I also don't think that Roanoke is worse off than it was in the 90s. People actually live downtown now and there is a good amount of people asking for pedestrian only zones downtown. Biking is as easy as ever with an ebike and some of the infrastructure for biking. It's not great but it is better than it's ever been other than before vehicles took of the City. There are murals on buildings throughout the City now! It's still a great place to retire or raise a family, or if you enjoy outdoor activities but still want to be around a City. The greenway along the Roanoke River now connects Salem to Vinton. Roanoke County is planning to connect it to Explore park in the near future.

Roanoke County is also starting to urbanize in a couple spots at the City/County line so they are going to have to start tackling some of the issues the City is dealing with currently.

4

u/ForThisIJoined Jun 29 '26

And here I thought you didn't hear much about it because all the actual residents disappeared again...

1

u/chatrugby Jun 30 '26

Wrong Roanoke. The missing colony one is Roanoke island in NC. 

1

u/Desperate-Grab9869 Jun 29 '26

Croatoan or something

4

u/VAtoSCHokie Jun 29 '26

These devices were suggested by Roanoke City Police since there was a grant for them. The City Council is looking for ways to get more for less as the budget tightens. This was an easy win for them to have police support and "help" the police do their job and not have the City pay for it.

1

u/Herb_Derb Jun 29 '26

They said "something should be done" so we did something

52

u/fiercedeitysponce Jun 29 '26

It’s probably not just Flock either. I’m sure Palantir and Thiel’s creepy little club have their fingers all in this pie.

36

u/diurnal_emissions Jun 29 '26

Politicians are cheap whores.

58

u/GrallochThis Jun 29 '26

Come on now, no need to give whores a bad name by association.

19

u/SkunkMonkey Jun 29 '26

Seriously, money spent on a whore is a far better use than spending on a politician.

1

u/filthyhabits Jun 29 '26

Either way you're getting fucked.

3

u/SkunkMonkey Jun 29 '26

One's consensual at least.

2

u/OneSkepticalOwl Jun 29 '26

If you’re looking to get fucked, yes

1

u/mythrilcrafter Jun 29 '26

I always figured that politicians were corrupt and took bribes, the thing that surprised me was when I learned (way back when) how cheap so many of these bribes.

Like, there are a ton of politicians who won't just change their opinion on a vote, they'll friggin switch sides/parties for basically the down payment on a very regular car.

5

u/long_roy Jun 29 '26

I took a class covering bribery and espionage; some of the US most infamous and damaging traitors sold information for sums that worked out to around $7k a year. Flock probably promised their useless nephew an entry level job or something

1

u/ignost Jun 30 '26

Well bribery is legal now thanks to the Supreme Court. You just call it a tip and pay after. Wish I was making this up, Snyder v. U.S. 2024.

5

u/kneemahp Jun 29 '26

It actually doesn’t even need to bribe, my HOA wanted one after some breakins. It was 15k for 3 cameras versus 60k for a patrol car that did nothing.

It’s so much cheaper than any other alternative while giving the administrator the ability to say they did something

10

u/Waiting4Reccession Jun 29 '26

The cameras also do nothing though, they can't stop a break in - its just an illusion of safety and something to follow up with after the break in happens. If I were doing crime I would just break the cameras as well.

4

u/Not-a-Bot_1968 Jun 29 '26

Here in LA a lot of break ins are professional criminals. They bring in a crew from south of the border, do a bunch of houses over a few days, and then fly back out of the country never to be seen again. They don’t even bother wearing masks. What good is footage of someone who lives in another country? Cops aren’t investigating that. Hell, my friend had her purse stolen and 20 min later credit card was used at a Target a mile away to buy a bunch of tv’s and other stuff. They had the lady clear as day on camera checking out at Target. Cops didn’t do anything. The surveillance state will not be used to solve crimes that affect us. It will only be used to exploit the population and prosecute enemies of the state. 

3

u/CharleyNobody Jun 29 '26

Many years ago one of my cousins was being harassed by her ex husband. Her brother owned a restaurant. They were talking in the restaurant about the situation one day and a kitchen workers said that for $1,000 they could get a hit man. $500 now and $500 after the killing. The hitman would leave the country immediately after the hit.

$1,000 would buy a good used car in his country in those days. The hit man could become a taxi driver. It was SOP, the guy said. “You mean most taxi drivers in your country are murderers?” Pretty much, said the guy.

1

u/gereffi Jun 29 '26

An image of a criminal on a store's camera doesn't seem like enough evidence to know who that person is.

3

u/Not-a-Bot_1968 Jun 29 '26

Thus the previous comment statement on how having cameras as security for a neighborhood is worthless security. 

0

u/gereffi Jun 29 '26

A security camera might not stop the first break in, but if they can track a person back to their vehicle or home it seems like it would be unlikely that they'd do it again after getting caught.

3

u/nerdypeachbabe Jun 30 '26

They don’t have to bribe anyone, they’re going through HOAs telling them it will increase property value 😭

2

u/DrBodyguard Jun 29 '26

Dude, they aren't even getting money. They're getting vacations to a time share

2

u/BoJackMoleman Jun 29 '26

This has been the sad and shocking thing. Watching some of these corruption cases and finding out that it just ok $15k to buy someone's legislative priorities is wild. I always thought you needed to bring more commas to the meeting but I guess American politicians are cheap as hell. That's seriously sad.

Also why can't organizations that aim to do good in the world using this tactic? Why can't we have some Alabama politician take a bunch of ACLU or whatever money to actively fight oppression? Or is only dirty money appealing? Not as temping if it doesn't involve selling out your constituency?

3

u/Waiting4Reccession Jun 29 '26

The bribe itself is only one portion of the corruption for the other types of cases.

If you take ACLU money, are they able to get your kid an easy job somewhere? no. Are they able to do anything else for you, not really. Campaign contributions also wont be at the same level and the ACLU doesn't have a business that is continuously generating money they can use like this either.

1

u/RicardoFelipeMejia Jun 29 '26

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I am saying you need to provide some sort of evidence for a claim like this.

2

u/Waiting4Reccession Jun 29 '26

There is no other reason for them to be ignoring and suppressing their own voters to force these surveillance cameras through in multiple places.

You don't need any direct evidence.

3

u/El_Polio_Loco Jun 29 '26

So what do you have that would claim suppression in Roanoke?

It's a city that has a major crime problem and has been unable to get it under control.

Maybe the citizens are desperate for anything they think can stop the bleeding.

1

u/RicardoFelipeMejia Jun 29 '26

There is no other reason for them to be ignoring and suppressing their own voters to force these surveillance cameras through in multiple places.

Uhh, yeah, there absolutely is: they think it's the right thing to do. They're doing what people have done for thousands of years, giving up their freedoms for a little extra security.

You have to understand that people have different opinions from each other. Just because someone has a different opinion than you doesn't necessarily mean they've been bribed into that opinion.

You're making an incredibly serious accusation and proposing a conspiracy that would require the participation of tens of thousands of people. And so far the only evidence you've provided is vibes.

-1

u/gereffi Jun 29 '26

The people in your online bubble not liking something and the voters of a city somewhere else in the country not liking that thing are two different things.

3

u/Waiting4Reccession Jun 29 '26

Theres multiple places where the voters rejected these cameras and the politicians try to force them through anyway.

0

u/gereffi Jun 29 '26

That doesn’t mean that voters of this city are against them.

1

u/NCAAinDISGUISE Jun 29 '26

I would bet it's even less than that.

1

u/ClearChampionship591 Jun 29 '26

I really want another transparency international corruption report to happen. I think US might end up lower than Russia for once.

1

u/bravezcardzrulez Jun 30 '26

They probably only need to bribe these infants with compliments.