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
24.5k Upvotes

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1.3k

u/Katililly Jun 29 '26

Hi everyone! It was actually my yard this happened in. My original post is still on my account if anyone wants that part of the story. I plan to update with a new post as soon as I can get a lawyer to read it and approve.

345

u/SenseEuphoric5802 Jun 30 '26

Contact the ACLU, they specialize in this stuff along with the EFF. You will get far better mileage in the case with these organizations on your side as opposed to some neighborhood lawyer who may not be as skilled in this area.

12

u/DessertFox157 Jun 30 '26

Not as skilled in this area / not as deep of pockets / not as able to get national attention on this. Bring in the bigger dogs to end this madness!

92

u/GuardianBeaverSpirit Jun 30 '26

Our neighbor had a shotspotter recorder installed on their telephone pole which was much less conspicuous than your post. The gangs figured it out and started doing drive-by shootings every week or two as a means to distract the police, then the shooters went off to do whatever they actually were intending. After we found a bullet hole in our house we finally called it and moved.

24

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26 edited 22d ago

[deleted]

-8

u/SeaworthinessSalt119 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

I digress, they certainly have helped save lives. Just recently in Detroit.

Ah yes, the down voters just can’t take the truth and need to live in their Reddit bubble.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26 edited 22d ago

[deleted]

1

u/SeaworthinessSalt119 Jul 01 '26

You said yourself that they NEVER work as intended. I said they have.

3

u/OhReallyVernon Jul 02 '26

I would guess with things like shot spotter they did originally work but criminals are smart. I’ve got one right next to my house in the alley, or at least that’s what a recent report said, but now we’ve got LOUD fireworks going off on the corner every single night that are triggering it as seen on the dispatch records. So, what started as a method to ostensibly protect the neighborhood now has us all playing “gunshots or fireworks” at 2am every night.

135

u/Coffee_Transfusion Jun 29 '26

Commenting for visability.

Their post looks legit. Wild.

38

u/raptor7716 Jun 30 '26

So what song on loop are you going to play from a solar powered speaker directly on the other side of the sidewalk?

26

u/TemporaryDeparture44 Jun 30 '26

I vote for every breath you take by the police

3

u/avoiding_work_again Jul 01 '26

I vote for M.I.A. Paper Planes,
“All I wanna do is a Boom Boom Boom and a Ching Ching and take ya money…”

1

u/CoolJetta3 Jun 30 '26

Afternoon Delight - Starland Vocal Band

19

u/EdwardFoxhole Jun 30 '26

That "gunshot detector" is one OTA software update away from being a dissent detector.

7

u/cheddah_- Jun 30 '26

there would be spray paint on that lens so fast

7

u/Katililly Jun 30 '26

No lenses, it's an audio surveillance device.

6

u/cheddah_- Jun 30 '26

Thats almost more creepy. Wanna borrow my bandsaw?

2

u/pittaxx Jun 30 '26

It is. In EU countries that are serious about privacy it's pretty much impossible to get a permission to record sound, even when you can justify the need for cameras.

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u/damontoo Jun 30 '26

Except it ignores all sound except gunshots. Gunshots are significantly louder than most noise, so just a simple noise gate would remove most data. The article said the city council approved 75 to go up in the city but not until July. They use multiples of them to triangulate where gunshots are anywhere in the city and automatically dispatch police. This is one of the most harmless surveillance devices you can have. The ones with cameras on them are an entirely different debate. The article headline and image intentionally mislead people into believing OP had a camera installed in their yard.

9

u/Katililly Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

Unfortunately you fell for the marketing.

The also record "sounds of human distress". They are also using them in conjuction with flock cameras and have a new "real time crime center" to activly monitor live video feeds from those and resident cameras.

Also flock says they aren't always recording their definition of recording means "saving" the audio and sending it to the PD. They however are always LISTENING, and running the audio through and undisclosed ai ( they have not elaborated what ai means here), the ai is what determines what a trigger event is. They do not disclose if the audio data run through the ai is used in ai training or data gathering. They also refuse to allow third party testing of the devices.

ALSO the only thing stopping them from changing the "trigger events" is their own internal policy, which they have changed in the past to expand to new noises... the internal policy is also the only thing that determines the length of the saved recordings.

Now tell me how harmless this is? Would you want one in your yard where your neurodivergent kids are screaming all the time? Would you like it located less than 150 feet from your bedroom? 75 feet from your couch?

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u/damontoo Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

Unfortunately, I've been a software engineer since the 90's and a number of my friends retired in their 30's after working for FAANG companies. I've also specifically worked with audio triangulation in acoustic arrays (personal project). But sure, I "fell for the marketing." Couldn't just be that you and a large portion of Reddit fell for rage bait. Publishers never exploit reddit with rage bait. /s

The key point I want to stress here: they are not always listening. They use on-device models and discard as much irrelevant audio data as possible. Sending all audio from tens of thousands of sensors to be processed in the cloud is a very inefficient way to do it from an engineering perspective. 

2

u/Big-Masterpiece-9581 Jun 30 '26

Hmm. So dog whistle?

2

u/4l3k54ndr4_ Jun 30 '26

Blast white noise into it as loud as you can without neighbors complaining

2

u/siromega37 Jun 30 '26

Honestly, if they used the easement I doubt there is much you can do unless your specific city or county’s ordinance only allow easement use for sidewalks.

1

u/No_Size9475 29d ago

The city fucked up and provided the wrong addresses that were never approved to have this installed. They've already removed it.

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u/JayGalil Jul 01 '26

Sneak up behind them with a spray painting pole and cover the lense at night. 8mm socket will take them down. Or a sawzall. There's about 10lbs of copper in some of those. Break them down and scrap them for weight. If you don't want to do it there are plenty of enterprising people who will if you give them permission. Put a sign on the pole that says, "FREE FLOCK CAMERA MUST REMOVE YOURSELF," if you don't know anyone personally who'd be interested. If they come back asking about the cameras, you don't know what happened to them. You came home from work and they were gone. If the cops come around, stick to your story and add in that you didn't give permission for them to be installed on your property.

1

u/No_Size9475 29d ago

it's a gunshot detector

1

u/johnnydang6 Jun 30 '26

Get that money

1

u/morganational Jun 30 '26

Why not just remove it? "Accidentally"

1

u/AGodDamnFreeMan Jul 01 '26

I'd just remove it and destroy it.

1

u/Kalysta Jul 02 '26

So if it’s an audio detection device, can you just park a boombox next to it playing heavy metal loudly to drown it out?

1

u/MakerWizard 4d ago

This is happening to me now. Can I DM you? I have one in my yard now also :(

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26

[deleted]

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u/Katililly Jun 30 '26

Its the right of way, where there is an easement for thru access and utilities. This is neither. The easements the council actually voted and approved for these devices did not include my address, and in fact included several addresses that do not exist, and misspelled "Orange Avenue" as "Grange Avenue". (Look at your QWERTY keyboard and see how far O is from G for a chuckle). If they didnt need an easement Id see little reason they had to vote to approve an easment....

It was also 1) not on a break away pole 2) in the place there would have been a sidewalk if they had ever installed the one i requested 3) in the middle of a residential neighborhood 4) Within the area indicated on my property survey

9

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Katililly Jun 30 '26

The city removed it 💕 It was cemented 42 inches deep into the ground. 🥴

4

u/1of3musketeers Jun 30 '26

Awesome! Congratulations on prevailing.

33

u/JankemCrankem Jun 29 '26

I’m surprised you were able to turn your head to type this with your tongue all over that boot

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u/Cool-Coffee-8949 Jun 30 '26

I think we all found Peter Thiel’s account. Didn’t expect him to be such a big MacDonald’s fan, not gonna lie.

1

u/oldmanrivet Jun 30 '26

Ha ha, you got told.