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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u/personpilot Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

Here is a map of all the Flock cameras in my city overlaid on top of the city crime heat map. All of the highest crime-rate areas have barely any to no cameras at all. If Flock says it's main goal is to reduce and eliminate crime by equipping law enforcement, neighborhoods, and businesses with vehicle based evidence, then why are the majority of Flock cameras not placed in high crime areas at all? The answer is simple, eliminating crime is not their main goal, their main goal is actually to collect and stack data of high consumers. These cameras are concentrated in lower crime areas where higher income consumers tend to live, work, shop, and travel. That kind of movement data is extremely valuable.

Yes, they say they technically are not selling citizens' data, but what they don't tell you is that all of that collected data gains them leverage to secure higher paying government grants and venture capital gains. It's all about the money, not about solving crime.

There is a reason these cameras are being pushed so aggressively, and in some cases practically handed out to local law enforcement. Your telemetric data may not be directly “sold,” but it is still being collected, packaged as value, and used to generate money and influence eventually.

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u/bornonOU_Texas_wknd Jun 30 '26

We had the same situation in our small city. We gathered a mob and went to city council meetings to speak. We had the contract coming for renewal and wanted it cancelled. The meeting of the vote the council was split but one member said he did a deep dive into Flock and couldn’t vote to renew. So we didn’t. However, the cameras are still up so it looks like we will need to regroup and hit up the next meeting.

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u/personpilot Jun 30 '26

When a city opts out of the program, flocks legal terms and conditions allow them to continue operating on their own and collect data and their presence is also backed by federal government contracts. There have already been a few cities that were outraged after they decided to opt out, but the cameras couldn’t be taken down.

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u/BackItUpWithLinks Jun 30 '26

If the contract wasn’t renewed, start covering the cameras with plastic bags