When even the LAPD are too embarrassed to be using your shit.
Flock cameras are not LPR cameras. They are regular security cameras, with server-based AI. They even show demos to potential customers showing how the their product can search for specific people based on clothes, animal types, children/babies, strollers, carts, etc. across the entire country from one web-based interface. It’s all very Orwellian and I don’t think this issue either starts nor stops with Flock as a company. This type of surveillance is going to be ubiquitous regardless of what company(s) show up for making money from it.
Yupp the only way out of this is being represented by people who look out for our interests and aren’t afraid to stand up to these companies and pass laws about this.
So in other words, it will get worse forever and never be fixed.
He’s so full of shit: “The technology is really simple,” he told ABC7. “A car drives by, we take a picture. It’s a static picture of a car, and then we read the license plate. That’s what the technology is – it’s actually not that complicated, it’s pretty simple.”
When in fact these use AI to build what the company calls a “Vehicle Fingerprint” to identify each car by make, model, color, body type, and distinguishing features like bumper stickers, roof racks, dents, decals, and even objects in truck beds. They can track and identify vehicles even when license plates are missing, obscured, or swapped for an 6-12 frame interaction. Moreover it is a database of metadata allowing them to characterize personality, trends, habits, and patterns across 80,000 cameras in 49 states. That’s just the plate readers.
They’ve grown to include ‘first responder’ drones, audio sensors, gunshot detection sensors, and full video surveillance in both the public and private sphere.
And worse is it’s real-time cross-jurisdictional alerting, which has seen multiple false reports.
So it’s damn well not just a static picture of a car, but surveillance capitalism.
The real danger has always been the database.
I’m sure there is bluetooth device scanning occurring as well to identify individuals through their phones.
There are also scanners that detect the identifiers being broadcast by your TPMS system.
Title sounds like Flock has somehow been wronged and is now “speaking out”. I bet that’s exactly how they want it. I also saw a Flock ad video that casually claimed to help against “terrorists, like AntiFa”. Thanks, MAGA, this is now common.
Thiele is the reason Vance is VP. He’s embedded in the maga movement, helping make those messaging decisions, not just following their norms
I know somebody who works at Flock. Any chance you have a link to that video? I’d love to see what he says about the CEO comparing Antifa to terrorists…
If I found out a friend worked for Flock, they wouldn’t be my friend anymore.
Unfortunately it’s not terribly easy to un-family somebody.
My condolences
I saw an Instagram reel of a guy protesting Flock by standing outside one of their offices and recording literally everyone that came on and out. A couple employees came out to him and told him they don’t feel safe with him recording them, and he’s just like “oh really? Now you know how it feels.”
One of them looked like Andrew Tate.
They were recruiting like crazy when I was looking for work a couple years ago. I noped out hard after visiting their website and seeing what they were up to.
“We’ve got to tighten up the policy and make sure everyone is aligned and then turn [the Los Angeles camera system] back on,” [Flock co-founder and CEO Garrett] Langley said.
Sucks to be you, then, doesn’t it.
“The technology is really simple,” he told ABC7. “A car drives by, we take a picture. It’s a static picture of a car, and then we read the license plate. That’s what the technology is – it’s actually not that complicated, it’s pretty simple.”
Sure. Just the license plate. Which is why the ACLU says that you collect “make, model and color of a car, other identifiers like scratches and dents, and anything else they can see.” It can include items “such as trailers, toolboxes, bumper stickers, or bike racks.” That’s why your cameras have audio detection hardware. That’s why your cameras are on biking trails, where no cars will be found.
Then using data analysis like that in Finding Paul Revere reveals a bunch of information about your habits, your friendships, and your associations. But, sure, you have nothing to lose :/
Didn’t forget Bluetooth detection for device id tracking, as well as facial recognition for all that warrantless personal surveillance
They have these pointed at children’s gyms. Eat Garrett Langley alive.
Oh it’s much worse than that.
https://www.404media.co/how-cops-use-flock-to-track-people-not-cars/
Cops have used Flock’s FreeForm search feature to look for people with tattoos and wearing specific sport shirts, and searches sometimes include the target’s race, according to data reviewed by 404 Media.
until we can get those data, privacy, security and sharing concerns ironed out through a contractual relationship
Trust me bro. These systems will never be abused by those managing the system: surely they couldn’t give themselves access privileges, surely they couldn’t remove data access records, surely individuals in positions of power would never modify, remove or share data out of self-protection, including their buddies’ (assets)…
You’re all just a little confused, you see: these video-capable cameras currently only record snapshots of vehicle identifiers, that happen to be registered to individuals, and might depict its driver and persons surrounding the vehicle. And don’t give me any of that future hocus pocus of “video footage”; that doesn’t exist actually, it cannot simply be enabled with a single over-the-air update…
These cameras, among the many others might, or might not keep a record of everything you do outside your home, and stack it on top of data harvested by other data aggregators; but we promise we won’t look at it. Why aren’t you smiling? It’s by contract: we’ll monitor compliance of both our self and our partner with a mutual interest. And uuuhp, no deliberate loopholes that we actively exploit.
Everyone with a brain cell predicted this when Flock began to become infamous earlier this year.
If your cameras are “AI-Powered” and collecting billions of data points on people, it’s just going to equate to (at least) tens of thousands erroneous identifications due to the limitations of the software.
And that’s unacceptable.
lol, “Flock Safety CEO” sounds the same as “Meta’s Chief Privacy Officer”.
Or “Meta Superintelligence safety director”?
(To be clear: screw them for insisting a bot, and not their own stupidity, should “terrify” anybody)
“Flock Safety” is the name of the company
Fret not, friends. The cities going anti-Flock will simply will sign up with that other company that has an ALPR and Trump owns stock in and is partially owned by Blackrock: Axon
lol they LAPD stopped using then (bs) but they are all still collecting data…
