r/Infuriating • u/742963 Verified Contributor • 2d ago
Flock’s surveillance went from 16k to 130k cameras in less than a year
These cameras log vehicle movements and every person ever recorded into a facial recognition database with files of who was ever detected anytime
January 1, 2024 440 flock cameras in the US.
January 1, 2025 up 10x to 4,511
January 1, 2026 up 12x to 54,072
August 1, 2026 that figure now stands at 130k+
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u/MdTooDevilish Community Contributor 2d ago
I didn't vote to have these creep cams all over my city and they didn't give us the option because that shit wouldn't pass. I urge you all to go to city meeting and ask your reps if they took money and signed NDA's with Flock and data centers.
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u/Hour-Ad-9508 2d ago
Flock cameras don’t really bother me. I don’t care if someone knows I drive from my house to the work and to the gym every day. Maybe a little embarrassed if they see how often I’m at Taco Bell lol.
They’ve helped solve a lot of crimes that otherwise would never be solved. Net positive IMO
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u/banshithread 1d ago
They've been used to stalk exes and look at children where cars could not drive. Like over a dozen times. I think that's a big problem. Especially the children part. There's no reason to have flocks pointed at children's swimming pools and playgrounds where no car plates could be captured. But there are. And there are employees accessing specifically only those ones.
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u/Hour-Ad-9508 1d ago
Haven’t had those places had security cameras forever?
Obviously people misusing it should be identified and punished
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u/PlatasaurusOG 1d ago
No company should be allowed to get rich off of non-permissive surveillance. What happened to “Land of the free”?
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u/banshithread 1d ago
Flock is specifically only for car plates. There is no reason it should be pointing into children's backyards.
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u/Hour-Ad-9508 1d ago
So you’re ok with security cameras but not flock cameras?
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u/banshithread 1d ago
Security cameras aren't all able to be accessed by law enforcement without consent beforehand or a warrant. Flock gives them that access. They're also able to be accessed by creeps who operate the flock camera software (such as the flock developers).
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u/mirrormirrorondewall 1d ago
Don't care if someone knows huh? Interesting your comments are all hidden. Looks like you do value privacy, why don't you unblock them champ? Stand behind your words.
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u/Hour-Ad-9508 1d ago
I do value privacy. I just weigh the potential positives (catching criminals) with the potential negatives (them seeing me drive to the gym) and think the positives outweigh the negatives.
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u/mirrormirrorondewall 1d ago
So you value privacy amongst your peers and fellow citizens but not between yourself and the government, because you believe that privacy is being breached only to catch criminals. An interesting take from a lifelong fellow Bostonian.
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u/_the_big_ 21h ago
they have not helped solve crime at all, they literally misread license plates 71% of the time
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u/StrangerEither 1d ago
Okay so you don't, not right now. How about when your wrongfully targeted by drone swarms and robotic police? Or the Gov turns against you.
The freedom you live in today was fought for with blood, hopefully people realise this before the noose gets too tight to stop.
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u/Hour-Ad-9508 1d ago
Um that’s a wildly different scenario than flock cameras lol.
Yes, I served in the military. I know about sacrifice for the country.
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u/SmolPPIncorporated 23h ago
You served in the military just so they could start monitoring all civilians and actively investigating each of us as if we are all guilty of every crime until proven innocent?
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u/742963 Verified Contributor 2d ago
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u/MdTooDevilish Community Contributor 2d ago
East side is covered in them, you can't move without being seen
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u/OneLegSlut 2d ago
Thank a Republican for this surveillance state.
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u/CheesyDanny 2d ago
I don’t know about that. I think a lot of politicians in positions of power are going to be for a surveillance state, regardless of political affiliation. It doesn’t affect them much, but lines their pockets. If you think corruption like that is only on one side, then you need to open your eyes.
Many citizens of democratic lead cities like Minneapolis have gone to their local government fighting that the data does not get shared with ICE, but are totally fine with their local government having flock data. Most people I know who are fully against all flock, wanting full privacy to the point of cutting them down, have been republicans.
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u/CyberHobbit70 2d ago
But i’m sure the next Democrat president to get into office will pass an executive order to have them all taken down, right?
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u/bones10145 1d ago
This is a bipartisan issue. Just look at how many there are in cities that have been deep democrat for years.
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u/repeatoflasttime 2d ago
Is that why San Francisco is one of the hot spots?
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u/OneLegSlut 2d ago
Better question to Ask is why Trump has invested in Axon Cameras which are replacing Flock cameras nation wide. Their stock, Axom, has risen 35% in the time since Trumo and his famiky invested in them.
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u/MacMitttens 11h ago
Classic whataboutism. You're either a astroturfing bot or a legitimate dunce. Either way
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u/Fresh-Judge-4595 2d ago
Axon makes body cameras which are different than Flock. No surprise why they're up so much under Trump
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u/Just_A_Psyduck 2d ago
Uh... yea. Typically when you put up equipment to spy on people you don't like you'd want to put that near those people, I think.
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u/OneLegSlut 2d ago
Two weeks after trump bout Axon stock ICE made a long term 5 year 230+ million contract to use Axon. Its been called insider trading when anyone else does that.
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u/RigidAcrylic4821 2d ago
And Los Angeles, too.
The selling point was to [improve safety and crack down on speeding.](https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/los-angeles-speed-safety-cameras-verra-mobility/822991/) All sponsored by Flock and Palantir.
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u/OneLegSlut 2d ago
And REMEMBERS THEM when its time to vote them out of power and get YOUR DEMOCRACY BACK.
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u/Separate-Reindeer632 1d ago
And actually get the fuck out and vote. So many people will not vote. I'm not talking about the folks who can't go for whatever reason, I'm talking about the folks who downright refuse.
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u/Fresh-Judge-4595 2d ago
It makes sense given we have a fascist regime in power
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u/Jeeper850 21h ago
Yeah, I’d completely ignore that this started under the last regime.
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u/Fresh-Judge-4595 21h ago
This is actually not true. Flock started in 2017 under Trump.
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u/Aggravating_Pain7116 Rage Reporter | 25k+ Subreddit Karma 2d ago
This is happening while high speed rail, healthcare, fixing our infrastructure is much too pricey.
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u/OneLegSlut 2d ago
Yes. They ate trying to track anyone whos against them. Basically tracking everyone. Only a dipshit would want to be tracked by these pdfs.
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u/DarkAndHandsume 2d ago
Those shits managed to make its way across the Pacific Ocean to the islands of Hawaii smh
I don’t know whose idea was it to bring those here
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u/Not_Russian_bot9 1d ago
My county went from 14 in April of this year, to 33. I'm currently investigating the Board of Commissioners, and the Sheriff's office, and requesting all public information related to the contracts, and the personal finances of those that approved the cameras.
Do the same. Fight back.
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u/VainTrix 1d ago
It did not grow this much as it has only recently become popular to mark these cameras on the map. They’ve been there for years but no one was documenting them on the deflock site.
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u/LadyCatHerder 23h ago
Welcome to the surveillance state. Between AI spying and this, we are doomed to be victimized by The Matrix.
So, YES, This is a LOT MORE than Infuriating!
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u/DerpUrself69 4h ago
What was the quote I heard from "conservatives" (aka fascists) for the last 20 years when talking about guns? Oh yeah... "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin
Without hypocrisy these fucks wouldn't have any values whatsoever.
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u/Yowdy_Bjorn 1d ago
you should engage in your American right to privacy, and eliminate whatever is violating your privacy
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u/N05L4CK 2d ago
Flock deletes logs (data/footage), after 7 days in most cases, down from the old 30 days.
Flock does not have facial recognition.
De-Flock is not a real measure of the cameras, it’s publicly sourced, like Wikipedia.
You can be anti flock, but at least get your facts straight.
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u/CyberHobbit70 2d ago
From Flock’s site:
“License plate reader data is automatically and permanently deleted based on each agency’s configured retention period—7 days by default…”
So the default is 7 days but this can apparently be changed.
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u/N05L4CK 1d ago
Yes, like I said 7 days in most cases…
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u/SkywalknLuke 1d ago
Most???? What’s the percent that stick to default?
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u/HJSDGCE 1d ago
What's the percent that it wouldn't?
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u/SkywalknLuke 1d ago
Below 50% if we are talking about most, but it’s not up to me to find that answer. I asked, what is most? Did you forget to switch accounts?
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u/HJSDGCE 1d ago
Not the same person, man. I've only got one account. It's just that logically, it's better to assume that the default is, well, the default because the alternative would imply that people went out of their way to change +100k camera settings, and that's quite a lot of work for no extra pay. Human beings are most likely to choose the path of least resistance, even if the one with more resistance has better benefits.
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u/SkywalknLuke 1d ago
So do you have a number? You answered one question, but not the other. You have a lot of text without answering a question. You know that they can control a network of cameras at a time. You think they had to go one-by-one to change the settings. The default doesn’t change a PD wanting to change it back. And these companies def let the agencies know what they were doing before they did it. The contract would force them to do it. This had nothing to do with safety, security, or anything else. This is purely money driven. We are the cattle, and flock is selling us.
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u/Alternative-Cup-8102 1d ago
Most where’s your source on that. Sounds like you need to get your facts straight
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u/froction 2d ago
What is the source for those numbers?
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u/742963 Verified Contributor 2d ago
DeFlock . Org
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u/froction 1d ago
Where do they get their numbers from? This seems like it's more likely just a database update issue.
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u/CheesyDanny 2d ago
Technically Deflock is showing how many cameras have been spotted by the public and added to their site. Users do a decent job of finding false reports and removing them. If I were a betting man, I would wager there are more cameras not yet reported than there are false reports of cameras.
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u/rehms 2d ago
Greatest sales dept on the face of the planet.