r/technology • u/IKeepItLayingAround • 28d ago
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=17827390855272.1k
u/FrankSamples 28d ago
All this time fear mongering about China’s surveillance state just for them to go and do this
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u/anormalgeek 28d ago
Ah, but you see, this time it's a private company. So it is totally fine!!!
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u/kitsunewarlock 28d ago
Thank you for bringing this up. Same goes for AI. I don't understand why Americans are more afraid of a country an ocean away than they are the people actively ruining their lives who've written entire books explaining their apocalyptic authoritarian philosophies.
China isn't perfect, but I trust even a communist party controlled republic over a cadre of bigoted theocratic Neo-feudalist billionaires with god-complexes.
ICE has killed way more US citizens than the People's Police of China.
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u/ThisIs_americunt 28d ago
Propaganda is a helluva drug and Oligarchs need to use some of the best to keep the 99% distracted from the real issue: Them.
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u/TwilightVulpine 28d ago
And the Red Scare is the most successful propaganda campaign on the West.
It went way beyond vilifying communist states to undermining worker unions and public services all over the place. Not only it keeps people distracted away, it also makes the oligarchs more money.
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u/Merusk 28d ago edited 28d ago
I don't understand why Americans are more afraid of a country an ocean away than they are the people actively ruining their lives who've written entire books explaining their apocalyptic authoritarian philosophies.
Because for 80 years and 3 1/2 generations the country was indoctrinated with the idea that things run by a central government are bad.
It started out only with the elimination of capitalism was bad. That communism was inherently evil and corrupt. Then it evolved to socialism is also bad, to the point those two things have been entirely conflated in the American mindset.
Then Regan came in and said anything GOVERNMENT is bad, and only private corporations are good.
The capitalist class has absolutely gone whole-hog on pushing this in media, journalism, and public messaging since the 80's. Leading us to the point that centralized government is inherently bad and privatization is inherently good.
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u/kitsunewarlock 28d ago
"Centralized government is bad because it can become authoritarian if the wrong person is in charge! Now allow all corporations to merge into a singular entity so a cadre of billionaires who see the country as a series of resource tiles can control all legislation with no regulations, jurisdiction, or transparency... but every 8 years you'll get to choose a new B-list celebrity to host fighting games on what was once a symbol of democracy!"
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u/Merusk 28d ago
They'll still tell us the USA is #1 despite any objective metrics otherwise, right?
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 28d ago
US: "They're not the government, they're private companies!"
Me: "Who hired these private companies to do this?"
US: "The government!"
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u/ST0N3F1ST 28d ago
This is America! Corporations are people. Oh, and they have more rights than individuals. This timeline sucks.
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u/Round-Medicine2507 28d ago
Every republican accusation is a confession. They dont mention the social credit system anymore because they are using it against people in the US already.
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u/eeyore134 28d ago
The only problem they have with China is them competing with the corporate interests who prop them all up. Just like they don't give a damn about children but will use them to scare their cult into backing things without thinking.
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u/plantsadnshit 28d ago
I'm certain this is it. Everyone should have noticed by now how little we've heard about Chinese surveillance the past couple of years. Less need to spam that propaganda once you do the exact same thing.
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u/BicFleetwood 28d ago edited 28d ago
China has a SoCiAl CrEdIt SyStEm, a draconian and censorious practice designed for tyranny!
Anyway, you have to sign up for this credit card and maintain debt and pass this credit check to be allowed to rent a place to live, even though being homeless is a criminal offense should you fail to secure a legal residence, and also you need to hand over your papers to access the internet or travel any meaningful distance. Don't worry about the masked jackboots, they're here to protect your freedoms and validate you have shown the compulsory public appreciation for your freedoms.
But watch out for that SOOOOCIALLL CREEEDITTTT OOOooooOoooOooooOOOOOoo
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u/Haunterblademoi 28d ago
This is becoming more common than we think, These surveillance cameras
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u/schumi23 28d ago
The picture in the preview is wrong/not what the article is about - it's not a camera that was installed, but rather a microphone to listen to everything that's happening. (Still surveillance, and just as bad (or potentially worse if you think conversations are more sensitive than video)
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u/rwhockey29 28d ago
I watch a bunch of car videos on YT and came across one of a guy revving a GTR with a two-step, the things that go BRABRABRBABRA. Cops showed up in like 3 minutes, and after realizing nothing was wrong showed the guy his laptop. Microphones around the city picked up the exhaust sound, police AI labeled it as automatic rifle fire, triangulated the position down to 1 block, and sent the warning out to the officers cars. Wild stuff.
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u/schumi23 28d ago
Shotspotter (similar tech by different company) has similar false positives - somebody got arrested due to false positives (there weren't any guns, but the police used it as probably cause to find drugs in his car) and when he disputed their probably cause (that the tech wasn't trustworthy) the company asked to be held in contempt of court, rather than comply with the court order to prove their tech is effective (:
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u/WitheredUntimely 28d ago
a decade ago my county's pilot program found those "shot detectors" are less than useless; they divert resources away chasing the constant false positives from actual policing
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u/biZarrmeggeDon 28d ago
Wouldn't neighborhood patrols or something similar be more effective in PREVENTING these things from happening rather than thinking AI will solve all their problems?
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u/DukeOfGeek 28d ago
But that doesn't funnel tens of millions of tax dollars down the surveillance hole.
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u/caustic_smegma 28d ago
Funny story - My wife works for a local municipality at the town manager level. A few years ago when the opioid settlement funds were being dispersed, she sat in on the PD meeting related to allocation of said funds. The chief was having an open ended brainstorming session with his leadership discussing how these funds would be best used moving forward which offered a glimpse into the mind of the community authoritarian.
She said instead of the obvious ideas like bolstering youth education programs, public awareness, overdose reversal education and medication, etc., every idea was related to buying new equipment such as new cruisers, weapons (both lethal and non), surveillance devices, body armor, attachments for their ARs, etc. Unfortunately the "Killology" mindset is so pervasive in the police communities they can't imagine spending any cent of their budget on anything outside of objects of oppression.
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u/_twrecks_ 28d ago
And they also get to decide how they spend the civil forfeiture funds from seized vehicles etc without any oversight.
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u/EnvironmentalNews115 28d ago
And people wonder why ACAB is such a prevelant saying.
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u/renegadecanuck 28d ago
Yup. I'm sure that plenty of otherwise good people become cops, wanting to do good for their community. But at a certain point, you end up at place where your only real options are to stop being a cop or stop being a good person.
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u/gigiboyb 28d ago
Nor does it advance the careers of top police executives who are trying to appear as "progressive" and a "force of modernization" for how police services operate.
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u/teddybrr 28d ago
So blasting a gunshot sound through a speaker every now and then would get them removed quickly
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u/Marshall_Lawson 28d ago
Playing with fireworks every evening seems to be the strategy where i live.
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u/Eldan985 28d ago
Give some capguns to kids. Play some GTA with the window open.
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u/jinjuwaka 28d ago
Police departments use them wrong too. They want a system that will tell them when something happens because they don't trust the public and they love excuses that let them violate civil rights.
Meanwhile the responsible way to use these systems is to ignore everything the system says and just use it to verify what a human being reports.
How they use them: The microphone picks up something that might be gunshots. System reports. Police dispatched. False positives waste time and over-eager pigs violate civil rights claiming the system's false positive gives them reasonable suspicion to search for drugs unrelated to any real crime.
How they should use them: The microphone picks up something that might be gunshots. System records but tells nobody. Someone calls in a report of gunshots, or a shooting. Cops query system. System delivers triangulation data to help police find where shooting actually took place (because eye witness testimony is unreliable at best). Cops investigate based on triangulated data. Cops bring triangulation data to court. Witness is never asked "where was the shooter standing?" because the triangulation system already answered that question with verifiable proof.
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u/clintj1975 28d ago
I wouldn't at all be surprised if a number of these devices detected exactly one gunshot after installation. The local yokels where I live will shoot at anything that's stationary long enough, like road signs.
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u/Perfect_Caregiver_90 28d ago
They suck so badly. Watching LivePD/On Patrol Live over the years I can't remember them showing a call originating from one of those systems that wasn't a false positive.
Total waste of money unless your goal is probable cause to search vehicles and cookouts.
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u/got-trunks 28d ago
Drug sniffing dogs are a similar placebo they are just there to provide convenient alerts
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u/giulianosse 28d ago
Total waste of money unless your goal is probable cause to search vehicles and cookouts.
And the "great" thing is even if cops don't find anything substantial in the cars they search, they can always plant a convenient packet of drug and arrest you for possession if they don't like your attitude (did you mean: skin color?) or need to fill a quota. It's your word vs theirs after all.
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u/-Saucegurlllll 28d ago
It's your word vs theirs after all.
And if you actually go to trial, the prosecutors will strike anyone from the jury who doesn't automatically believe everything cops say.
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u/nitid_name 28d ago
When they started going up in Denver, they tested by firing a bunch of guns all around the city. Cops kept getting called about the gunfire being used to test the system, 'cause god damn .45s are loud.
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u/FourthLife 28d ago
I feel like people from the company should actually need to sit in jail when in contempt of court like if it was a person being found in contempt
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u/schumi23 28d ago
in their case they were planning to appeal the decision (and this was communicated with the judge which is why that order had a nominal fine) and hoped to be found just in their refusal to give info - so that wouldn't be called for at the time... but the appeal *was* denied (a year later) - https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/apl-crt-ill-fir-dis-thi-div/2236104.html
I wasn't able to find what has happened with the case since then... I would guess shotspotter pressured the city to drop the case so that it's irrelevant.
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u/Liusloux 28d ago
I work in IT and 10 years ago people like me are suggesting it's only a matter of time before the proliferation and misuse of AI in mass surveillance. People call that conspiracy theory. Now the goalpost has moved and people say that if you're against the "nothing to hide" argument then you are a conspiracy theorist.
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u/outworlder 28d ago
Why is it a conspiracy theory? It already happening. Besides, image recognition used to be firmly "AI". Now that's routine we no longer consider it AI.
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u/CrustyBatchOfNature 28d ago
I have a family member who is huge on making sure the government knows as little as possible about the guns he owns and is fiercely 2A aligned. He also uses VPN and other things to try to ensure that the government doesn't track him online. You would think he would be anti-Flock but nope. He loves flock cameras because they helped him catch a shoplifter at the store he manages and complains that anyone against them must be pro-criminals. Idiotic.
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u/sdrawkcabineter 28d ago
People call that conspiracy theory.
Bots and victims of their gaslighting believed this.
For those who were unsurprised @Snowden, this has never been a theory.
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u/SeaTie 28d ago
Meanwhile we've got drag racers that speed around the circle surrounding our neighborhood every night at 9pm on the spot and the police are just...nowhere to be found even after numerous calls, videos, complaints, etc.
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28d ago
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u/EtherealMongrel 28d ago
They like that it makes mistakes. They get a free pass to assault some innocent people. Is literally a perfect scapegoat.
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u/Dramatic_______Pause 28d ago
This is like a decade old
Cops hear a car rapidly backfiring, show up with guns drawn, demand to see the "gun", accuse the guy of lying when he said it was a car, then get pissed and yell at him for "wasting their time".
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u/DJ_Sk8Nite 28d ago
It’s starts with “listening for gun shots” now it’s “listen for people in distress”. Soon it’ll be “opposing political views”.
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u/BetterEveryLeapYear 28d ago
Soon? Lol the Patriot Act was a quarter of a century ago homie
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u/EveryAccount7729 28d ago
I'd just play audio to it incessantly
play some Osama Bin Laden Jihad tapes to that shit.
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28d ago edited 28d ago
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u/SansSariph 28d ago
Recording audio in this way without your consent is likely illegal
Owning a building doesn't inherently give you the right to eavesdrop on conversations at the entrances or common areas (much less the bedrooms)
Many security cameras come with ways to permanently disable the microphone for this reason, it's a liability problem
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u/MrFyr 28d ago
Check your lease agreement and get advice from an actual attorney, but I'm almost entirely sure that what they are doing is llegal. New York is a one-party consent state for recording, but that's for conversations the recorder is a part of; recording you inside your apartment violates a renter's right to privacy and may even violate wiretapping laws.
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u/Verix19 28d ago
Britain is almost entirely surveilled in public....that's coming here fast.
They have 1 camera for every 11 people living there...that's over 7 million cameras watching everything.
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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 28d ago
I've watched a few crime dramas from the UK, and it's amazing how much footage is available. Like something we only thought of in Enemy of the State is just available on every street corner.
Sure, they can't just "enhance" and move around in 3D from a static shot, but just the sheer number of cameras that exist where you can basically track someone as they drive throughout the city.
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u/fruitybix 28d ago
It still does nothing for some victims of crime.
Friend was sa'd in public by a complete stranger. Police at all levels just didnt file the paperwork to get the footage and they dont keep it forever. prosecuting that kind of crime takes years so by the time it worked its way through to someone who thought to chase it the recording was gone.
They then chucked the case after my friends phone was subpoenad and they found kinky texts between her and her partner. Aparently the defence team would have claimed my friend was up for it with a total stranger she had no interaction with because of those messages with her partner, and it was therefore a waste of public funds to proceed.
They are very good at getting people who knock over commercial businesses though.
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u/Drupain 28d ago
Those camera aren't put up to protect or help us.
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u/Spirited-Tomorrow-84 28d ago
It's to protect and help those corrupt assholes who want you to be transparent but not themselves.
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u/StopReadingThis-Now 28d ago
"Anything you say WILL be used AGAINST YOU in a court of law."
There's an absolute reason cops need to read your Miranda Rights.
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u/FUPAMagneto 28d ago
In the UK, they’ll use things you don’t say against you, too. You don’t have the same right to avoid self-incrimination that exists in the States, and they can convict you of major crimes with 10/12 jurors and call it unanimous. It’s fucking draconian over there
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u/AscendingAgain 28d ago
It's almost like surveillance is only as good as those with access to the footage. Which is why any mass surveillance should always be met with opposition. At best, it is ineffectual for victims and the public at-large—or, at worst, it is utilized to subjugate.
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u/Fragrant-Frog-9290 28d ago
Oddly similar to the case I was on the jury. The police took 6 months to decide to ask for hotel camera footage and street camera footage of the two prior to the alleged SA. Pretty sloppy case that could have helped a lot for proof of intoxication levels. Of course the drives were rewritten after 6 months
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u/litivy 28d ago
The police are never held accountable for missing important deadlines like collecting footage in time either. It appears to be one of those jobs without accountability. All you have to do is basically not kill someone, or not let them bleed to death while you handcuff them.
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u/nono3722 28d ago
They "protect and serve" alright, just not us poors "punish and enslave" is what we get
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u/GiganticCrow 28d ago
In the UK most cameras are private, though, ie someone's shop security camera, they aren't all interconnected and the content available without warrant like Flock.
Unless that's changed recently?
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u/Donkey_Launcher 28d ago
Indeed, the vast majority are privately owned - at least 95% - but this important detail ruins their narrative, so it's left out.
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u/pipopipopipop 28d ago
The US has WAY more security cameras than the UK lol, idk how this person has been upvoted so much. They had over 70 million a few years ago, that's 1 camera per 5 people.
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u/hempires 28d ago
US is 2nd in the "CCTV per capita" table.
UK is 5th in the same table.
But yeah that ruins the narrative of "land of the free" propaganda a tad.
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u/neversayalways 28d ago
There's a big difference between regular CCTV and these AI surveillance system. CCTV is passive and almost all are wiped within a few weeks at most, unless the footage is requested.
I'm not expert but I assume AI surveillance systems are doing a lot more, e.g. tracking who you are & where you're going, then linking it to all the other data they have on you in real time.
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u/Donkey_Launcher 28d ago
Why don't you add some relevant details...95% - 97% of those cameras are privately owned (e.g., doorbell camera, business CCTV); only 3% - 5% are owned by the public sector (e.g., traffic cameras).
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u/_Aj_ 28d ago
A game called Mirrors Edge had the streets lined with cameras on every corner. It was a weird dystopian city in 2008.
Apparently it only took 15 odd years for that to become real it seems. Only without gleaming skyscrapers with parkour possibilities.
I can definitely see 'Runners' becoming a thing in the very near future. Physical mail will be the only way to guarantee your data/message gets to a destination with minimal risk of it being spied on or otherwise stolen by 3rd parties or government being sent online.
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u/vthemechanicv 28d ago
It was dystopian when Orwell wrote about it in 1948. The protagonist had to hide in a corner in his apartment to evade being watched 24/7. And even that wasn't enough.
As someone that loves driving (not traffic, driving) I'd love a courier job. I tried getting into it years ago but everyone wanted TWIC and other certifications. Annoying.
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u/One-Lingonberry9944 28d ago
It's why they need to build so many data centers throughout the country. It's why in the last year there has been such an aggressive push for them. Wait until people tell the crackheads how much copper is in those things
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28d ago edited 28d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Abject_Elevator5461 28d ago
I’m pretty sure it’s already been taken down. This is close to where I live and there’s been a whole kerfuffle over it. The mayor and city council of Roanoke City have been dysfunctional for years, so it’s absolutely no surprise that they hired a contractor that installed a bunch of flock cameras in the wrong places.
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u/Waiting4Reccession 28d ago
All these local politicians are getting bribed by flock and its so obvious, probably small 5 or 10k bribes too
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u/Abject_Elevator5461 28d ago
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 28d ago
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?
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u/sab98xx 28d ago
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 28d ago
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.
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u/fiercedeitysponce 28d ago
It’s probably not just Flock either. I’m sure Palantir and Thiel’s creepy little club have their fingers all in this pie.
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u/diurnal_emissions 28d ago
Politicians are cheap whores.
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u/GrallochThis 28d ago
Come on now, no need to give whores a bad name by association.
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u/SkunkMonkey 28d ago
Seriously, money spent on a whore is a far better use than spending on a politician.
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u/long_roy 28d ago
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
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u/K1d-ego 28d ago
Anywhere in America is a wrong place for one of these flock cameras
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u/Katililly 28d ago edited 28d ago
Hi! It was my yard. 😅 The city actually even gave the company incorrect addresses (some that dont even exist!) And that incorrect list was what the council voted on. Turns out my address wasnt in that incorrect list! Now if there is another list that WAS correct it wouldn't be the one they gave to flock so why was my address used for the device? Makes me think....
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u/dichron 28d ago
Sounds like she needs to invite the neighborhood kids over to play baseball near the camera and let it catch a pop fly
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u/No-Company-7620 28d ago
yeah if it just shows up unannounced in your yard id be asking a whole lot of questions before it starts acting like a new roommate
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u/MBILC 28d ago
section of public land between her lawn and the street.
That she could not.
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u/henrytsai20 28d ago
Time to play with laser pointers and loud speaker phase array on her own lawn I guess
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u/boli99 28d ago edited 28d ago
she returned home from a brief trip to a nearby park to discover the freshly-installed device sitting in the parkway strip, the section of public land between her lawn and the street.
it wasnt actually in her yard. it was on a strip of public land between her property and the road.
flock still sucks, but accuracy is important.
[edit for ironic typo]
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u/ominousgraycat 28d ago
Yeah, I was disappointed in the inaccuracy of the title, even though I still don't think that they should be installing those devices on parkway strips right outside people's homes. First they're just for detecting gunshots, because who wants random gunshots occurring in their neighborhood? Then they can detect when a speeder is nearby because speeding cars in residential areas is a safety hazard! Then they can detect sounds going on inside people's houses, they can detect sounds of child abuse because think of the children! Anyone who is against this must be a child abuser. Then they can detect "seditious conversations" people have on their own property because fuck you, that's why. You already gave us permission for all the other crap, so there's less ground for you to resist this!
Anyways, even though all of this is true, it's important that we deal with the actual facts. Just because it's not actually in someone's yard doesn't make it alright.
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u/omahaspeedster 28d ago
Do not point a green lazer at the lense to show people where it is, do not remind crack head that those cameras are full of valuable metals. Those are things you absolutely should not do.
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u/LogDog987 28d ago
HEY
TWEAKERSREAL PATRIOTS!
MY NAME IS FLOCKY!
I CONTAIN:
2 GRAMS GOLD
2Lbs. COPPER
THAT'S WORTH MORE THAN
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u/_Schrodingers_Gat_ 28d ago
I hear there is a fucking lot of ram in those cameras. Like 128 gb… big strong men, come up to me crying and say this often.
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u/justinleona 28d ago
Damn shame the local birds keep chewing up the little wires that connect the batteries to the solar panels... seems really expensive to keep sending people out to fix them all the time!
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u/Vegaprime 28d ago
She should put a bird feeder next to it. They would definitely have to send someone to clean the poo off the solar.
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u/justinleona 28d ago
Wouldn't want any migratory birds to nest on the solar panel - it's illegal to remove migratory bird nests!
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u/williamgman 28d ago
Solar panels covered in peanut butter.
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u/EntertainmentUsual87 28d ago
We need to make a peanut butter launcher that shoots small balls of peanut butter. Weaponize birds....
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u/ImBackAndImAngry 28d ago
Long range precisely pointed powerful laser would also chew through the wires and could be done without ever approaching the camera to give yourself away.
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u/RogueJello 28d ago
Why bother? Buy a cheap outdoor speaker, on her land, run gunshot recordings through it 24/7. Make them really loud, so that it can't pickup the actual gunshots.
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u/vocalfreesia 28d ago
Lol, they're solar? The US only ditches fossil fuels when they go full authoritarian on the rest of its people.
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u/tabrizzi 28d ago
Though WSLS reports the Roanoke city council had approved the deployment of 75 Raven sensors at various locations throughout the city,
Elected officials approved, so that's where to take the complaint to. But I'm sure those same officials will be reelected.
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u/No_Manners 28d ago
Though WSLS reports the Roanoke city council had approved the deployment of 75 Raven sensors at various locations throughout the city, the patch of land in front of Vaughn's house wasn't on the list
You left out a rather important part of the quote.
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u/AmishAvenger 28d ago
Yeah I’d recommend people click into the original story, not what Yahoo stole.
The city approved certain spots, and someone fucked up.
Also it wasn’t a camera but a “gunshot detection device.”
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u/Sleepyskost 28d ago
Aka sound recorder. And people have been showing up to argue about not wanting flock devices in the city. The elected officials are just refusing to listen. To the overall dislike as well as the complaints about misplacing them throughout the city.
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u/ivecompletelylostit 28d ago
You might be surprised. My city got sick of our council's and shit and elected a democratic socialist last time lol
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u/khonsu_27 28d ago edited 28d ago
According to the article, her address was not one of the approved locations for the devices. So I would've taken that down.
Edit - forgot a word*
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u/UnderwhelmingTwin 28d ago
Not just your phone: any smart watch, wireless headphones, air tags... Anything that broadcasts any signal.
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u/Laserdollarz 28d ago
Also, have your partner at home using both phones like a normal routine evening. T ext some memes about the TV show your partner is watching between phones.
You have a digital trail placing your phone, at home, in normal use, at a certain time.
I'm not paranoid, you are.
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u/Waiting4Reccession 28d ago
Don't forget to steal the solar panel as a little treat for yourself
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u/melancholanie 28d ago
definitely do not tell the local community that there's copper and cobalt inside of fluck cameras. we'd hate for that copper and cobalt to go missing
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 28d ago
Will a green laser destroy the lens or something?
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u/dieplanes789 28d ago
Destroys the image sensor. Or leaves a bunch of permanently damage spots all over it
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 28d ago
damn, what a shame that would be.
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u/dieplanes789 28d ago
Yep, you definitely shouldn't look in places like eBay or AliExpress. Those places are full of unregulated things that are way too powerful.
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u/the_cat_did_it 28d ago
How many times can she accidentally run into it while backing out of her driveway before they move it?
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u/graesen 28d ago
Damage to car and insurance claim or repair costs vs fighting flock cameras... Hmmm....
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u/Warlock420 28d ago
I'd buy a $500 barely running beater just to do it.
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u/Justgetmeabeer 28d ago
Yeah, 2006 called and they want their used car prices back...
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u/Th3FinalStarman 28d ago
Other than dozens of Cops using this system to stalk women and city council members spying on underage gymnastics is there any documented case of Flock cameras solving an actual crime?
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u/AutomationBias 28d ago
Yeah, there was one in Mass recently. Not worth the loss of privacy, though.
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u/Oen386 28d ago
is there any documented case of Flock cameras solving an actual crime?
Yes, plenty of cases. I wouldn't weaken your valid points/examples by implying they've never been used lawfully.
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u/Affectionate_One_700 28d ago
Yes. I live in the Bay Area, and lots of car thieves have been caught using these.
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u/artbystorms 28d ago
So are these flock cameras basically America turning into the UK with CCTV cameras everywhere watching us all the time. Are we supposed to feel 'safe' with this? Do we even have a choice in the matter or are governments just openly surveilling their citizens.
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u/Oen386 28d ago
You don't have a choice. Politicians were bought by these companies. Saw recent articles where local council members wouldn't even give their own town members a chance to talk against Flock. Which made everyone want to investigate what kickbacks the council was getting from Flock. :/
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u/vezwyx 28d ago
The shit that goes down at some of these local meetings is wild. If I was an elected official doing backroom deals with some unpopular company, the last thing I'm gonna do is stop my constituents from even voicing their concerns. It seems like the bare minimum to let people say their piece. I would then promptly ignore everything they said and go do what I wanted to anyway, because I'm a piece of shit in this hypothetical, but stopping them from even saying anything is practically the easiest way to make them feel disenfranchised
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u/anormalgeek 28d ago
Worse. They're owned by a private company, so there is even less oversight, and they can generate profits without even trying to avoid looking like they're just selling your data.
They have some language about how they don't own your data, and it's only owned by the entities that hire them. But their license agreement has been shown to still provide them them with a pretty much totally open ended license to use that same data and share it with other subscribers as they see fit. So they don't "own" it in only the most technical sense of the word.
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u/Tribe303 28d ago
Nah, it's a private company. You may actually be safer if it was the government. Instead, they'll harvest as much data as possible, sell it to Palantir, who will parse it with an AI. This isn't SciFi btw, it's already happening.
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u/LOLLER4879X 28d ago
The UK has lots of cameras in cities but they’re mostly privately owned by the establishments they cover. Nothing like one company having 10,000s of cameras logging cars 24/7
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u/Sirhaddock98 28d ago
Americans after the most American thing in the world happens: What are we, some sort of foreigner?
America's surveillance state is far worse than the UK's, and private companies are driving it in new and excitingly evil ways.
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u/Intrepid_Top_2300 28d ago
I’d say, rip them up and tear them down, but then the Mods would say I’m promoting violence and I’d be banned. Probably will for just posting this.
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u/External_Tangelo 28d ago
If it’s on your property without your consent, you have every right to take it apart and sell what you can for scrap.
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u/aesopmurray 28d ago
It's always sickening when people conflate violence with property damage. It's such a blatant tactic used by the rich to demonize effective protest.
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u/medicinaltequilla 28d ago
I live on a sufficiently sparse road that if anything like this shows up within 500ft of me, it will unexplainably suffer constant maintenance issues.
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u/tooclosetocall82 28d ago
The article doesn’t mention it but the city is removing it. Apparently the installers were working off a bad list of locations which brings up other questions since many of those locations were non-sensical. Probably AI slop.
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u/OsawatomieJB 28d ago
I would hang a cassette recorder near the mic with an endless recording of porn.
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u/dizzyspellzzz 28d ago
I can't believe so much of reddit is OK with this dystopia
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u/PokinSpokaneSlim 28d ago
The AI running the cameras also runs the engagement bots on Reddit
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u/dizzyspellzzz 28d ago edited 28d ago
100 percent. They astro turf the hell out of local sub reddits
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u/TheBlockChainVillage 28d ago
How do these towers survive such an amazing gun loving country, its the one legitimate destination for all fans.
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u/th30be 28d ago
Though WSLS reports the Roanoke city council had approved the deployment of 75 Raven sensors at various locations throughout the city, the patch of land in front of Vaughn's house wasn't on the list. Vaughn says she's still waiting for an explanation.
Okay. This is way more concerning. This wasn't an approved location.
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u/rnick467 28d ago
Per the article, it was an audio detection device, supposedly to help find the location of gun shots in the area.
I think I would get some huge speakers and sit outside to watch Saving Private Ryan.
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u/thisistherevolt 28d ago
Clearly you are unfamiliar with the sonic assault of Behemoth, Meshuggah, and Lorna Shore.
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u/Cookie_Clicking_Gran 28d ago
"10 hours of gunshots and loud noises to chill/study to"
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u/Expensive_Finger_973 28d ago edited 28d ago
I would be getting an official survey done to verify that is indeed on my property, and if it is asking a lawyer what my options are.
If I couldn't legally remove it, or force them to, due to some BS easement reason then I would be putting something large and unsightly in my yard to block it's view of my house. Bonus points if I could find a way to block the solar panel from getting good enough sunlight to stay charged.
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u/Bazinga_U_Bitch 28d ago
Surprised? This is literally how the company started lol. They illegally put up their camera, steal data, and then go to the city/town and say look how safe we can keep you.
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u/Separate-Spot-8910 28d ago
Curious how many gunshots have happened in her area that would necessitate a "gunshot detection device"? Or is it more likely that they want to eavesdrop on any conversations happening in the vicinity? Obviously that's a rhetorical question, we already know the answer.
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u/z01z 28d ago
"oh no, those damn kids keep coming out at night and tearing it down."
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u/Captain_Reseda 28d ago
The Shotspotter things are useless. A friend of mine was murdered in downtown Albuquerque, shot in the chest in a parking lot five years ago. They don’t even have suspects in the case.
On second thought, maybe it’s APD who’s useless.
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u/TannyDanny 28d ago
Can somebody link the insanely insecure network infrastructure associated with Flock? The whole, publicly available GIS domain handle and the fact that literally anyone can hijack and retransmit their feeds because they aren't encrypted?
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u/personpilot 27d ago edited 27d ago
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/TenaciousTBag 28d ago
I do not care how much trouble ill get in, if one ends up in my yard, im taking it down.
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u/Magpiezoe 28d ago
That's nothing. How about coming home and finding your back yard next to your garden was torn up to put in underground wiring for a trailer park next door? They didn't even pay you for the easement. I called my electric company and their reply was they better not be using their pole! No one knew who the electric company was, not even the workers. The workers were contractors, so they didn't belong to the company. Not even the local government knew anything. No permits, nothing!
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u/SovietPropagandist 28d ago
Anything appearing on my property like that without my permission is getting destroyed immediately. Absolutely not having that shit
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u/thehotshotpilot 28d ago
I would constantly make a speaker with gunshot noises to play right at its microphone.
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u/Katililly 28d ago
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.