The Overreach continues and so the Backlash will grow. Between this panopticon bs, the imposition of data centers on unsuspecting communities, the AI flattening of any accountability both public and private, the generalized corruption of our governments (federal, state, and local), and the growing mass immiseration of the People, the plutocrats-bros think they Can Have It All. They can have it alright and they will reap the Whirlwind as a result.
Flock cameras are even more dangerous than, as you stated it, "the ubiquitous online" gathering of "capitalist" data. I still find it creepy when I've searched a product online to get some possible purchasing details, and suddenly I see a commercial on TV for the product I was just reading about online. If course, then there are also the immediate flooding of similar product adds while I'm on social media, too.
But to be tracked when I'm outside my home by cameras that share detailed info about my vehicle and my physical whereabouts with various agency databases? Yeah, no. That shit's gotta go and the sooner, the better. I'll be damned if I will tolerate ANY government entity, let alone the Trump regime, to tell me what I can and can't do -- like joining in a protest of anything Trump related! And yes, I too do not want to hear about Flock cameras making me safer! Here's the rub: I don't feel unsafe almost anywhere I go, UNLESS the federal government is involved. Perhaps we can use Flock cameras to protect us from THEM?
No? Not possible, you say? Well, then goodbye Flock!
Here are two lines in the article that stood out to me...“It is clear Flock has aspirations far beyond ALPRs to become a digital platform for policing,” Ferguson says. “We are on the cusp of the age of agentic policing and the ability to create natural language chatbots to search within massive datasets will soon become the norm.” And, 'Investigators who try it, he said, get “addicted.” ' And there in lies the rub...
Well, I guess I'll have to start attending Sacramento City Council meetings and raising a ruckus. Thanks for the info, enough to cause another sleepless night. But thank you. Flock is something we CAN do something about, a much needed proposition when the trump craziness seems unbeatable.
We are doing that in our city and I'll be voting for council members who oppose Flock and want it gone. I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Democracy is in my DNA and Flock sure as hell isn't democracy...it's an authoritarian cancer on our civil liberties...
Thanks, Rick. With the proverbial fire hose of news spewing out every single day, this topic was on the periphery of my attention. I feel much better informed (and sadly more alarmed) than before I read it.
Thanks, Bob, I believe I have that Zappa book...somwwhere in the debris...but Frank had alot to say about alot of things and about 99% of it was cogent...hey, words to live by, right!
I live in an extremely red red county in Ohio which is an extremely red State. And yet our citizens went to our sheriff in great numbers and told him that they did not want flock cameras. He has taken them down despite the fact that our county commissioners paid over $50,000 for them. $50,000 in a small Ohio mostly rural county. That 50,000 could have gone to something far better than flock cameras.
I’m close to 70. This isn’t the United States of America that I grew up in anymore. For myself, I don’t care what Flock says. I don’t give 💀 about their “reasoning”.
Like you, I used to help strategize and write the stuff - for business, not politics.
China 🇨🇳 has Flock type surveillance. It’s how they control their people. Plain and simple.
I do not want to live in Communist China 🇨🇳.
The Trump Administration is not operating according to the Constitution. We have the INALIENABLE RIGHT to LIFE, LIBERTY and THE PURSUIT of HAPPINESS
Americans 🇺🇸 cannot exercise those INALIENABLE rights when we have a GOVERNMENT camera looking over us
Everywhere Everyday and Anytime we walk out of our houses - Communist China 🇨🇳 does to its people!!
The MAGA crowd are PROJECTING when they call ANYONE, ANYONE - Communist!
The MAGA’s have done or are planning to implement the most COMMUNIST control measures, including pogroms to drive out those people MAGA doesn’t want.
MAGA:
“Are practiced at the art of deceit.”
Put that phrase into a search engine under scripture and then let loose on the FALSE CHRISTIANS that are MAGA.
I saw a post on LinkedIn today from this Flocker. Extolling the virtue of having "found" 10,000 missing persons. The implication is that his surveillance system found 10,000 (not 9,999 or 10,001 - but 10,000) people who were abducted or otherwise unable to return to their rightful place. Likely because they did not want to be found or returned to a situation that they left for a reason.
We're inching toward Orwell's 1984 dystopian society where even in the sanctity of our homes we are being watched (Orwell described "telescreens" that were always surveilling people. When did anyone (other than the goon squads) sign up for this.
Project 2025 ushered in Free-dumb, which is the antithesis of Freedom as we've been led to believe. Up until now.
The Overreach continues and so the Backlash will grow. Between this panopticon bs, the imposition of data centers on unsuspecting communities, the AI flattening of any accountability both public and private, the generalized corruption of our governments (federal, state, and local), and the growing mass immiseration of the People, the plutocrats-bros think they Can Have It All. They can have it alright and they will reap the Whirlwind as a result.
Flock cameras are even more dangerous than, as you stated it, "the ubiquitous online" gathering of "capitalist" data. I still find it creepy when I've searched a product online to get some possible purchasing details, and suddenly I see a commercial on TV for the product I was just reading about online. If course, then there are also the immediate flooding of similar product adds while I'm on social media, too.
But to be tracked when I'm outside my home by cameras that share detailed info about my vehicle and my physical whereabouts with various agency databases? Yeah, no. That shit's gotta go and the sooner, the better. I'll be damned if I will tolerate ANY government entity, let alone the Trump regime, to tell me what I can and can't do -- like joining in a protest of anything Trump related! And yes, I too do not want to hear about Flock cameras making me safer! Here's the rub: I don't feel unsafe almost anywhere I go, UNLESS the federal government is involved. Perhaps we can use Flock cameras to protect us from THEM?
No? Not possible, you say? Well, then goodbye Flock!
Thanks for laying this out. I hadn't been tracking so closely, and can now see it's a BIG problem.
As a follow up...here's a link to good article from Wired on Flock and their upgrades :
https://www.wired.com/story/flock-safety-os-investigate/
Here are two lines in the article that stood out to me...“It is clear Flock has aspirations far beyond ALPRs to become a digital platform for policing,” Ferguson says. “We are on the cusp of the age of agentic policing and the ability to create natural language chatbots to search within massive datasets will soon become the norm.” And, 'Investigators who try it, he said, get “addicted.” ' And there in lies the rub...
Well, I guess I'll have to start attending Sacramento City Council meetings and raising a ruckus. Thanks for the info, enough to cause another sleepless night. But thank you. Flock is something we CAN do something about, a much needed proposition when the trump craziness seems unbeatable.
We are doing that in our city and I'll be voting for council members who oppose Flock and want it gone. I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Democracy is in my DNA and Flock sure as hell isn't democracy...it's an authoritarian cancer on our civil liberties...
Thanks, Rick. With the proverbial fire hose of news spewing out every single day, this topic was on the periphery of my attention. I feel much better informed (and sadly more alarmed) than before I read it.
Well said. On a related subject, Gil Duran's book went out today: "The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy". https://elliottbaybook.com/item/DFe05H_njq7Ct0rEr-nT4A
Thanks, Bob, I believe I have that Zappa book...somwwhere in the debris...but Frank had alot to say about alot of things and about 99% of it was cogent...hey, words to live by, right!
This just posted by Wired today…
https://www.wired.com/story/the-cop-who-took-on-flock/
Interesting choice of a name for the product. Are we now the flock of sheeples that Flock watches over?
Thanks Rick!
I live in an extremely red red county in Ohio which is an extremely red State. And yet our citizens went to our sheriff in great numbers and told him that they did not want flock cameras. He has taken them down despite the fact that our county commissioners paid over $50,000 for them. $50,000 in a small Ohio mostly rural county. That 50,000 could have gone to something far better than flock cameras.
Terrifying - it's Brave New World - we are on the march toward a totalitarian society - just what thugs like Miller want.
I’m close to 70. This isn’t the United States of America that I grew up in anymore. For myself, I don’t care what Flock says. I don’t give 💀 about their “reasoning”.
Like you, I used to help strategize and write the stuff - for business, not politics.
China 🇨🇳 has Flock type surveillance. It’s how they control their people. Plain and simple.
I do not want to live in Communist China 🇨🇳.
The Trump Administration is not operating according to the Constitution. We have the INALIENABLE RIGHT to LIFE, LIBERTY and THE PURSUIT of HAPPINESS
Americans 🇺🇸 cannot exercise those INALIENABLE rights when we have a GOVERNMENT camera looking over us
Everywhere Everyday and Anytime we walk out of our houses - Communist China 🇨🇳 does to its people!!
The MAGA crowd are PROJECTING when they call ANYONE, ANYONE - Communist!
The MAGA’s have done or are planning to implement the most COMMUNIST control measures, including pogroms to drive out those people MAGA doesn’t want.
MAGA:
“Are practiced at the art of deceit.”
Put that phrase into a search engine under scripture and then let loose on the FALSE CHRISTIANS that are MAGA.
✝️😂🇺🇸
So, we’re all going to end up wearing hats, Covid masks and using a fake name and credit card and Uber to protests???
...if that's what it takes, Lyn...democracy is in my DNA and Flock aint democracy...
This guy can just Flock Himself. And Flock Off!
I saw a post on LinkedIn today from this Flocker. Extolling the virtue of having "found" 10,000 missing persons. The implication is that his surveillance system found 10,000 (not 9,999 or 10,001 - but 10,000) people who were abducted or otherwise unable to return to their rightful place. Likely because they did not want to be found or returned to a situation that they left for a reason.
We're inching toward Orwell's 1984 dystopian society where even in the sanctity of our homes we are being watched (Orwell described "telescreens" that were always surveilling people. When did anyone (other than the goon squads) sign up for this.
Project 2025 ushered in Free-dumb, which is the antithesis of Freedom as we've been led to believe. Up until now.