Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#131

Post by toomuchtodo » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:18 PM UTC

dirasieb wrote: post #129

toomuchtodo wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not vandalized any Ring cameras, but I have paid to replace those installed by friends and family and have those replaced shredded as part of an electronics recycling waste stream. "Think globally, act locally" sort of thing.

i don't think the people destroying flock cameras are open to the idea of going through the legal process to replace them with alternatives that have better privacy, something (maybe the fact that they currently are vandalizing them) tells me that they are just interested in vandalizing them

Flock cameras are different, they take advantage of laws that have not kept pace with technology while being colocated and operated in public spaces, to where you are forced to live in a corporate surveillance state for Flock Group's enterprise value and potential shareholder returns. And so, destruction of the devices is all that is left available to them (if their jurisdiction opts to not remove them, as many have done [1]). Somewhat silly to blame humans who want privacy (arguably a human right [2]) just so the CEO of Flock can get wealthy (and YC can get liquidity) at IPO, no?

The human is doing what you would expect the human to do when faced with limited options in an operating environment that is not favorable to them. Crime has been trending down for some time [3], Flock cameras are a business driven on fear like Shotspotter, where the results are questionable at best and you're selling to the unsophisticated.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2026/02/17/nx-s1-5612825/flock-contracts...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_privacy

[3] https://time.com/7357500/crime-homicide-rate-violent-propert... | https://archive.today/vMACL

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#132

Post by dyauspitr » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:19 PM UTC

roger110 wrote: post #81

These kinds of headlines always read like wishful thinking on the author's part more than a real trend

Until they get so expensive and there is so much pushback that cities end their contracts with them which seems to be the goal here.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#133

Post by psadauskas » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:19 PM UTC

the__alchemist wrote: post #10

This breakdown in rule of law is unfortunate. Ideally, this would be handled by, in order of desirability: - Flock decision-makers and customers holding ethics as a priority, and not taking the actions they are due to sense of duty, community, morals etc - Peer pressure resulting in ostracization of Flock execs and decision makers until they stop the unethical behavior - Governments using legislation and law enforcem…

Dan Carlin, on his Common Sense podcast several years ago, said something that really stuck with me (and he probably was paraphrasing it from someone else).

Society is like a pressure cooker, with built-in safety release valves to prevent the pressure from getting too high. If your solution to the safety release is to block off the valves, with authoritarian surveillance, draconian laws, and lack of justice for the elites committing crimes, it just moves it somewhere else. Block off too many, and it explodes.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#134

Post by stego-tech » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

the__alchemist wrote: post #10

This breakdown in rule of law is unfortunate. Ideally, this would be handled by, in order of desirability: - Flock decision-makers and customers holding ethics as a priority, and not taking the actions they are due to sense of duty, community, morals etc - Peer pressure resulting in ostracization of Flock execs and decision makers until they stop the unethical behavior - Governments using legislation and law enforcem…

I mean, that's excellent wishcasting, but the reality is that current economic incentives combined with a lack of social ("cancel culture" got cancelled because "uwu too mean"), regulatory ("uwu can't hurt Capital or the rich people won't make jobs no more"), and criminal ("uwu can't hold Capital accountable for their actions when they do crimes or people will lose jobs") accountability means that this was always going to be the outcome.

More people need to understand that the system is working as designed, and the elimination of peaceful, incremental reform based on popular demand, along with mass manipulation of human emotions through media and advertising, means that this sort of resistance is the sole outcome left before devolving into naked sectarian violence.

Say what you will, but the anti-Flock camera smashers are at least doing something beyond wishcasting from a philosophical armchair in comment sections or social media threads.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#135

Post by dylan604 » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

magicalist wrote: post #54

steviedotboston wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and for good measure get rid of the tracking device in your pocket that you willingly use all day to send your location to facebook, X, tiktok, etc.

> and for good measure get rid of the tracking device in your pocket that you willingly use all day to send your location to facebook, X, tiktok, etc. I don't have facebook, X, or tiktok installed on my phone.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if FB bought raw data from the providers just to see if they could aggregate it into their shadow profiles. Whatever the cost of buying that data, it wouldn't mean anything to a corp that prints money. Yes, this is pure tin foil hat level conspiracy nonsense, but it goes to show how little I think of FB

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#136

Post by mywittyname » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #18

the__alchemist wrote: post #10

This breakdown in rule of law is unfortunate. Ideally, this would be handled by, in order of desirability: - Flock decision-makers and customers holding ethics as a priority, and not taking the actions they are due to sense of duty, community, morals etc - Peer pressure resulting in ostracization of Flock execs and decision makers until they stop the unethical behavior - Governments using legislation and law enforcem…

> It is not ideal, but it is necessary when the higher-desirability options are not working. What has worried me for years is that Americans would not resort to this level. That things are just too comfortable at home to take that brave step into the firing lines of being on the right side of justice but the wrong side of the law. I'm relieved to see more and more Americans causing necessary trouble. I still think th…

> What has worried me for years is that Americans would not resort to this level.

They'll stop once the police (or ICE, more likely) start dishing out horrific punishments for it.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#137

Post by cdrnsf » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

unclad5968 wrote: post #95

wrs wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What confuses me is that no revolution is required. All we had to do to avoid this was to vote. Voting would still (probably) work.

Who can I vote for that will stop flock cameras from being installed?

We turned over seats on our city council for the first time in decades and the new, "liberal" council members voted with the rest, unanimously, to install more Flock cameras.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#138

Post by mrtesthah » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:22 PM UTC

LeoPanthera wrote: post #13

josefritzishere wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the most important comment here. There is a future reckoning to be had between the radical authoritarian fringe and normal Americans who do not want to live in an open air prison. The conflict is completley preventable, and makes a less safe place to live for us all.

America is converting into a radical authoritarian state, yes, but they're not a "fringe". They are, by a small margin, the dominant faction in the US. Popular vote counts prove it.

Unfortunately this country has literacy and education problems, and many voters were plainly ignorant of what they were voting for.

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#139

Post by doctorpangloss » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:23 PM UTC

reilly3000 wrote: post #96

Doesn’t that just mean Flock makes more money from making replacements?

the damage is showing that Flock, from an objective technology point of view, is really quite much more limited in terms of its efficacy than its sellers are leading the buyers to believe.

what good is their platform if it is easily defeated by a guy with a ladder and a hammer?

Re: Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras

#140

Post by mywittyname » Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 9:23 PM UTC

unclad5968 wrote: post #95

wrs wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What confuses me is that no revolution is required. All we had to do to avoid this was to vote. Voting would still (probably) work.

Who can I vote for that will stop flock cameras from being installed?

The local government officials in charge of allowing these to be installed.

It also represents an opportunity for upstarts. If you want to get into local politics, this is a single issue that will unit voters and bring them in.

We had a city councilperson elected on the sole issue of replacing the purple street lights. She won decisively and her entire campaign was literally signs everywhere promising to fix the purple streetlights. (yes, they were fixed).