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Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

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Re: Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

#181

Post by tptacek »

giaour wrote: post #165
tptacek wrote: post #21

Random people calling 911 on other people filming them is a staple of Youtube; banks, coffee store workers, hairdressers, most especially restaurant managers. I don't know why anyone would expect technicians from Flock to be different. It's worse for the technician in this case, because he really was being followed --- that's not unlawful but it's unnerving. You'd think from the response that this was like the VP/Sal…

> It's worse for the technician in this case, because he really was being followed --- that's not unlawful but it's unnerving. The technician was in public, bearing a company logo, performing an activity in which there is widespread public interest, and identified himself to law enforcement as an agent of Flock Safety. He is entitled to be unnerved but has no reasonable expectation of privacy here.

Nobody disagrees, though "calling 911" is exactly what he's supposed to do if he thinks he's being followed.

Re: Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

#182

Post by giaour »

whimsicalism wrote: post #153
kstrauser wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s literally exactly what Flock does. I can’t find sympathy for the company on this.

Maybe I’m a radical but I am okay with the government having capabilities that are different from what a youtuber is allowed to do.

Well, the government can use Flock camera footage, and YouTubers can film with personal devices on public property. So I guess their capabilities are already pretty different

Re: Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

#184

Post by kstrauser »

cm2012 wrote: post #179
kstrauser wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s literally exactly what Flock does. I can’t find sympathy for the company on this.

...no. flock doesnt have robot cars weaving through traffic. Its not the same thing literally or figuratively.

So their tracking is OK because it's immobile. That's an interesting and novel defense of a surveillance state which I hadn't heard before.

Re: Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

#185

Post by tptacek »

DrewADesign wrote: post #55
tptacek wrote: post #21

Random people calling 911 on other people filming them is a staple of Youtube; banks, coffee store workers, hairdressers, most especially restaurant managers. I don't know why anyone would expect technicians from Flock to be different. It's worse for the technician in this case, because he really was being followed --- that's not unlawful but it's unnerving. You'd think from the response that this was like the VP/Sal…

Well, when you’re on the clock, you’re an agent of that company. And when you’re installing an indiscriminate mass-surveillance camera, calling the police on someone that’s video recording you is kind of bananas. Perhaps you don’t find that to be an interesting event, but a lot of people who are rightfully angry at the non-consensual deployment of a mass surveillance network disagree.

It's not bananas. It happens all the time. The police show up, check things out, and inform the caller that the person recording has a right to do so. In this case, it's even less bananas, because the people recording him were literally following him around, which is not what generally happens in these "audit" scenarios where someone parks themselves on the street outside a restaurant or bank.

There's pretty clearly a vibe on this thread that calling 911 is itself a use of coercive force. It is not. 911 is how you're ordinarily supposed to reach the police. In my neighborhood, it's how you'd report a stolen bicycle. It's the job of the police to handle those calls appropriately, and I don't see any indication that the call was handled inappropriately here.

The story doesn't want to give you that context because their goal isn't to inform you, it's to get your blood pumping.

Re: Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

#188

Post by Simulacra »

Tostino wrote: post #42

I've gotta mention it because everyone seems to have a learned helplessness with this type of thing. I went and spoke at my county commissioners meeting a couple times after the initial flock roll out (voted on with no discussion a couple years prior) started becoming apparent. The first meeting, the group of me and two other people were half of the people making public comment. Every single person was against it unl…

The real trick, is to stop going to these meetings, and start running against these politicians. Get the forms, stand out in front of your local post office, collect the signatures, and primary them. Run against them. That's the only thing they listen to

Re: Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

#189

Post by LastTrain »

WarmWash wrote: post #33
LastTrain wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the they didn't pitch the massive surveillance and data capturing aspects they wouldn’t have got the funding.

Blantantly making stuff up is a bad look, they were founded as an HOA (private neighborhood) security service. >Flock’s camera and accompanying software is geared towards private neighborhoods and neighborhood associations looking to decrease petty crime.[1] [1] https://www.hypepotamus.com/flock-safety-funding-round-growt...

I’m not making anything up any more than you are. Neither of us was there. My point: you don’t get YC funding unless you have a disruptive business idea. “Cameras, but to a niche HOA market” is not that.

Re: Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

#190

Post by Simulacra »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #11

US citizens are bad at protesting. In my area these cameras would be on fire weekly.

Absolutely horrible. They show up on Saturday's yelling at empty buildings. Very rarely does an American protest against a government body change policy. If you want to really do something, show up on a Tuesday morning, stop traffic, flood the phone lines, and the email systems, relentlessly day after day. Americans are far too comfortable to truly protest.
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