Awesome. I think I'll put in an open records request for the cameras down the street in my little Wisconsin town. See what happens
Funny I was thinking of doing that in my little Wisconsin town too. Howdy sorta neighborish HN user.
Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
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Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#22[deleted]
Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#23Awesome. I think I'll put in an open records request for the cameras down the street in my little Wisconsin town. See what happens
Wonder if we should coordinate doing it simultaneously in like 10,000 cities and towns?
Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#24Somewhat related discussion on Redmond Washington & Flock cameras: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45879101
Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#25This is a good article about some of the legal particulars. https://www.heraldnet.com/2026/02/24/snohomish-county-judge-... The defense of the photos not being government business until accessed seems shaky. That the physical camera installations were purposeful intentions to conduct government business in those areas is a reasonable line; this doesn't set precedent for Google's information becoming public records be…
The defense of the photos not being government business until accessed seems shaky. It's reminiscent of the NSA's argument that data "collection" occurs only when a search is performed on existing "gathered" data. File under "Stuff that's only legal when the government does it."
What should I be reading?
Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#26Anyone can tell, why were those cameras installed in first place? Some company just said "lol for the fun" or what? Who paid for them?
Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#27I think the person requesting to access the data was doing the right thing and I agree with the judge’s ruling. The fact that they’re gonna shut it down, implies the scale of indiscriminate nature of data capture and the volume of data being captured. These cameras are popping up all over the nation and if people realize how much data is being captured and where that data is going (or who it’s being sold to) and how…
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Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
The defense of the photos not being government business until accessed seems shaky. It's reminiscent of the NSA's argument that data "collection" occurs only when a search is performed on existing "gathered" data. File under "Stuff that's only legal when the government does it."
What should I be reading?
Scott Alexander has a decent article (or rather a guest blog post) at https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/all-lawful-use-much-more-th... that brings up the subject in the context of Anthropic and OpenAI's dealings with the Department of War (sic), and how their contracts with the DoW might be interpreted with regard to mass surveillance of Americans.
Worth checking out. I'm not personally knowledgeable enough to vouch for the veracity, though.
Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#29Anyone can tell, why were those cameras installed in first place? Some company just said "lol for the fun" or what? Who paid for them?
A mix of public (city councils) and private (think HOAs that then donated access/equipment to the city) contracted with Flock in the past few years.
The questions of exactly who, when, and why, are very muddy especially with the HOAs who operate rather privately.
Re: Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well if they had nothing to hide... /s
> “We were very disappointed,” Franklin said. “That means perpetrators of crime, people who are maybe engaged in domestic abuse or stalkers, they can request footage and that could cause a lot of harm.” No concern over the dozens (or hundreds?) of cases of police or government employees themselves doing exactly what they’re afraid of here. Strange.
While I agree with the risks of DA/stalkers getting that data, this data is not known for being well protected against LoveInt. Quite the opposite it is usually sold on grey markets.