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Flock worker calls police on reporter filming public camera installation

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201–210 of 297 posts

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

#201
post #192

I think if you're worried about being harassed by your neighbours if they find out what you do during the day, you should be thinking hard about what you do during the day.

Yeah! If you’ve got nothing to hide you’ve got nothing to fear!

looks at you suspiciously

Are those… curtains?

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

#202
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's worse for the technician in this case, because he really was being followed --- that's not unlawful but it's unnerving. Isn't that exactly what Flock are doing to tens of thousands of people a day? So why the double-standard. I actually agree it is unnerving, I just don't agree that one should be held to a different standard than the other.

> one should be held to a different standard than the other. harassing a worker is not the way to fix the problem. The worker has no agency to affect the changes desired by the harasser. It's an issue with the gov't, and needs civic procedures to change. This behaviour is the same as harassing hospitality staff for bad prices. Harassers would be considered borderline committing terrorism if they go further.

The worker does have agency. They did not have to take a job installing mass surveillance systems. They're directly doing the bad thing, and the "harassers" are literally doing the same thing the worker is doing, but back to the worker.

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

#203

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OFC, YC is in the business of making money and simply doesn’t care or consider ethics whatsoever. They just don’t care.

But this is pretty standard for this class of people. To get super rich you have to fuck people over, there’s simply no way to amass a billion ethically.

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

#204
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's worse for the technician in this case, because he really was being followed --- that's not unlawful but it's unnerving. Isn't that exactly what Flock are doing to tens of thousands of people a day? So why the double-standard. I actually agree it is unnerving, I just don't agree that one should be held to a different standard than the other.

> one should be held to a different standard than the other. harassing a worker is not the way to fix the problem. The worker has no agency to affect the changes desired by the harasser. It's an issue with the gov't, and needs civic procedures to change. This behaviour is the same as harassing hospitality staff for bad prices. Harassers would be considered borderline committing terrorism if they go further.

Filming them at work, or following them to the next job so you can film them at work, is not in any way, shape, or form "harassment".

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

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said this a few days ago and got down voted to hell. It amazes me how HN likes to abdicate YC of all wrong doing or negative outcomes from the companies they fund. YC/PG is also the reason that @sama is where he is.

> HN likes to abdicate YC of all wrong doing or negative outcomes My take is that we like to hang out on PG's blog and make fun of his avarice. Is there a better place to do this?

Short answer, IRL.

Aside from "PG's blog" this is a community. People wish each other happy holidays, offer support to one another, challenge each other etc... In that sense it transcends both PG and YC. The internet is not what it used to be but HN is a real community to me and I am truly grateful for that. As such, I would like to make an effort to meet more people and hang out in real life.

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

#206
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Florida is a model democracy that all states should look up to.

Yes, it really is. Florida is a cultural punching bag, and we take that in stride too. We have a balanced budget, no state income tax, and no flock cameras. We are close to abolishing property taxes as well. Our natural disaster response is some of the most robust anywhere in the world as well.

This is misleading. I'm not sure replacing income tax with sales tax is a positive change. The state is still collecting taxes, but the tools are pretty regressive.

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

#207
It’s a smart tactic for governments to use private corporations to do stuff like this. Flock takes all the heat and the government can even make themselves look good by ditching Flock. 2 seconds later they’ll use a different company.

There is no practical difference between the government hiring people to do something and the government hiring a corporation to do the same thing, and if you find yourself blaming Flock instead of the government who funds them, you’re being manipulated by this tactic.

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

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this is the ideology that got us to where we are now. There is no problem with making money but bending politics/society to your will, and even voting for destructive parties, only for the good of personal interest is abhorrent, antisocial behavior. One would think that these "geniuses" would understand that living in a society where lower class people do not live with constant existential threats would be a posi…

I don't particularly agree with Ezra Klein or Francis Fukuyama, often vehemently disagree. But on the latest episode of Klein's NYT show it was interesting to hear Francis mention this coupling of wealth and political power being one of the core problems the US is grappling with. Separate the nouveau robber barons from political power like we did the clergy?

In the United States, clergy never had formal political power. Religious movements did play major roles in the abolition of slavery and Prohibition of alcohol.

The United States had campaign-finance laws to limit the political influence money can buy. The McCain–Feingold Act restricted “dark money”. The Supreme Court struck it down in Citizens United v. FEC.

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

#209

If someone were following around and filming someone who was posting anti-Flock fliers, I would also feel that crosses into harassment after a certain amount of time. A TV news crew filmed me when I was a freshman setting up my old travel trailer in a new university trailer park. I hated it, but it didn't last long. If they had continued following and filming indefinitely despite my protests, I would have wanted some…

I would feel the same way if these people weren't installing a permanent surveillance camera.

I don't think it's fair to cry harassment if you're getting filmed setting up the harassment machine.

If anything, Americans are being too nice to Flock. We're watching the villain and setup of a 1980s dystopian scifi horror, except there's no unlikely hero who can save the world by shooting a single weirdo in a suit on top of a skyscraper.

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

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dead]

Does Axon retain the data it is collecting? If so, even if they have no plans to use it like Flock does, those plans can change, sometimes even without the company's blessing. They sound like the lesser evil right now, but the core issue that goes well beyond Flock, Axon, and similar companies is that if data is collected and retained, someone will find leverage to use it for their own purposes.

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