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Flock wanted to tap dashcams in rideshare vechicles to add to surveillance data

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Re: Flock wanted to tap dashcams in rideshare vechicles to add to surveillance data

#31

Post by tptacek »

rconti wrote: post #30
tptacek wrote: post #12

Part of the backstory here I think is that ALPR cameras are a commodity technology. They're not defensible by themselves medium term; the market will go to whoever ships the cheapest most reliable cameras with the best pre-sales team, which is a tough space to compete in. For Flock to defend a growth-stage startup valuation, it needs to come up with value-adds. For a while it looked like that was going to take the fo…

Don't they have network effects? Let the locals search the next few towns over? Obviously this diminishes with distance; there's not a lot of benefit to Denver sharing with Minneapolis.

They do, but it's unclear how defensible they are. You don't have to operate Flock cameras to get access to Flock data (or Axon date) from neighboring municipalities; Flock even operates (last I checked) a subscription product for doing queries on their sharing network without their cameras installed.

Re: Flock wanted to tap dashcams in rideshare vechicles to add to surveillance data

#32

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

tptacek wrote: post #12

Part of the backstory here I think is that ALPR cameras are a commodity technology. They're not defensible by themselves medium term; the market will go to whoever ships the cheapest most reliable cameras with the best pre-sales team, which is a tough space to compete in. For Flock to defend a growth-stage startup valuation, it needs to come up with value-adds. For a while it looked like that was going to take the fo…

I don't think Flock is going to care that much about profit and growth. Their CEO seems to be a true believer, as opposed to the typical SVer whose god is cash. And at this point they need to win hearts and minds a lot more than they need new installs.

Data is the real product (the whole point of this is having a large network of correlated data, not just putting one security cam in an office), so at some point the RingFlock combo may be proposed again, probably as Flock acquiring Ring (if they get the cash together). Ring was un-ironically marketed as "pre-crime", which is basically Flock for doorbells.

Re: Flock wanted to tap dashcams in rideshare vechicles to add to surveillance data

#33

Post by s1artibartfast »

edot wrote: post #11
fearmerchant wrote: post #7

For an Amber Alert that could be really helpful.

Kidnapping like how you’re thinking of it (stranger grabbing your kid from the park) is a myth. Non-family abductions are 1% of cases. Straight from the horse’s mouth: https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/nonfamily

Still should be helpful for family abductions, right?

Re: Flock wanted to tap dashcams in rideshare vechicles to add to surveillance data

#34

Post by s1artibartfast »

tamimio wrote: post #5

Fitting the typical stereotype of a villain company, the greed with no ethics isn’t surprising, what’s surprising that it’s backed by “hacker” news.. shouldn’t HN be backing the counter efforts against such company not the other way around?

Are we living on the same planet? Almost i see on HN is hate and vitriol about flock.

Im genuinely perplexed how someone could come to this conclusion.

Re: Flock wanted to tap dashcams in rideshare vechicles to add to surveillance data

#35

Post by edot »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #33
edot wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kidnapping like how you’re thinking of it (stranger grabbing your kid from the park) is a myth. Non-family abductions are 1% of cases. Straight from the horse’s mouth: https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/nonfamily

Still should be helpful for family abductions, right?

Sure but is that worth the rest of us giving up our rights? Also, historically, dictatorial governments do the most child abductions by orders of magnitude. These cameras are a Stasi or NKVD wet dream.
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