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Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

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Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#401

Post by pandaman »

nullc wrote: post #162
simlevesque wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's what happens when we rank private property over human lives. We deserve this.

Surveillance technology doesn't stop property crime, so it isn't a tradeoff question. The necessary and sufficient steps to stop property crime are: 1. Secure the stuff. 2. Take repeat criminals off the street. Against random 'crime of opportunity' with new parties nothing but proactive security is particularly effective because even if you catch the person after the fact the damage is already done. The incentive to…

Can you explain in more detail how the repeat criminals get caught in your scheme? I can see how surveillance could help in identifying the criminal, finding him or her, and as evidence of crime in the trial, but what exactly happens without it that gets them identified, found and convicted? As of now clearance rate of property crimes is <15% according to a quick search.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#402

Post by mothballed »

15155 wrote: post #378
mothballed wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'd have not forced license plates to be displayed at all times to begin with, as they are a search of your papers without probable cause your vehicle is unregistered. Private ships in those days (probably the closest equivalent of something big and dangerous that could do tons of damage quickly on the public right of way) did not have required hull numbers or anything like that. Of course that doesn't totally sol…

> Private ships Often, the same people crying about Flock will decry private arms ownership through mental gymnastics. These very same ships you speak of that could do "tons of damage" had actual cannonry - with no registration or restrictions on ownership or purchase, either.

You can still buy and bear a cannon with no background check or registration or any of the like, FWIW. Very easy to order on the internet and have shipped straight to your door[].

[] https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/product/product_id/...

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#403

Post by dang »

ribosometronome wrote: post #321
dang wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's the other way around. This post is ranked higher on the frontpage than it would be if it weren't YC-related. (In fact, it probably wouldn't be on the frontpage at all in that case.) A core principle is that we moderate less, not more, when YC or a YC-funded startup is part of the story. Many past explanations: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

When I made this comment, it was nowhere to be found on my front or second page, I had to navigate back through my browser history to find it.

Yes, that makes sense and I didn't mean to give the wrong impression!

These things take time for us to correct.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#404

Post by dang »

culi wrote: post #294
dang wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

alpr.watch - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46290916 - Dec 2025 (444 comments) That post was literally the #1 story on HN for the entire day: https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2025-12-16 . It was on the frontpage for 25 hours. That's about as much attention as any thread gets - well above the 99th percentile.

you're right I misremembered. I still feel the enigmatic title of the post made it hard to realize its importance. Maybe I'm just biased because it took me way too long to find it even with the algolia front-end

Yeah, finding it after-the-fact with search is not a trivial undertaking.

I do feel somewhat proud that an article with that title did so well on HN.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#406

Post by [deleted] »

tomrod wrote: post #397
dghlsakjg wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ships then, and now, don’t really need numbers for identification. There are various unique numbers that they can and do use occasionally for specific purposes(IMO numbers and hull numbers). However, a ship’s name and home port were, and are, more than sufficient to identify a ship for legal purposes. You don’t need a registration number on a ship, and certainly wouldn’t have needed one then. The authorities absolute…

Cars, wagons, carts, are not ships

[deleted]

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#407

Post by fasbiner »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #395
dogman144 wrote: post #311

Was fortunate to talk to a security lead who built the data-driven policing network for a major American city that was an early adopter. ALPR vendors like Flock either heavily augment and/or anchor the tech setups. What was notable to me is the following, and it’s why I think a career spent on either security researching, or going to law school and suing, these vendors into the ground over 20 years would be the ultim…

I will offer an alternative POV: if your big brilliant plan is, sue the elected institutions over administrative decisions, don’t go to law school. It would be a colossal waste of your time. You will lose, even if you “win.” You are advocating that talented people go for Willits as a blueprint of “civil service,” which is a terrible idea. It’s the worst idea. If you have a strong opinion about administrative decision…

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/lobbyis...

Do you mean these fine former civil servants simply making administrative decisions who are now Flock lobbyists, or do you mean current civil servants who are future Flock lobbyists?

You more likely are getting paid something to not understand things if you, in 2025, believe the "bipartisan consensus" with massive donor class overlap is credible to anyone without an emotional need to rationalize.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#408

Post by b00ty4breakfast »

bakies wrote: post #372
mysterydip wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought that show "person of interest" was a bit far fetched. how could one system have access to that much data? privacy concerns would surely stop it.

Along with all the cop shows I'm thinking it's almost intentional at this point to normalize things.

The very first cop show, Dragnet, was explicitly a PR move to rehab the image of the police in the public's imagination. Every cop show since has been propaganda. Even shows where the police are not necessarily the "good guys", like The Shield or even Chicago PD, normalizes police brutality and the flaunting of basic constitutional laws because those dastardly bad guys have to be stopped at all costs.

I enjoy some of these shows myself but it is sometimes crazy how blatant they are about it.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#409

Post by throw-12-16 »

superultra wrote: post #306
jjwiseman wrote: post #160

The CEO of Flock, Garrett Langley, called Deflock a terrorist group. It's unhinged. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-kZGrDz7PU

I live in an Atlanta neighborhood where one of the founders lived. A prototype for Flock Camera was designed by three Georgia Tech grads because someone kept breaking into their car (not uncommon in our neighborhood tbh). The trick is that the camera was pointed towards a middle school. Which means they were constantly recording kids without adult consent. Now, years later, Atlanta is the most surveilled city in Nort…

You shouldn't be shocked.

People gladly line up to work for organizations who willfully erode their civil rights all the time.

Just look at all the people here who work for Google, FB, Palantir etc.

It stops when we gather outside these CEO's houses and burn them to the ground.

Re: Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves

#410

Post by catoc »

What I don’t understand is how you can work at a company like Flock and look yourself in the mirror. Seriously. You must be aware of the inherent evil, of the privacy invasive nature of your product, of how it’s being actively abused. How do you rationalize this for yourself?
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