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US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

cnet.com

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Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#401
post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they only installed them based on collision/injury data, and that data identified mostly poor areas, you would be ok with it? Because this is what the data finds over and over. The people most harmed by red light running are the poor people who live in these neighborhoods.

Maybe! I might question the benefits of making the poor area even poorer via fines they likely can't afford. I might wonder if there are confounding factors like poorly maintained roads and vehicles at play. I might wonder if the yellow lights have the same timing as in the suburbs.

Are the small fines for red light violations costlier, or the impact on health and life from the collisions red light running inevitably causes? I think letting poor areas be high traffic injury areas through deliberate neglect is even costlier to the poor who live there than red light fines.

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#402
post #245

Musician-turning-tech anarchist (?) Benn Jordan is making a very interesting series of videos about Flock cameras, their poor safety, and their gray-area interfacing with local governments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMIwNiwQewQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0gr7Fh6lY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1-uiUlHTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ I recommend them.

I think his comment about "why dogs might provide actual neighborhood safety" is a good reminder that the thing that makes communities safe is "knowing your neighbors." You don't get safety by building a castle with a moat and a million cameras. You get safety by building a community with context that can respond without having to just "react" to the 6s version of "what happened".

I put a dog dish and some chewed up tennis balls in my back yard by my back door.

When some folks came by checking for unlocked back doors years ago… they skipped my house.

Don’t even need the dog sometimes.

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#403

Musician-turning-tech anarchist (?) Benn Jordan is making a very interesting series of videos about Flock cameras, their poor safety, and their gray-area interfacing with local governments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMIwNiwQewQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0gr7Fh6lY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1-uiUlHTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ I recommend them.

Benn's videos along with this one from a very chill middle-aged engineer/state rep made the difference in swaying our town to discontinue its Flock contract: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwbE5ks7dFg

Yep business reform has tons of videos on privacy related stuff. I like him quite a bit.

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#404
post #151
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Practically, axon cameras aren't nearly as ubiquitous as flock's, thus reducing the leo's dragnet capability. I'm sure the feds will successfully try to get access to this footage as well.

Kind of. Motorola (axon) effectively acts as an integration system for flock and about 20 other services. Motorola's stuff is IMO the bigger problem because it includes access to flock.

Why did you put axon in parens after Motorola?

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#405

Musician-turning-tech anarchist (?) Benn Jordan is making a very interesting series of videos about Flock cameras, their poor safety, and their gray-area interfacing with local governments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMIwNiwQewQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0gr7Fh6lY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1-uiUlHTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ I recommend them.

I'd also recommend Louis Rossman's videos on the topic, including how to get involved.

Louis is big on right to repair too.

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#406
post #5

It's quite ironic to get an amazon ring video ad while viewing this article.

Ring is just as bad. Arguably worse because it comes with a convenience / personal security factor.

Why is it just as bad?

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#407
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is much less concerning to me than mass surveillance. If someone calls 911 and you need to send a first responder, why not send a drone to get there faster while a person is on their way?

What's the drone gonna do?

Facial recognition scan for ICE

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reminded of prepper forum discussions. Where some do little more than hoard supplies, weapons and gadgets yet don't network and build communities. In an actual societal breakdown scenario these isolated individuals will become loot drops for others who actually band together.

Heh, I never thought about that but its so true. If society breaks down on the extreme level they anticipate the smart thing to do is probably join a super tight-knit community with lots of young people - maybe the furries or the Amish.

If society breaks down it will be too late to join such groups for nearly all outsiders. Unless you bring very valuable skills or other attributes to the table.

The time to build your community is now, before things get so bad every helpless individual is looking for a group to save them.

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's also true that many people are wildly out of touch when they think about how "safe" their local municipality is. The Bay Area is objectively safe, for example, yet I constantly run into neighbors in affluent neighborhoods who are afraid of venturing various places, letting their kids play outside or bike to school, or just generally exploring around. I was at a BayFC match last weekend, for example, and…

The US media has completely fooled the public into thinking their town is a violent hellhole, and that a trip to the grocery store is endangering their lives. Fact is, violent crime has been plummeting for decades, and unless you live in one of a handful of very small hotspots, Americans live in one of the safest times in the country's history. Yet, people's perception of crime as a problem has been going up and up.

> The US media has completely fooled the public into thinking their town is a violent hellhole, and that a trip to the grocery store is endangering their lives.

I used to live in both Seattle and Portland.

I took my family to Portland last year and wanted to show them the Ground Kontrol Arcade.

Before I even parked the rental car, some vagrant on a BMX bike threatened to murder us.

Re: US cities are axing Flock Safety surveillance technology

#410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crime's been descending from the COVID blip for a while, everywhere, Flock or otherwise. My city saw zero murders in Q1; 2021 saw ~15 by now. In other words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVqLHghLpw

it's clearly not a covid effect https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/sf-car-breakins/

That is a heck of a graph
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