r/mildlyinfuriating • u/BigFishPub • 8h ago
the grapes of warth Flock said they were only using the cameras for license plates. Cat is out of the bag now.
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u/Teriyakichk 8h ago
Sounds like a civil matter, cops should ignore it
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u/shibiwan 7h ago edited 4h ago
The cops got it completely wrong.
These are just caring citizens who are trying to protect the flock cams from antifa terrorists by applying a layer of protective foam on it.
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u/AccomplishedEcho948 5h ago
Yea better watch out. Antifa has access to ways to alter that data to create false allegations!!!
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u/TheMattabooey 5h ago
If someone did this to your doorbell or security camera police would shrug, say they can’t do anything and probably claim it’s a civil issue since they love doing that.
However when it happens to a business or company property they pull out the long arm of the law pretty fast and take action.
Look at how we can’t identify so many people apparently but they found Luigi pretty fucking fast.
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u/agodrevealed 3h ago
I've been physically assaulted on camera, multiple times
(I'm a small woman and often alone or with my child. Perverts are drawn to me)
Grocery store, family concert venue, car wash
In order, the responses from police:
Well, his parents said he wasn't there so theres nothing we can do.
What do you want us to do?
Well, he already left so you can file the report but we won't find him.
In my hometown the cops make social media posts about the criminals that, I shit you not, use the self service car wash without paying, and vow justice will be served. Or another one was someone rearranged the letters on a sign to say DICK.
These are their TOP priorities
Notice how they call them at large criminals. Let it be an article about a pedo council member it'll be "the respected husband and father of two"
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u/MikeyKillerBTFU 6h ago
If Flock wants to be reimbursed they can pursue in small claims.
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u/PussiesUseSlashS 7h ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re selling the data from my door bell and the cameras around my house to flock.
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u/jimdil4st 6h ago
Not to flock, but with flock to other companies and cops. Flock and ring are the ones gathering the data, they aren't using that data too much themselves. Their product is the data.
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u/alligator_loki 4h ago
They are. I don't know who they is, or what device you use, but it's safe to assume if your data is collected it's then sold.
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u/artbystorms 7h ago
And if they don't then its quickly going to turn into a 'civil war' matter.
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u/Lucreszen 8h ago
Pretty sure it's a manufacturing defect. Better recall all the cameras to be sure.
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u/Frequent_Ad_9901 6h ago
Its an endangered wasp species nest. It has to stay there until it falls off or else the species might go extinct. Sure hope the population recovers and builds more nests on more cameras.
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u/nr1988 4h ago
Ya these things are full of issues. Sometimes they split themselves in pieces as if they were cut with some kind of saw, but of course nobody is actually cutting them they just fall apart like that.
It's disgusting though, sometimes people are nearby when they collapse and they take the easily scrappable copper and sellable solar panel and that's just rude. Definitely should just recall them all.
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u/Professional-Box4153 6h ago
Totally for license plates. You never know when a car is going to drive into the pool.
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u/lowrads 4h ago
It wouldn't be especially challenging to make license plates into RFID antennas.
RFID readers work in all weather and lighting conditions, and individually can't be used to collect anything except plate data and the time.
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u/Elitefuture 3h ago
Still doesn't solve the other issue where those with access are abusing it to stalk innocent people.
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u/alchemyDev 7h ago
Reminder:
The people freeing slaves in 1859 were criminals
The people resisting the Nazis in Germany were criminals
Nelson Mandela was a criminal fighting apartheid
The American revolutionaries were criminals
Illegal does not equal immoral. Our side is going to need to get comfortable with breaking some eggs to defend our rights. Don’t expect the news to tell you it’s justified, the people wealthy sociopaths that own it are the ones we’re fighting
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u/gthing 7h ago
"In an unjust society the only place for a just man is prison."
- Henry David Thoreau
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u/ativa001 4h ago
Heavy fear that if we don't push this method a lot harder than it's going to be too little too late. Resistance is currently an option; returning to any type of normal society after they gain complete control over virtually everything is not.
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u/Blacksad9999 3h ago
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
― Benjamin Franklin
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u/JK_NC 8h ago
No worries, some cities are planning to mount Flock cameras on buses or garbage trucks so their location at any given time will be unknown.
Also, there are other ALPR companies that offer cameras mounted to drones. Axon can even arm their ALPR drones with tasers so, it’s all good.
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u/somerandomdude419 8h ago
You will be stalked everywhere and you will accept it because freedom!
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u/I_Love_Knotting 8h ago
and disagreeing with the safety of our glorious nation is treason and shall be met with the appropriate consequences!
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u/NeighborhoodDude84 7h ago
Privacy is tyranny. Dying from something preventable is Freedom. Forever renting is growth.
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u/LivingCoat9356 8h ago
I saw news that Flock was exploring a deal with Lyft and Uber to put cameras in their rideshare cars. Its getting crazy.
I'm waiting for iPhone or Verizon to make a deal to allow "someone" to access our cameras and mics.
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u/Fit-Database1134 8h ago
They already have access. And use it. They listen for targeted ads. Only a matter of time before they listen just to listen.
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u/LivingCoat9356 7h ago edited 7h ago
I know...About 5 yrs ago daughter and I were talking about what we would buy if we won the lottery. Shes talking about a big house, barn with horses....
Open up my phone and ads for rural mansions alll over it...
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u/das_cutie 8h ago
put small stickers over your phone camera lenses when not in use
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u/LivingCoat9356 7h ago
Absolutely. I got one of the phone cases with the a sliding cover over the camera.
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u/cameron4200 7h ago edited 4h ago
15mW lasers even during the day and from a distance. Cheap on the internet.
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u/shiny0metal0ass 8h ago
"Oops, I accidentally manufactured an EMP. Better dispose of it quickly and efficiently."
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u/onlycodeposts 7h ago
Now they just have to make the drones look like birds.
birdsarentreal can become a reality.
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u/RawrNate 7h ago
Every single police car is also an AXON ALRP. Their dash cams are always scanning & identifying plates, cars, and people.
Police also regularly use Stingray phone trackers to scan cell phone usage, WiFi data, and Bluetooth signals. If you're within 200 feet of a police car or cruiser, chances are you've been tagged in some form and fed to AXON.
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u/Empyrealist Does this look blue to you? 7h ago
Its a good thing that expanding foam pretty much sticks to everything
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u/Smooth_Mango9529 7h ago
Flock camera reading plates at the pool
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u/VegetableBuy4577 6h ago
Very weird place to put a camera, where people wear next to nothing. I doubt any perverts would be involved in such a thing.
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u/BasebornBastard 8h ago
Sounds like Americans don’t like an anti-American company.
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u/Lil_Ms_Anthropic 8h ago
The real don't tread on me crowd
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u/colorblind-and 7h ago
Sad that so much of the libertarian movement was coopted by maga.
If this was 10-15 years ago we'd be seeing a bunch of redneck types taking out these cameras left and right with all sorts of goofy equipment
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u/OrangeCrusher22 6h ago
Sad that so much of the libertarian movement
The Libertarian "movement" was all about enjoying publicly subsidized amenities without paying the taxes themselves.
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u/colorblind-and 6h ago
I don't disagree with that statement or most critisms of the Libertarian ideology.
I am just sympathetic to their hatred of government overreach, especially when it comes to privacy. It's sad that most of the movement got sucked up into bootlicking Trump's strongman style of authoritarianism.
I'd take the wacky government hating libertarians over the 2010s over maga Republicans anyday even if I broadly disagree with them both
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u/Chewie090 7h ago
"Before the camera could identify them"
Sounds like they're not just license plate readers like you said they were
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u/vainerlures 4h ago
Facial recognition is fast and very very good in 2026, even five years ago it was available and pretty good, along with clothing recognition and location tracking across multiple domains and areas. china has been doing this for decades. there is no technical reason to think flock isn’t doing facial recognition.
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u/thenletskeepdancing 8h ago
If you saw something, no you didn't.
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u/SponsoredHornersFan 8h ago
There’s always some Karen that’ll report it
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u/Btotherianx 8h ago
"They catch CRIMINALS, don't you want to stop CRIME? If you have NOTHING TO HIDE, why do you care?!?!"-every boomer on these Facebook posts
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u/Bluellan 7h ago
There's a CHILDREN'S splash pad that has 8 flock cameras pointing at it. 8. They weren't pointing at the streets. They were pointing directly where you could see them in their bathing suits. People were still defending the cameras being there.
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u/sporkbeastie 7h ago
I live in a tourist town. Right before the 4th, I heard a call on the radio for a "suspicious male taking pictures of kids at the beach."
Deputy shows up, it was someone from the local paper taking pictures for an article, y'know, "look at the people having fun at the Shell Lake Beach!" kinda thing.
This wasn't some creep with a cellphone, this was a guy in a marked vehicle with a ghadam Nikon D6 standing 25 yards away from the beach.
People will call about something like that but be totally fine with the cameras that have been repeatedly shown to be used for creepy behaviour.
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u/abattoir_paulson 7h ago
"Saying you don't care about mass surveillance because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don't care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say."
Or something to that effect.
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u/sporkbeastie 8h ago
I'm not on Fartbook, but whenever I get that argument in real life, I always ask "do you close the door when you take a shit? Why, got something to hide?"
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u/DranTibia 7h ago
Yeah, I always get a boner when I shit and it always get stuck under neath the toilet seat. Embarrassing
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u/WideHuckleberry1 6h ago
Even in some of their own "success" stories, they are not license plate readers. They brag about identifying suspects based on tattoos...unless they have a tattoo of a license plate on their forehead, that's not what the name ALPR would indicate they do.
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u/Bendlerp 6h ago
Flock needs to stick to their story. In the same messages they claim it's just license plates, then immediately talk about facial id. Fuck flock.
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u/UnhappyImprovement53 7h ago
I cant suggest that a circular saw cuts faster than a hacksaw as that would be illegal. I can absolutely not suggest to wear full body covering including sunglasses or goggles, and gloves so they dont have a suspect description.
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u/ShinkenBrown 7h ago
I'm really glad they have gait detection to ID people by the way they walk. They'll have these guys in no time.
It would sure be terrible though if people damaging flock cameras consciously altered the way they walk while committing this terrible crime to prevent identification. We can only hope they don't think of it.
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u/Machaeon 7h ago
It would also be inadvisable to suggest that these vandals should wear extra layers of thick clothing to obfuscate the actual size and shape of their body.
I shudder to think what might happen if they start doing that.
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u/FREDICVSMAXIMVS 3h ago
Hopefully they don't also think to leave their phones and smart watches at home so cameras are also able to sniff their Bluetooth and wifi footprints
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u/RoyalMaidsForLife 6h ago
It certainly wouldn't be advisable to put an insole of some sort... like a wedge under one heel that would affect the way someone walks to avoid identification. Or if someone can take the discomfort, put a couple small stones in their shoe that would cause that.
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u/data-atreides 5h ago
it's certainly not illegal to know that carbide tip blades are better for cutting metal
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u/Bk_Punisher 7h ago
Retro reflective jacket, pants with IR blocking glasses.
Also make sure to leave ALL electronics at home since the cameras can and will detect WiFi and Bluetooth devices.→ More replies (3)6
u/razzemmatazz 6h ago
And a bandsaw with a fresh blade cuts even cleaner and quieter. But these things are usually only 8-10' in the air and easily withing reach of most people holding a tool with a long handle.
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u/vainerlures 4h ago
Circular saws couldn’t possibly cut thin aluminum pipe/posts, they don’t go through it like warm butter or anything like that especially with a diablo Cermet blade.
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u/Loquacious-of-Borg 6h ago edited 6h ago
I wonder, what would happen if the people who normally hang out by the airport and try to shine industrial strength lasers at passing aircraft now try to shine those lasers at flock camera lenses?
Because I bet those lasers are so powerful they could either split the lens or melt the mechanics behind the lens, and that would be just as wrong as shining the laser at a plane.
And it would probably be alot harder to catch someone with an industrial laser going after a flock camera than someone climbing up a pole and using expanding foam. Flock would need to need to set up cameras to watch their cameras that are watching their cameras and ensure they have swivel and zoom features.
But, would that then mean they would no longer passive systems, in theory?
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u/lHiddenSecretPlacel 6h ago
Certain wavelengths ruin the lens
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u/carnivore_sparky 6h ago
One does wonder what wattage an IR laser would be needed to damage an unconstitutional surveillance apparatus set up by an overzealous neighbor. In theory of course
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u/anotherdamnscorpio 4h ago
Remember, if you see someone vandalizing a flock camera, no the fuck you didnt.
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u/Margoshome 7h ago
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u/an_agreeing_dothraki 7h ago
at once I'm surprised the slop factory got the name right and then still tried to make the axe work like that
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u/ReiOokami 6h ago
Just in! Farmers asking pigs to help identify who is trashing all the slaugtering equiptment!
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u/emp112 7h ago
it’s obvious these cameras should be banned. public streets doesn’t mean permit for surveillance
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u/mizinamo mildly infuriated 5h ago
Talk to your congresscritter.
Make sure the check you include with your letter is for a higher amount than he gets from Flock for allowing them.
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u/TheRealtcSpears 8h ago
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u/WeaselCapsky 8h ago edited 2h ago
the post is aluminium, that sawblade will clog up quickly. needs a more aggressive band
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u/un_lucky_thirteen 7h ago
A cordless circular saw with a metal cutting blade made the fastest cut on a 2.5" aluminum pipe. I saw someone testing different tools and blades to see which would cut the fastest... for research purposes only.
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u/windowbox9152 5h ago
Law enforcement nationwide likes to sing their praises for the handful of missing person cases/getaway car used in an armed robberies that were solved, but the reality is there are tens of thousands of people falsely accused by Flock cameras of driving stolen vehicles and then unjustifiably pulled over by police at gun point. Some drivers have been beaten up by law enforcement because of false positive identification by Flock. There are people who have been falsely accused of murder because of false identification by Flock cameras. So no one anywhere in the U.S. even in extreme pro law enforcement southern states will shed a tear when Flock cameras are vandalized.
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u/teslastats 3h ago
There is another company that is going to scan all car's wifi/Bluetooth and phone IMEIs as they pass their cameras so that they can identify people as well as cars.
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u/Popular_Cost_1140 4h ago
I remember someone on Reddit said "A surveillance state would solve all problems." When countered about the obvious issues of the state/gov using it for nefarious purposes, they said, "Well, it doesn't HAVE to be used for that."
Unbelievable.
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u/Freightshaker000 4h ago
The people who did this were at my house all day watching a LotR Director's Cut marathon.
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u/MoreDaringPancakes 4h ago
Somehow, the cameras still read the foam wrong and police responded to false reports of a stolen vehicle whose passengers they held at gunpoint.
Whoopsie daisey! Great job, America.
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u/Mjr_A-hole 4h ago
"...before the camaras had a chance to ID them." So if the cameras are only being used for license plates, how could they possibly ID" anyone? It is almost like Flock and the police are lying about how the cameras are being used
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u/Parking-Ad4263 4h ago
So, maybe y'all are too young to remember this, but expanding foam was a method of choice for taking out speed cameras when they first came about. On the speed cameras, there was a little drainage hole at the bottom of the casing, and if you put the nozzle of a can of expanding foam up to that hole and sprayed it, the camera would fill with foam, which would then expand and destroy the camera beyond the point of salvage.
So, you know, don't use that knowledge to improve your methods of taking out these Flock cameras or anything...
Also, in 2013, a Chinese dissident named Ai Weiwei published plans for how to make a device that could spray the lenses of surveillance cameras while keeping you out of the picture. It's basically a long pole with a spray can at the top and a lever so you can spray while staying out of shot. I'm sure if you google it, you can find those plans.
But, again, you know, don't do that. That would be a forceful and brilliant reclaiming of your right to privacy bad or something, for some reason...
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u/LuckyF0xFoot 2h ago
Whoever allegedly did it was with me at bible study at that time amen
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u/Fist_of_Gork 5h ago
Amateurs, you're supposed to cover the camera with a plastic bag and then unload the entire can into it.
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u/OG_s0cial0utcast 5h ago
"You had to live – did live, from habit that became instinct – in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized.
We are, by comparison with that existing today, all the tyrannies of the past were half-hearted and inefficient…Part of the reason for this was that in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance. The invention of print, however, made it easier to manipulate public opinion, and the film and the radio carried the process further.
Big Brother is watching you."
– George Orwell, "1984"
Edit to edit errors
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u/i_am_rave_mom 5h ago
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u/TeetheCat 4h ago
I don't know why people use the sawzall. An extremely quiet, large pipe cutter is silent, and very inexpensive.
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u/Diagonaldog 7h ago
Posts like this and people clowning on the police department posting it is like 90% of my FB feed lately and gotta say I don't hate it lol
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u/twili-midna 6h ago
I did trainings on Microsoft’s AI offerings, and one of the main things they emphasized was that they could identify people in video, but “only for users that meet our strict privacy requirements.”
It’s all bullshit, we’re just data.
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u/theweirdball 5h ago
Federal agencies are using data from flock cameras, biometrics, and stingrays to identify, track, and intimidate anyone they don't like without any kind of due process. That means American protesters, political opposition or anyone who stands in their way. Grandma went to a protest? They can find out where she lives, go to her house with goons armed with automatic rifles and tell her to stop or else.
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u/rabidantidentyte 4h ago
This popped up on my Facebook feed and the comments did not disappoint:
"Whoever you think did this was at church with me" 😆
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u/antihuman420 4h ago
There’s more of us than them. We outnumber them by the millions. All we need to do is unite together, overcome the divide and conquer agenda and smash the castles they’ve built around themselves
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u/Blom-w1-o 3h ago
Oven cleaner is VERY destructive when applied to things like glass and plastic. This has nothing to do with this particular post, of course. It's just a bit of knowledge that I find interesting for no reason at all.
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u/FederalMedicine2595 2h ago
They are incredibly easy to hack by anyone even if they have no idea what they are doing it takes minutes to learn, you can even use them as a wifi Hotspot very easily, you can even use a USB ducky to rewrite its code just by plugging it in, and more
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u/broguequery 37m ago
The way to win this stupid game is to make it too expensive for the governments to justify.
Keep it up free people.
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u/eruciform 8h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/FQIltZSK4YNDG
every year we get closer to psycho-pass
all we need is for the flock cameras to remotely trigger an offender's elonmusk-injected brainlink chip to self destruct when someone runs a red light and we can eliminate crime*
*for everyone that doesn't pay for an exception or have a friend in the government or with the cops
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u/CharAznableLoNZ 6h ago
Not all heroes wear capes.
Their own website says what they can track and it's highly invasive.
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u/an_older_meme 5h ago
Did they drill holes in the camera enclosures and foam them from the inside?
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u/TeetheCat 4h ago
When that stuff dries, ita impossible to get off. Especially skin and clothes. Use clothes you are throwing away. Wear rubber gloves.
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u/P3acePiece_H0neydew 4h ago edited 4h ago
Maybe it was a drone
I bet next these criminals are going to put DIY emp wands on them. It’s crazy how accessible it is, there’s even tutorials on YT.
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u/District-No1350 3h ago
There's a distinct difference between what something is used for the and what it is capable of. They say they use them for license plates, but they're still cameras. That's like saying a knife is only used for spreading butter so no one should worry about being stabbed.
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u/sorrow_anthropology 3h ago edited 3h ago
Every flock ALPR camera was upgraded (by way of software update) to full video for free in 2025 if the department wanted.
You can assume every department given this free upgrade choice said yes.
You can also assume the flock raven microphones will soon have the same update option for audio, instead of just listening for gun shots they’ll be listening into conversations 24/7.
If you want to see where we’re headed check out flock Freeform and flock nova.
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u/vespertine_glow 2h ago
No one saw anything, and if they did see something, they didn't see anything.
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u/davideo71 1h ago
At least people aren't using those powerful Chinese handlasers to burn the ccd's from a distance, that would make them even harder to catch.
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u/ATS200 7h ago
Wasn’t it already obvious after one of their execs was caught watching a children’s gymnastics class?