Flock CEO Apologizes for Calling Activists 'Terrorists'

HardwareLust

Oh he still thinks they're terrorists, he's just sorry he got caught saying the quiet part out loud.

x13

Garrett Langley wants to watch everyone; kids, parents, everyone. He puts the "sir" in surveillance state.

hobonation

Activists are not Terrorists. However, this is a clear case that points to the idea that in damage control, you never apologize. It just creates more news about the situation.

josefritzishere

American's don't want to live under constant surveillance, inside an open air prison. That idea should not be hard to understand.

exabrial

I have a new idea: No cameras on us. 24/7 Body Cameras on politicians, w/ audio.

infecto

I think it’s important to highlight that the timing of this article comes right after Tucker Carlsons monologue and podcast “Flock Cameras and the Coming Slave State”. Would wager a bet this is a paid piece for Forbes for PR damage control. Garrett probably thought by making those statements a year ago he could get political support from the current administration and population. Looks like that was a bad bet. I actually think the service Flock provides could be interesting but the complete lack of guardrails makes it a no go.

croes

If the regret only comes after a backlash you don’t regret your actions you regret facing consequences.

toddmorey

"We believe in a world where we can have safety and privacy." - Flock camera feeds were set up public-facing, giving anyone on the internet access to live high-resolution feeds - Flock's AI does more than just read license plates. It catalogs vehicle color, make, model, bumper stickers, dents, and roof racks. - Police officers nationwide have abused their access to the Flock network to inappropriately track romantic partners, neighbors, and personal acquaintances - local police departments share Flock-captured license plate data with federal immigration agencies like ICE and CBP - Flock cameras have been used to track lawful citizens attending political demonstrations - Flock also expanded into audio surveillance (!!) before public outrage made them back down a bit

sys_64738

The Flock CEO is the terrorist here.

chaps

As a reminder, Flock is a ycombinator company. Unrelated, in about a minute this post went from the front page to the third page.

shrubble

If it was just recognizing license plates that would be fine. However it fingerprints individuals by running a Bluetooth and WiFi connection to capture your phone or laptop’s Bluetooth MAC and WiFi MAC. There are Flock cameras placed along running paths where there are no cars, and other places that would never need license plate readers. Does Flock have a microphone that can record you talking with your friend while watching ducks at the local park?

michaeljx

It is insane to me that US allows a private entity to video and catalogue individuals on any pubic space they want. In my country (EU), you are not allowed to point a security camera on a public space, to the point where evidence from such cameras are inadmissible to court

segmondy

Flock CEO doesn't give a fuck about that, they have been advised by public relations to manage their image since public opinion is against them. If they really cared, they will shut the entire thing down, but you know. "Fuck you, pay me! If not me, someone else will!, profit must be had, your privacy be damned."

cornholio

Assuming the necessary laws banning this crap are not put in place, what is the endgame here? Activists destroy visible surveillance cameras, so they hide them and make them hard to recognize. Activists trace the camera locations from the public data, so Flock kills those feeds and sells only to vetted buyers. The value of mass surveillance is high enough and the power imbalance so strongly against the citizenry, that someone will setup these hidden cameras, as long as it's legal. Imagine what you can do with this data, face recognition and GPT-5 class agents. Not only do you have the realtime location of your victims, but now you can see who they talk to, what they wear, what mood they are in, what they bought, are they drinking or visiting a brothel, what car they go into - and it's no longer an ephemeral cookie id, it's the face that person will have forever, on their id documents, in any interview or loan application they will ever do. This data is worth trillions in the long run if sufficiently oppressive structures are put in place to leverage it.

zzgo

> I apologize I apologize is not an apology any more than saying, "I work out" is a workout. The fascist who considers his opposition antifa is in no way contrite. People only say "I apologize" because it's a whole lot easier to say than "I'm sorry."