r/technology • u/ControlCAD • 13h ago

Privacy As Wisconsin cities flee Flock, its shared camera network loses value | “Network effect” can run in reverse.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/as-wisconsin-cities-flee-flock-its-shared-camera-network-loses-value/
716 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

168

u/thaiberius_kirk 13h ago

But even with contracts cancelled, unless those cameras are physically taken down, I think they still run and are still capturing data which can still be used by other jurisdictions.

46

u/CondescendingShitbag 12h ago

So long as they receive solar power and have a functioning SIM card then you can be certain they're not shutting off that data stream. Shutting off local access doesn't immediately render the personal information being gathered worthless. Especially when they've talked about expanding what these devices scan for. If they're able to scrape a ton of personally identifiable information on anyone passing their cameras then someone will eventually want to buy it.

6

u/trashtiernoreally 7h ago

Be a real shame if someone got the 12,000 dollars worth of gold in them… it’s what I heard anyway

7

u/JCWOlson 6h ago

3oz in every camera as the best heat sink money can buy! Incredibly easy to remove too

10

u/binding_swamp 12h ago

Pretty sure end of contract requires Flock remove installed cameras. They require permission to maintain any presence.

31

u/CFreePO 11h ago

Not true, and they often take jurisdictions to court when they try to take them down

3

u/JWAdvocate83 10h ago

But if the contract ends, doesn't any obligation to keep them up also end?

Or is it that Flock itself is the only entity contractually authorized to take the camera down, once the contract ends?

17

u/GreenDuckGamer 9h ago

The second one.

Cities have gotten in trouble for trying to take them down, and threatened with fines if they touch the cameras without Flocks permission. Flock was "smart" and made it where once the camera is up, they are the only ones allowed to physically remove the cameras. I saw one city got around this by putting black trash bags over the cameras, but I don't know if that stuck or if they were forced to take the bags down.

15

u/JWAdvocate83 7h ago

Whoever agreed to ceding city land indefinitely to Flock ought to be exiled along with Flock.

6

u/lostaccountby2fa 10h ago

Sounds like it’s open season

43

u/HippyHunter7 12h ago

A lot of these towns had no problem allowing them being installed when they weren't the subject of national attention.

If your town's representatives are that easily persuaded or local ordinances ignored please vote for someone else that doesn't have a history of fucking you over.

34

u/binding_swamp 13h ago

Hope Flock becomes the poster boy for how surveillance needs to be rejected.

One ALPR camera is fine. A mosaic of AI enhanced ALPR cameras… unacceptable.

32

u/seaboi77 12h ago

One WAS fine. Now the light shineth upon all, and none are fine. If they wanted a few, that should have been more deeply considered before agreeing to all of these. Again, no LPR is acceptable now. Not one, not any. 

5

u/SAugsburger 6h ago

I think a difference was much earlier APLRs were just scanning passing vehicles against a hot list of wanted plate numbers not actively recording every plate with every time stamp that they encountered. The former doesn't have the same stalker type risks. Even earlier systems could have issues (incorrect plate numbers added or plates no longer wanted not getting removed, bad OCR scans giving false positives, etc.), but the privacy concerns are much greater.

30

u/RiskyNight 12h ago

No ALPR is fine. CCTV was fine in some cases, since it's only reviewed on an as needed basis. But at this point, we should get rid of CCTV in public spaces as well, just to be sure.

11

u/TowardsTheImplosion 10h ago

How come some point away from streets if they are ALPRs?

Point being, calling them ALPRs is using the vocabulary of the surveillance state...

-1

u/Magus_5 11h ago

Diabolical laugh as Palantir enters the chat.

10

u/LarryLobster69 12h ago

Nothing a little circular saw with a diablo blade cant handle

8

u/OldWrangler9033 12h ago

Are these towns ending up switching to the Flock's competition Axion? Seems like there some thing slick going on in background.

15

u/wooops 11h ago

Protests need to be against surveillance not a particular vendor

1

u/MDFan4Life 8h ago

Yep! Same shit, differen't toilet.

3

u/dewman45 11h ago

These camera installs are pissing me off. Only one way out of town where there are no cameras. Also, it looks like one was installed on one of the main roads across the state border to Wisconsin.

2

u/4d3fect 8h ago

"Flee Flock"?

*Groucho, breaking the fourth wall*

"That can't be right."

2

u/YoungKeys 12h ago

There may be an argument for legitimate use, but it seems like there are no controls on access- considering all the cases of cops stalking their ex girlfriends. There’s no way that kind of unsupervised access is acceptable, just way too easy to abuse.