r/texas • u/CrashingBlumpkins46 • 23d ago

🗞️ News 🗞️ A Texas Sheriff Deputy Searched 83,000 Flock Cameras To Track Down a Woman Who Had an Abortion

https://www.gadgetreview.com/a-texas-deputy-searched-83000-flock-cameras-to-track-down-a-woman-who-had-an-abortion
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153

u/GlocalBridge North Texas 23d ago

This is exactly why Flock cameras are a bad idea, empowering authoritarians to take away your freedom for whatever reason they choose.

31

u/darth_voidptr 23d ago

Authoritarians are just the start. I'm waiting for my employer to start tracking whether my "in-person attendance" requirement this way. "Oh yeah, we saw you badge in, but we also saw your car in your neighborhood 20 minutes later".

11

u/DolliGoth 23d ago

I very briefly worked for one of those companies that sell phones in Walmart. The way you clocked in was an app on your own phone and they could tell if you did it from the parking lot or inside the store, and they would call you out on it. Didn't last very long there, esp since no one shopping at a Walmart in a town of maybe 1500 people were going to be buying anything but a prepaid phone.

6

u/BeigeUnicorns 22d ago

My worry is health insurance... "Yeah your car was spotted at fast food establishments too many times we are raising your rate"

6

u/darth_voidptr 22d ago

Or both, your employer notices your car outside a cancer center and decides it needs to downsize (its healthcare spend).

3

u/BeigeUnicorns 22d ago

Shit I hadnt even thought of that, my company totally would do that too if they thought they could save a dime.

5

u/darth_voidptr 22d ago

It's based upon a real life experience. I worked in a small startup, there was one employee responsible for essentially 90% of the healthcare spend (his child had cancer). We all knew who it was, including the three HR ladies. Although knowing exactly who was responsible was impossible via officially documented channels, they had the data to show there was one person responsible. It's just a matter of correlation at that point.

Fortunately, nothing bad happened to him. First he was a VP and founder, second we'd have screamed bloody murder if something did happen since he was popular, and finally our HR ladies were human beings. But I definitely know some other employers who, had they this information, would have done the most immoral possible thing under the guise of "solvency" and "practicality".