Article

2026-06-21 Science & Technology

FLOCK now Tracking Pedestrians - another added ability for Big Brother

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Posted by NN2N1 2026-06-21 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [1834 views ] Top

1 There are now 86,922+ FLOCK cameras of the 106,150+ traffic camera locations, in USA.

There are just over 19,500 incorporated cities/towns in the USA.
Of that number, only 71 Cities have rejected the idea of Government tracking our daily car travels and now even pedestrian using AI facial ID.

Given Government has a well known history of quickly abusing any toe in the door granted for public safety. Now Stop! Think of the places you might travel any given day.

eg. Shooting range/Gun store, a political rally
Places that a far left politically ran city government might want to record and use for other reasons?

> Interesting to note FLOCK travel data can be purchased and used without a warrant.
BTW: Looking at the Flock map, oddly it seems most FLOCK Cameras are located in LIBERAL Controlled Metro Areas.

Posted by NN2N1 2026-06-21 04:52|| 2026-06-21 04:52|| Front Page Top

2 ^^^ liberal controlled` , exactly. I have noticed at least 2 within a block of me here in Marietta, in a residential neighborhood.

Posted by Chris 2026-06-21 06:04|| 2026-06-21 06:04|| Front Page Top

3 /\ Thanks for heads-up Chris. I'll be headed down for my annual skin spots check and zapp session at 111 Marble Mill Road NW in a few weeks.

Posted by Besoeker 2026-06-21 06:48|| 2026-06-21 06:48|| Front Page Top

4 Another example of Government working with Social media to collect data.

OH! and by the way.
Google is still appealing its $425M Court-Ordered Class Action lawsuit it lost and was ordered to pay.

Posted by NN2N1 2026-06-21 06:53|| 2026-06-21 06:53|| Front Page Top

5 If you're going near Kennestone expect many more.

Posted by Chris 2026-06-21 07:00|| 2026-06-21 07:00|| Front Page Top

6 Nothing but high praise for Kennestone, their e-room, and cardio staff. If you need a ticker valve replaced, that's the place to head for.

Posted by Besoeker 2026-06-21 07:05|| 2026-06-21 07:05|| Front Page Top

7 Went there a few months ago with what I thought was a heart attack. I would concur.

Posted by Chris 2026-06-21 08:01|| 2026-06-21 08:01|| Front Page Top

8 Full disclosure: I work at Flock and I welcome discussion of what we do. I completely get why people are cautious about privacy — we should be skeptical of tech overreach. But the reason I'm proud to work there is that Flock was actually built to prevent those dystopian abuses. It doesn't look at faces (we only read license plates and do NOT do facial recognition), it doesn't give out speeding tickets, and it hard-deletes everything after 30 days unless it's tied to an active crime. We have extensive auditing to prevent internal abuse and even provide our customers with a way to publish this information for exploration by their citizens ('transparency portal'). Data is owned by the jurisdiction, not us - we can not access it - and we certainly do NOT sell it. Period.

We welcome legislation that puts restrictions on how data it used and what is appropriate. Our software is set up to abide by these laws, including whether/how data can be shared between jurisdictions (e.g. California data can NOT be shared with other states for purposes of immigration enforcement). The key is that these laws never existed before (or did sparingly) - now folks are waking up and demanding it. Great. Bring it on! It's good for all of us. But think hard about the message from organizations like deflock.me. There's an awful lot of misinformation out there being pushed disingenuously. For example, the headline of this story -'Flock now tracking pedestrians' - refers to a feature that PTZ cameras pre-dating Flock have long had: the ability to 'follow' a subject by panning/tilting/zooming to keep the subject in frame. Useful on public paths (like the one referenced here) where you're trying to keep an eye on a suspicious character. However, 'tracking' does NOT mean keeping track of where that person goes across the city from that moment on. Not only do we not know who a subject is but we are not making connections forward in time.

Issues like this are nuanced. Law enforcement isn't sitting around watching Flock cameras all day and night to see what you're up to. It's a tool they use in real time (e.g. a vehicle reported as stolen drives by a camera which sends an alert to a cop in a patrol vehicle) or after the fact as part of an investigation (e.g. trying to find leads for a homicide by identifying vehicles in the area at the time).

Think of Flock less like an eye in the sky tracking your life, and more like a digital neighborhood watch. When a kid goes missing or a stolen car enters a neighborhood at 3 a.m., it gives local police a 10-second head start to stop a tragedy, rather than trying to piece together clues weeks later. The success stories tied to Flock are numerous, though seldom well-publicized. Look into the guy on his way to shoot up Jazz Fest in NOLA a few months ago who was apprehended thanks to these cameras. Homicides, car jackings, kidnappings, hit and runs. You name it, Flock has helped solve it. Nobody likes lawyers until you need one. If it was your kid or your wife or your husband involved in a crime, you'd want it solved.

And for the record, Flock's customers don't care about politics. They are trying to stop crime and have safe communities. We count the bluest of blue and reddest of red among our fans. In the end, they know that stopping crime matters.

I genuinely understand peoples' concerns. I share them and work very hard to ensure they are not abused from within our product. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Posted by Blinky Angeart8312 2026-06-21 10:28|| 2026-06-21 10:28|| Front Page Top

9 We welcome legislation that puts restrictions on how data it used and what is appropriate

That was before Russiagate and Covid which has shown that those in government don't give a rat's ass about legislation or law and are immune to consequence for breaking it.

Posted by Procopius2k 2026-06-21 11:09|| 2026-06-21 11:09|| Front Page Top

10 Full disclosure: I work at Flock and I welcome discussion of what we do.

*happy sigh* We have the best discussions here at Rantburg! Thank you very much, Blinky Angeart8312, for being willing to be so informative. You are definitely responsible for feeding my greed for learning today.

Posted by trailing wife 2026-06-21 13:33|| 2026-06-21 13:33|| Front Page Top

11
Thank-you Blinky Angeart8312 for you open comments.

Rantburg is always open to respectful discussions and comments.

Regarding the IT-Security of FLOCK.
We are treated to numerous videos covering hacks and data collections of and from Flock Cams.

Example Ben Jordon's 2025 Video

MSM Article : https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/30-seconds-with-a-stick-researchers-claim-flock-cameras-are-easy-to-hack-have-significant-security-vulnerabilities/ar-AA1QMxE0

Example: stateofsurveillance.org

404 Media Verified It Themselves

Jason Koebler at 404 Media visited a Flock surveillance camera mounted on a California traffic signal to confirm the breach.
"On my phone, I am watching myself in real time as the camera records and livestreams me, without any password or login, to the open internet..."

The access wasn't limited to live video. Anyone who found these feeds could:
and dozens of others.

While I have the most respect for anyone trying to reel in the criminals.
But the Monitoring and collection image and travel patterns of the histories for 1,000's of common citizen persons/vehicles... WHOEVER COLLECTS THEM..... I do have issues with.

Now if the cam's were only used when a pursuit was underway I would 100% support their use.

But I and Millions of others, minus the 6 to 7% criminal element in the commission of a crime, still have a RIGHT to privacy and freedom of UN-monitored legal travel here in the USA. (for now ☻)

Posted by NN2N1 2026-06-21 18:40|| 2026-06-21 18:40|| Front Page Top

12 NN21 - Now you're talking hardware vulnerabilities, which - respectfully, let's face it - is an impossible game to win in what is essentially an arms race. I wish I could say we were invulnerable but that would be bravado. It comes down to whether you trust law enforcement to do the right thing. In this day and age, I totally get it is easy to be pessimistic. I can only personally attest to the fact that in my interactions with law enforcement - which is literally my job as a product manager - I TRUST the men and women I have met to use these tools in a way that protects we, the people. They act in our best interest. The vast majority are chasing the bad people who would do us harm. Are there bad apples? Yes. But there are WAY fewer bad apples than there are of those who would literally rush into a burning building (or equivalent) to save any of us. Respectfully.

Posted by Blinky Angeart8312 2026-06-21 23:06|| 2026-06-21 23:06|| Front Page Top

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