Posting some recent good or funny news to say happy 4th to my fellow Americans. And happy Canada Day to our friends to the north. Not sure about Flocks exactly, but I heard of ALPR use in Ontario, maybe other provs too.
Gizmodo: Flock Cameras Have a People-Love-Smashing-Them Problem. People just aren’t being very nice to these mass surveillance devices. A sticker with the note, “Hahaha get wrecked ya surveilling f***s” was applied to one of the poles below the spot where it was cut.
Several ppl doing it have been caught, often due to other Flock camneras who follow their movements across their city.
Also 100’s of stories out there about municipalities across dozens of states not renewing Flock contracts due to mounting public pressure. It’s not univerally good, some are looking toward other vendors. But many are stopping ALPR completely too!
Jalopnik: Unsure With How To Cancel Service, City Officials Are Covering Flock Cameras With Trash Bags Until They Can Be Removed. Dayton, Ohio’s utility poles are sporting new accessories this week in the form of a black trash bag. Police and local authorities are working to cover the controversial Flock cameras installed throughout the city as they try to figure out how to severe ties with the company.
Citizen engagement does help. We need to keep the momentum going. Pls get involved locally if you can! A hundred ppl showing up at a city council meeting to speak out against ALPRs carries more political weight than 10 thousand emails.
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Im trying to think about what to not do about them. I’m thinking I absolutely should NOT buy a high powered laser pointer and fry the lens. But I also should not saw the pole down because the metal weed sprouted right next to a major highway and I would def. not get caught for the thing I wont do. Maybe I could not purchase some kind of interfering light or license plate cover for my truck, but idk how well those actually work. Maybe I could pressure city council; that worked in a few other cities in my state so why not? IDK. But I should MOST CERTAINLY not use pawpaw’s 30-06 to just blow it to smithereens. Anyone got suggestions that I should NOT do?
The prob with lasers is the risk of sending the beam shooting into an airline pilot’s eyes (eek!) Anything strong enough to fry a camera is strong enough for permanent eye damage. Also modern camera units are more hardened than in the past.
City council pressure can be very effective. Esp when it’s coordinated locally! Get together with others in your area. Anything bigger than a one horse town, there is prob already coordination happening. You can find them to offer time and skills. City reps are usually more responsive to their community input than state or esp fed reps. A steady stream of community opposition is a big deal! Esp when we have other communities to point to, who already ran Flock out of town on a rail!
IMO, for pressuring the city, the best way is to be polite and sincere, without ranting. There are reputable news about Flock ignoring the restrictions it promised to uphold. We can bring the receipts! The more who do, the better.
Also spreading the word in the community helps too. Some of my own friends didn’t even know about these! I’m slowly educating them about why we don’t want these in our communities.
What if we started to push our state legislators to mandate a decent sized sign under all cameras in public right-a-ways denoting what they are capturing and who owns them. I think after a short time the “normal” people would notice them and put more pressure on hopefully getting rid of them.
IMO anything to raise awareness is good. Right now, lots of ppl don’t even know it’s happening!
I like the sign idea. Tho, if you’re petitioning your state reps for signs, you might as well petition them to ban the effing things. Individual communities are seeing success. Moving it to the state level is good too! Prob harder, but also more impactful.
We might be able to do signs without the state on board. Might have to get property owner permissions or w/e, IDK, but that’s possible. Very few ppl want these things. They just don’t know.
This is too funny. I am buying a bush guard for my truck so i can push flock cameras over
I guess that’s a morsel of hyperbole, but just in case! The truck is tied to your person. Those cameras are specifically designed to ID it. And not just plates. Other features too, scuffs and scratches, stickers, window tint, trailer hitches, even TPMS signals. W/e. Anything that fingerprints the vehicle.
If your intention is to be caught, for the purpose of making a public legal fight, that’s one thing. But be aware that’s a likely outcome. NAL, but I believe the case would not be about ALPR. It’ll be about your specific actions, with you as the defendent, not Flock. You can end up charged with criminal mischief or vandalism or w/e.