Flock cameras should be illegal, and it would be better if they were all destroyed.
They do so much damage to privacy. There's no way these things should exist.
this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2025
553 points (99.3% liked)
Privacy
43568 readers
115 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
Okay but hear me out, how would we craft a world that combined all of the dystopias science fiction warned us against if we left out mass surveillance?
You just gotta get creative. What if we had a lotto system, where every day one person gets a million bucks, and fifty people get to do forced labor for the rest of their life? We wouldn't need surveillance, we'd just have to tell them we're watching and let the RNG do all the work instead.
Uh oh I think you’ve gone and added a new dystopia that we’ll need to incorporate:( I’d read it though, solid premise
Delete your comment before they actually consider doing this
And by RNG, we mean ol' Larry. Don't worry citizen, it's purely coincidence that all of the winners are friends of his, and 90% of the laborers have brown skin.
Can you ask for the Police chief data?
Wouldn't it fall under 2a to just shoot all these?
Yeah it's right in the amendment:
Thou shalt keep thyself strapped at all times when around shady electronics. What will YOU do when your printer makes a noise you don't recognize?
Maybe it’s the cameras themselves that are the privacy concern, hmm?
Throw the cameras in jail!
Why not deport them?
No, it's fine if the state has access to that data, it's not a privacy concern. It's only if citizens can see it that it becomes a problem. /s
As a polite reminder there's a map of these cameras and if you see a camera not on the map, you can add it.
Its an app called deflock and its on github. There's also a group called deflock to further expose them. They've called them domestic terrorist.
OF COURSE they called them domestic terrorists. That's what all authoritarian regimes call groups that are a threat to them. 🙄
Ah, their website says the app is coming soon. Didn't even think to check GitHub. Thanks!
You can add it to Obtanium to keep it updated as well. Obtaniun is an awesome app that let's you add all repositories to it and it keeps the app updated whenever a new version is added to github.
Thanks!
You just copy and paste the direct link to the github repository and click add! Took me a while to get it figured out.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Bloody hell, I knew they were around, but not that they had rolled out that much already.
And that they're now working with Ring doorbell now too so all of that is shared with police too.
Link doesn’t work for me
Deflock.me you might have to copy/paste. But if you clicked it right after I posted it, I I had an extra letter in there, it's fixed.
Thx
You're welcome! Fat fingered it lmao
Nothing in my area it seems, phew!
Yeah that's what I thought too, I added 4. Ugh. Keep your eyes open!
The ruling came after the cities of Sedro Woolley and Stanwood sued Jose Rodriguez in civil court to block his records requests. Both cities have since turned off their Flock camera systems.
Great outcome
Not "Public Domain". That has a specific meaning in copyright law. It's about creative works that are owned by the public and not subject to copyright.
What the judge decided is that their outputs are Public Records: "qualified as public records subject to the state's Public Records Act".
lol, stick a couple in a police union hall and see how fast the privacy walls go up.
Put a license plate reader indoors?
Hell yeah Washington State. Let's hope that Cascades through the rest of the pnw
Haha Cascades
Pun intended
I may have misread but it seems the article says the records are qualify as public records and so can be requested by anyone.
That's not the same thing as public domain, unless I'm mistaken.
Yes, it's different.
Public records can be public domain. Public domain works can be requested with a public record request. Not all public record requests will result in public domain licensed documents being released.
What are some (legitimate) examples where public records can't be released?
I said public domain licensed documents may not be released, not public records, though it's true there are cases where public records can't be released.
So for example, if the government hosts an event and makes posters for it, where the whole poster is a piece of stock imagery that they've licensed for the event with a little text on top, you can file a public records request for "all promotional materials related to X" event, and you'll get a photo scan of that poster.
...but the stock photo is not public domain, thus you can't just copy that poster and use it yourself, because you don't own the rights.
Public record, not public domain. The license of the work or its components is separate from the legal classification of that work as a public record or not.
However, yes, there are also legitimate examples when public records can't be released.
For example, you have the right to request things like body cam footage from local police departments. But if that department is doing a long-term undercover operation, they can't be releasing all the bodycam footage until that operation is over, otherwise they'd reveal the identity of the undercover officer.
You can also make a public records request for essentially anything, though. So there are instances where the request is simply unreasonable and will never get fulfilled, because people are simply making public record requests for things that aren't considered public records.
If you wanted to request some documents about how the military is purchasing certain types of goods, you can probably get that, but you'll find it hard to get the exact GPS coordinates of every military base and nuclear silo we have, because that would make them incredibly easy to target by an adversary.
You can request certain correspondences by a government employee if they're deemed relevant to your request and not dangerous to release, but requesting a full copy of every employee at the DOJ's email inboxes would probably not be a reasonable request given data sensitivity, for example.
Oh, now it's a privacy concern.
I do like like them, these anti privacy pieces of shit.
I do not like these flock cameras. I do not like them one bit.
"Would you like them in a store?
Would you let us build some more?"
"I would not like them in a store.
I will not let you build some more.
I don't want you to track my van.
I do not like them, Sam-Alt-man!"
I couldn't reach the article so I found another one from the Everett Herald https://www.heraldnet.com/news/judge-denies-request-to-exempt-flock-footage-from-public-records-act/
So looking at it. It seems around the world just means the USA.
Why is the community that is posted in someone's home address?
Read the sidebar for the community. The person started it because they had multiple break-ins at that address. The person was an outspoken police critic, so the cops refused to do anything about it. They started the community to document all of it, and it eventually became a place for them to document more generalized police abuses and authoritarianism.
I wonder if there’s fewer around my area because there’s a local vendor doing the same thing. Their building is fairly prominent and is surrounded by cameras.