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.
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.