Posted on 08/21/2026 3:35:30 PM PDT by Libloather
We have met the enemy — and it is watching us.
There’s a growing backlash against Flock cameras, the automated license plate readers that have become ubiquitous across the country.
The cameras take images of license plates and store them in a searchable database that police departments can query in the course of their investigations.
Opponents of the cameras consider them an instrument of Big Brother, who’s not only watching, but constantly recording and tracking.
Vandals have disabled and stolen the Flock cameras, and even shot them.
There’s a movement to get jurisdictions to cancel their contracts with Flock (the leading such company, but not the only one), and it’s met with some success.
Los Angeles just let its contract with Flock lapse, citing “serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues.”
There’s a reason, though, that police departments so rapidly adopted the cameras — they are an extremely useful investigative tool.
It is certainly true that the technology, like any power we give the police, can be mis-used.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
I can see a validity to cameras in public places. However the tyranny of the recent Covid era shows the ease of abuse. We’d have locked down much harder had they been in place. I think the cure is worse than the disease here sadly although I can see where an honest government could use them properly.
Cops etc are already following exes and so forth. Obviously they are badly abused already and we aren’t even in Chi Com lockdown.
They definitely need to require a specific and VALID JUDICIAL WARRANT for ANYONE to access Flock databases.
Cameras can’t stop crime. They can only help investigation.
For most violent cases, the perps are let right out anyway.
But you can be pretty sure there will be a lot fewer expired tags.
Blame the abuser and not the tool.
I can kill someone with a hammer. Ban them?
I wouldn’t it too much if I trusted the government
however I don’t
How long before the are used to ticket for speeding , running a redight, hurrying through a yellow light, unsafe lane change, expired tag and so forth?
Go to DeFlock.org to see a map of all the Flock (and other company's) cameras in the U.S.
It is interesting to watch the reactions Police have to the “mobile flockers” who call themselves 1st amendment auditors,
and compare that to what they want to do to us.
The cops love cameras, but only the ones they control.
https://x.com/scottenlow/status/2090061223618597068/video/
You know these companies will fight that tooth and nail because it would drastically reduce their revenue streams.
That would be a start but imo not enough. If police decide they need to track your vehicle, and can convince a judge of it, and get a warrant, they can place a tracker. Flock and similar systems open more information to them than that process does. They don't get to track you retroactively before the date of the warrant, for one thing.
Look what China did with the surveillance state and their social credit system. China used Google to help put their system together. Don’t think that Flock, Google and the AI centers are not doing the same thing here.
I have a mixed feeling about this. I can see its usefulness and also the drawbacks. Pluses are a useful tool for law enforcement. Negative drawback is less and less privacy and how your travels could be used against you.
I would trust these cameras more if the government owned and controlled them but they don’t.
TV molds the mind of the future...
For years we’ve seen Black Guy - White Girl starring roles in 50% of the movies we see. Now, there has been a surge in Arab Guy - White Girl in the past 10 years... The hole time, all movie plots display and depend on state of the art Traffic Camera’s, imperative in catching the bad guy or saving the victim. People, and I’ll use an old term describing the people of today perfectly, The Eloi... The Eloi just walk their walk in a trans, not knowing any better whatsoever...
These cams are here to stay. and The Eloi will make sure of it for their own safety...
“Cameras can’t stop crime. They can only help investigation.”
I think you are right. Cameras are not going to prevent many murders; but cameras can help to identify murderers, convict them, and get them off the streets.
Locking up murderers in prison - which more and more people oppose - does help to prevent future murders.
Whether or not murderers have an expectation of privacy on a public street is another matter. I don’t think they do.
BWAHAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
If people were capable of forming an honest government, we wouldn't need government.
Safer?
For who?
the anti flock camera peeps are just the same old defund the police people.
Exactly - we WILL ALL be under AI SURVEILLANCE
China-style - whether we want to or not
I’m sure that TPTB would never misuse such...
safe AND effective
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.