It used to be that we had systems such as Palantir who went out of their way to design these systems with ACLs and audit review. That was their trade off to get these powerful systems approved by respecting civil liberties
Well that seems to have been lost in today’s surveillance ecosystem. Who has access to Flock amd what are they allowed to search for? The answer seems to be any LEO for any reason
...No it isn't. It's the heart of the matter. The license plate, combined with cross border surveillance data providers, is enabling dragnet surveillance and enforcement of unconscionable law.
Stop trying to play down how tech is enabling authoritarianism. We can't have databases of beneficial ownership to facilitate investigation of white collar crime, but we can run after random women getting abortions enabled by networked cameras?
Society can't be trusted with half the tech we've given them.
The State of Illinois forced Flock to tighten its data sharing controls after this was reported by 404media, as Flock was violating state law. If your state is not heavily regulating ALPRs, consider calling your state reps and secretary of state.
Flock's PR response was, and continues to be as of this comment, factually inaccurate based on reporting that has been done, as mentioned in this piece by the EFF.
tl;dr A wife used medicine to kill her fetus at 9 months, her husband reported a homicide, the wife retaliated trying to get him arrested by claiming he held her at gunpoint. If it's considered homicide in TX, then they're allowed to use ALPR; if it's not homicide, then using ALPR is COMPLETELY POINTLESS because they can't arrest her or charge her with anything.
So essentially the point of the article is to prove that not being able to murder your 9 month-old baby in TX means we're living in a Handmaid's Tale.
xnx|3 months ago
mingus88|3 months ago
It used to be that we had systems such as Palantir who went out of their way to design these systems with ACLs and audit review. That was their trade off to get these powerful systems approved by respecting civil liberties
Well that seems to have been lost in today’s surveillance ecosystem. Who has access to Flock amd what are they allowed to search for? The answer seems to be any LEO for any reason
salawat|3 months ago
Stop trying to play down how tech is enabling authoritarianism. We can't have databases of beneficial ownership to facilitate investigation of white collar crime, but we can run after random women getting abortions enabled by networked cameras?
Society can't be trusted with half the tech we've given them.
pestatije|3 months ago
actionfromafar|3 months ago
josefritzishere|3 months ago
toomuchtodo|3 months ago
https://www.ilsos.gov/content/dam/news/2025/august/250825d1....
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/state/2025/06/12/texas-law-e...
Flock's PR response was, and continues to be as of this comment, factually inaccurate based on reporting that has been done, as mentioned in this piece by the EFF.
https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/statement-network-sharing-u...
It would be great if Gary Tan, as YC's primary partner for Flock, could reach out to have Flock's PR misinformation corrected.
https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety
BergAndCo|3 months ago
So essentially the point of the article is to prove that not being able to murder your 9 month-old baby in TX means we're living in a Handmaid's Tale.