Cameras don't track people, Flock does
footnote4a.org
The Pleasant Hill, IA, department blamed 'misinformation' after a Flock camera was destroyed. Flock makes the same claim. We tried to verify, but found mysterious radar modules and car-tracking buttons instead.
  • sethc555@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3 hours

    sounds like there may be a need for an alternative flock system for law enforcement, law makers, and law purchasers – just to make sure they aren’t cheating

  • Em Adespoton@lemmy.caEnglish
    21 hours

    They can’t have it both ways:

    it takes a picture of a car. Most people go, “this makes a lot of sense. I want my kids to be safe.”

    If it’s just taking pictures of cars, it’s doing nothing to keep kids safe. I take pictures of cars. Does that somehow make kids safe?

    However, if the argument is: “the system knows where all cars in the area are and have been, and so can keep kids safe…” well, that STILL doesn’t keep kids safe, just allows some understanding of what caused the problem after the fact. But it also lets those with access track where every vehicle is. And then tie in the OTHER cameras the system has access to, and you’re no longer tracking cars, you’re tracking people (and dogs, apparently).

  • davad@lemmy.worldEnglish
    22 hours

    This has such “guns don’t kill people” vibes.

    • Dookieman12@piefed.socialEnglish
      21 hours

      I don’t care about the camera at your house because it’s used responsibly. I only care about Flock cameras because they’re used dangerously and irresponsibly. I don’t think the police should be able to come to your house and take away your camera because someone else abused their right to own a camera. Just because some people do bad things with cameras, I understand that cameras still have perfectly legitimate uses for many people.

      • davad@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3 hours

        Sure, but that’s not the situation in the article. These are publicly owned/contracted surveillance cameras that are used to track the movement of residents. And the fig leaf the department is using is to say “the cameras don’t track people” because that’s just something that Flock does later…with data from the cameras.