Quasarke Forums
  • Communities
  • Multi-communities
  • Support Lemmy
  • Search
  • Login
News@lemmy.worldbywho@feddit.org
10 days

Flock Reinstalled Its Cameras After Another City Canceled Its Contract

www.thedrive.com English

https://web.archive.org/web/20261031182234/https://www.thedrive.com/news/flock-reinstalled-its-cameras-after-another-city-canceled-its-contract

33
    Dayton, Minnesota told Flock no work orders were to be completed. The company put two cameras back into service anyway, without authorization.
    You must log in or register to comment.

    • halloween_spookster@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10 days

      Stop pussyfooting around and charge their asses with CRIMES. All the way to the CEO who is responsible for the conduct of their employees disregarding their instructions.

        • Malica@lemmy.zip
          9 days

          The only reason they are pulling this shit is that they know the cops are addicted to the power they’re giving them. Won’t investigate, won’t arrest.

        • Pratai@piefed.caEnglish
          9 days

          Thus proving it’s not about safety. It’s 100% about surveillance.

            • Joelk111@lemmy.world
              9 days

              It’s about money. It’s always money.

            • FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.worldEnglish
              10 days

              Sounds like the city should confiscate them, sell them, and use the profits for something good like buying some books for the library, food for soup kitchens, etc.

                • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
                  9 days

                  Start arresting Flock workers that put up the cameras when they don’t have permission. It will only take a couple arrests before the techs refuse to do it anymore.

                • Potocobe@lemmy.zip
                  9 days

                  Can they charge you with destruction of property if they don’t know whose property it is? Seems like the way forward is to just keep breaking these things. More of us than them. They want the data. Don’t give it to them.

                    • redballooon@lemmy.world
                      9 days

                      In any sane state that values freedom the whole business model would be illegal.

                    • Drusas@fedia.io
                      9 days

                      The fact that Flock is regularly doing this as, apparently, standard operating procedure makes me wonder if they have some orders from/agreement with the federal government to do so.

                        • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
                          9 days

                          I can’t imagine what agreement would allow for a private company to place equipment on city-owned property just because the federal government say’s its okay.

                            • flilare@piefed.zipEnglish
                              9 days

                              Agreement to pardon anything that might stick in exchange for a full surveillance network.

                                • TipRing@lemmy.worldEnglish
                                  9 days

                                  The feds have no power to absolve the company of state crimes. Though I think it’s just littering in this case. The city is within its rights to just take the cameras down.

                                    • Mirshe@lemmy.world
                                      9 days

                                      While that’s partially true, the DOJ has a LOT of leverage, especially with how closely this version is tied to the executive branch. It wouldn’t take much to simply lean on a state legislature or even a local one and say “hey you either cut our guy loose or bad things might happen.”

                                      Welcome to the Mafia oligarchy.

                                      • halcyoncmdr@piefed.socialEnglish
                                        9 days

                                        I’m sure you could make an argument for destruction of government property for disturbing the ground they install them on. Almost surely won’t stick, but might until thing start getting charged and in the system, nothing will happen.

                                • nerdo@lemmy.zip
                                  9 days

                                  If they’re making enough money stealing data to reinstall for free then cities have no justification to pay them a dime

                                  • novibe@lemmy.mlEnglish
                                    9 days

                                    What…? If the city isn’t paying them to operate, who is?

                                      • sudoshakes@reddthat.com
                                        9 days

                                        The data collection is useful for tracking people across areas that are not paying for the service for others. The camera costs are tribal compared to the profit benefits of having a more complete data net to surveillance state your ass.

                                        This is the way around the state being allowed to only actively surveil you under a warrant. They just buy the data from a private company.

                                          • anon6789@lemmy.world
                                            9 days

                                            This is my running theory. The value is in the network of cameras to track movement, no? The more data points they can potentially offer someone makes that data more useful/valuable.

                                            • novibe@lemmy.mlEnglish
                                              9 days

                                              So your theory is they are being paid by private companies to put up cameras in public spaces? That are not owned by those private companies?

                                                • sudoshakes@reddthat.com
                                                  9 days

                                                  No my proven fact is this private company has contracts with agencies all over the nation and as well as federal agencies and so the more cameras they have around the nation the more complete the tracking data they offer becomes.

                                              • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
                                                9 days

                                                Once the camera is paid for and installed, it is almost free to operate. The only cost is data processing, and they want that data. They’d prefer someone else pay for it but they don’t need it.

                                                  • novibe@lemmy.mlEnglish
                                                    9 days

                                                    The story is the city contracted them, they put up cameras. The city cancelled the contract, they took the cameras down. Then they up cameras again. Without any contracts. Who is paying them?

                                                    No company ever does anything for free. Without a city contract, why would they ever work/provide services?

                                                    Like it’s not about operating costs. Why would a for-profit corporation ever work without being paid to do it…?

                                                      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
                                                        9 days

                                                        The City isn’t their real customer, and public safety isn’t their real product.

                                                        The like the public safety angle, because then they get cities to pay the costs of deployment, but it’s profitable without them.

                                                        I workforna city that just fired Flock, and what’s making them move the cameras is that we’re revoking their right-of-way permits and paving the shoulders where the cameras are located. Our ROW encroachment agreement boilerplate language allows us to destroy anything that is in the way of a public works project if it isn’t removed within 10 business days of notice of revocation.

                                                        • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
                                                          9 days

                                                          No I’m saying that they want the data. They can sell the data to others. They don’t need this specific city’s money for this specific camera. They need the data. It doesn’t mean that someone is paying for this specific camera. And doesn’t mean that the city even had access to this data anymore. Anyone can buy this data that has access to the system.

                                                          • halcyoncmdr@piefed.socialEnglish
                                                            9 days

                                                            No company ever does anything for free. Without a city contract, why would they ever work/provide services?

                                                            Why does a cell phone company put a tower up in a mountain pass where no one lives? No one is paying for installing that tower for coverage directly, but it’s in their interest to have better coverage overall for all of their customers.

                                                            Same exact thing here. Flock gets the data regardless, and having a more complete network is useful to every client.

                                                      • cruseo@piefed.worldEnglish
                                                        9 days

                                                        Removed by mod

                                                          • Pratai@piefed.caEnglish
                                                            9 days

                                                            It wouldn’t be effective at all. Did Luigi change health insurance? Hell no. He just sent a message that fell on deaf ears.

                                                            Kill these assholes and there’s 40 more waiting to climb the ladder.

                                                            • Whostosay@sh.itjust.works
                                                              9 days

                                                              They have a word for that, it’s terrorism

                                                                • LooseLemons@lemmy.world
                                                                  9 days

                                                                  They’re the ones putting terror in the hearts of civilians. No mercy.

                                                                    • Whostosay@sh.itjust.works
                                                                      9 days

                                                                      We need a replacement before going anywhere near a route like that, and honestly we straight up shouldn’t go that route at all.

                                                                      Another user said it much better than I ever could, but we need a viable and organized replacement before violence, and way before that we need to attempt it without violence otherwise we are no better than them and they have an easier time conning others to see any movement other than capitalism as the enemy.

                                                                      We haven’t even attempted a general strike without it having a set end date for fucks sake. We have tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas.

                                                                        • Pratai@piefed.caEnglish
                                                                          9 days

                                                                          So… we’ve been attempting it without violence for decades. This is no different than anything else. Non-violence, violence, organized chaos, anarchy….

                                                                          It doesn’t fucking matter. There’s FAR more greed than generosity. There’s far more hate than love. There’s far more compliance than defiance.

                                                                          There IS no fighting this shit in any conceivable way where the outcome is a net positive. They won a LONG time ago. We’re only just waking up to notice it now.

                                                                            • Whostosay@sh.itjust.works
                                                                              9 days

                                                                              The real question is, what happens when you create a power vacuum and nothing in place to equalize the pressure?

                                                                            • LooseLemons@lemmy.world
                                                                              9 days

                                                                              You’re right. I’m just pissed.

                                                                                • Whostosay@sh.itjust.works
                                                                                  9 days

                                                                                  I get it. Honestly I’m there most of the time. Sick of greedy fuckers

                                                                        News@lemmy.world

                                                                        news@lemmy.world

                                                                        Subscribe from remote instance

                                                                        Create post

                                                                        Report community

                                                                        Modlog
                                                                        You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !news@lemmy.world

                                                                        Welcome to the News community!

                                                                        Rules:

                                                                        1. Be civil

                                                                        Attack the argument, not the person or their instance. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on. Keep on-topic


                                                                        2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

                                                                        Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


                                                                        3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

                                                                        Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


                                                                        4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.

                                                                        Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


                                                                        5. Only recent news is allowed.

                                                                        Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


                                                                        6. All posts must be news articles.

                                                                        No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


                                                                        7. No duplicate posts.

                                                                        If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


                                                                        8. Misinformation is prohibited.

                                                                        Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


                                                                        9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.

                                                                        All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


                                                                        10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

                                                                        For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

                                                                        Visibility: Public

                                                                        This community is visible to everyone.

                                                                        785 users / Day5.3K users / Week9.05K users / Month11.1K users / 6 months1.15K posts17.6K comments1 local subscriber40K subscribers
                                                                        Mods: gedaliyah@lemmy.world
                                                                        • BE: 1.0.0-beta.2
                                                                        • Modlog
                                                                        • Instances
                                                                        • Docs
                                                                        • Code
                                                                        • join-lemmy.org