Illegal foreign intelligence surveillance cameras being trashed by law-abiding citizens across America
Flock cameras are illegal under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 — and it is our right and duty, not a criminal offense, to take them down.
Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 (1917-1918)
National Constitution Center Historic Documents Library record for Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 (1917-1918)
Congress
Amid intense backlash, people are vandalizing Flock surveillance cameras
In dozens of states around the country, people are vandalizing, blocking and taking down Flock cameras. A surge in such activity underscores the growing resistance to this police surveillance technology.
Meg Anderson
"I don't want to pay to be surveilled," O'Rourke says. "My tax dollars are funding cameras at the end of my block. I don't want to live like that. I don't think anybody should have to live like that." … According to the company, more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies use its technology. More broadly, there are more than 130,000 AI-powered automated license plate readers on American streets, according to DeFlock, an advocacy group that tracks the cameras.
Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code
Flock’s surveillance cameras have already sparked outrage. WIRED reconstructed its next-generation AI system, already in use by some police, to confirm it goes much further than tracking license plates.
Dhruv Mehrotra
The software, originally called Nightshift and more recently renamed OS Investigate, ships with 69 prewritten prompts that officers can select, review, or edit, and then submit to the AI. Officers can also input prompts of their own. ¶The suggested prompts sit in a cache of more than 450 files that WIRED found on Flock’s own website, served by its login pages to anyone who loaded them. The code describes 45 tools at the AI’s disposal, giving it access to plate scans and camera metadata, arrest records, case files, dispatch logs, ballistics results, and commercial databases that contain Social Security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, relatives and associates. ¶Flock says it is testing the product with a small group of law enforcement partners and describes it as still in development, with capabilities that may not reflect what it eventually sells. It arrives as the company faces bipartisan political pressure, a growing record of officers caught misusing its platform, and a wave of vandalism that has left cameras sawed off and lenses painted over in cities across the country.