Mastodawn

Ben Hockenhull 2d ago

If you leave the infrastructure of surveillance in place, people in power will inevitably find an excuse to resume using it. You have to take that shit down.

https://boltsmag.org/verona-wisconsin-ends-contract-flock-ai-surveillance-cameras/

This Wisconsin City Ditched AI Surveillance Cameras. Now Activists Want to Keep Going. - Bolts

Last November, the city of Verona, Wisconsin, voted to pull out of the sprawling surveillance network run by tech company Flock Safety in hopes of protecting residents’ privacy and preventing... Read More

Bolts

@evacide If cities allow the cameras to stay in place, have they really, truly, in fact, ditched the cameras?

> So, concerned that the cameras may still have been spying on residents, Diaz had the city cover them with black plastic bags in January. Only then did the company agree to take down the cameras.

No.

It comes down to either maing them useless to Flock or removing the cameras themselves.

Meredith 2d ago

@evacide your privacy and freedom from unwarranted surveillance matter. This holds true even for those of you who “got nothing to hide”. Please think about this.

Dаn̈ıel Раršlow 🥧2d ago

"Last year in an interview with Forbes, the company’s CEO called DeFlock.me, the broader grassroots effort, a “terroristic” project. "

It's straight out of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil"

Marcos Dione 2d ago

@evacide that's exactly what @adapalmer says about censorship infra. Nice parallel.

@mdione @adapalmer I believe this theory was first articulated in Field of Dreams: if you build it, they will come.

Marcos Dione 2d ago

@evacide @adapalmer yeah, more in the sense of "if you build a baseball stadium, they will come and play baseball, but the next generation might play football, or soccer, or use it to burn books".

@mdione @adapalmer If you build a surveillance state, they will come and do surveillance.

Flipper 🐬🏳️‍🌈2d ago

@evacide I'm wondering if a scream of "burn them all down" is appropriate rn

FossThought 2d ago

@evacide Sounds like a good start. And Loius Rossman has some good ways to push back:
https://odysee.com/@rossmanngroup:a/innocent-grandma-imprisoned-for-6-months:e

Innocent grandma imprisoned for 6 months due to AI mistake: enough is enough.

Odysee

:kura_explode:2d ago

@evacide but we need to protect the children!!!!1111 (obviously sarcasm )

minentromaxinfo 2d ago

@evacide I think it's time for some nation (and continent) wide smashy smashy time. Toronto couldn't keep their speed cameras up for more than a few days in some locations.

Ben Zanin 2d ago

@minentromaxinfo @evacide in one specific place, yes: https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2025/09/07/torontos-parkside-speed-camera-cut-down-for-7th-time-in-less-than-a-year/ (which you might think would make it easy to catch the repeat offender, but bear with me until my third link)

There _was_ a city-wide swath of speed cam vandalism around the city at that time: https://globalnews.ca/news/11404488/toronto-speed-cameras-cut-down/ (though not repeat vandalism like on Parkside)

It is curious that our illustrious drug-dealing premier won political points with his base by demonizing speedcams & removing them: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/all-of-toronto-s-speed-cameras-are-gone-how-did-we-get-to-this-point-9.6995207

Toronto’s Parkside speed camera cut down for 7th time in less than a year

One of Toronto’s most frequently vandalized speed cameras has been chopped down for the seventh time in less than a year.

CP24

Ben Zanin 2d ago

@minentromaxinfo @evacide (I am in favor of speed cams because they demonstrably diminish the number of people, primarily senior citizens and young children, killed and injured by motorists every year. But I am also in favor of pushing back *very* hard on broad surveillance tools. Pipe cutters and a three-lookout duty team with Baofeng radios are cheap.)

minentromaxinfo 2d ago

@gnomon @evacide Personally, I'm in favor of speed cameras for the reasons you outlined, and in favor of the old smashy smashy on anything made for surveillance. If we could just get the right wing populist segment to show the same kind of rage against Flock installations as they did that poor speed camera. :)

@evacide Concept: Drones v. Flock ppv website, proceeds to benefit food pantries.

@evacide
Trashbags over the cameras is such an elegant solution…

CM Thiede 2d ago

@evacide Give Barney Fife a joystick and see what happens...

https://social.vivaldi.net/@cmthiede/116239441317652641

@cmthiede @evacide

GhostOnTheHalfShell 2d ago

Everybody now:

Death, death, death to the surveillance state

@evacide The city of Austin let their contract with Flock lapse after community input, then a few months later, the Texas DPS signed a contract to continue paying for them. Before this, some of the public was asking the government to take them down, but the government refused saying they're "private property" so they cannot. I have no doubt that Flock is using the cameras left up on some way; these people are actively hostile to the idea of consent.

Actual Targeted Individual here...

Stay away from cameras.

They exist to bolster state power only.

They are not meant to protect you.

Autumn Thiesing 2d ago

@evacide
I imagine paintball guns might become a popular practavist gift.

cslinuxboy 2d ago

@evacide Hell yeah!!!!

@evacide Also, this is just an other example of ACAB.
They basically sold the life of all the residents to get some more power over them.

PrivacyDigest 2d ago

@evacide A new twist on the old IT reality - no one wants to be the one responsible for building the database, but once you do, everyone will find a way to misuse it.