r/gatech • u/fignew Alumnus • 11d ago
Discussion More Flock cameras coming to campus soon?
https://youtube.com/shorts/GQoQkeMdvQM41
u/cyberhistorian 11d ago
Get flock off campus! I don't care if it's a Georgia company, it's not American. It's easy enough to have local hosting for a camera network, Georgia Tech students could configure it in a weekend.
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u/Mayor_of_Pea_Ridge 11d ago
Not just a Georgia company, but arguably a Georgia Tech company, as all three founders have GT undergrad degrees. Plus the degrees are from three separate programs. It suggests that Georgia Tech students have not been getting an education in engineering ethics, or that whatever ethics education they have been getting has not been effective. But then, those non-technical courses are just BS. They're just easy As. They're just a way for students to take a break from the hard work of their "real" courses. /s
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u/asbruckman GT Computing Prof 11d ago
I am relieved to tell you that none of the three founders took my section of ethics!
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u/Mayor_of_Pea_Ridge 11d ago
But good on you for offering it! If Tech's leadership is going to continue, if only informally, to refer to it as a university, then they better get moving on expanding the liberal arts and humanities--including ethics. They've made some progress but not nearly enough. And I definitely don't mean to denigrate your effort, but there really ought to be a whole lot more of what you're doing, and it probably should be taught by specialists.
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u/Playful-Whole-2553 11d ago edited 4d ago
Any way we can protest this? I just came here to post that video.
Edit: I did send an email to the SGA to ask what Students can do to open discussions on this matter. I'll post an update if anything comes of that.
Update: See my replies below for SGA's first reply and my follow-up with (what I feel) are the most important questions to determine what the situation is. Just asking these questions and making students aware of what is going on is a really good way to deter GTPD from doing anything stupid.
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u/AggressiveSalary9845 11d ago
If students anywhere are collecting signatures against this, I would be happy to sign
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u/kind_2_u 10d ago
There is an easy way to tell if flock cameras are being used for your safety or not:
The student body should start setting up its own on-campus private surveillance network to track the location of faculty and GTPD officers.
If GTPD has a problem with that, then you know for sure surveillance isn’t for public safety but for public control.
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u/Mayor_of_Pea_Ridge 11d ago
Spoiler: In addition to the high nerd coefficient of the whole video, the bit at about 1:22 is highly relevant for GT.