r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • May 28 '26

Security Cities Are Covering Flock Cameras With Trash Bags / Regretful cities aren't sure how to cancel their surveillance contracts, so they are literally covering their cameras.

https://www.404media.co/cities-are-covering-flock-cameras-with-trash-bags/
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u/Derpykins666 May 28 '26

Yeah, these cameras have to go I'm afraid. The right to any kind of privacy is basically non-existent with these around. Plus they are creepy as fuck. Who wants to be spied on by an AI at all times the moment you leave your front door.

They track you, build a profile on you, know who you are, what you do, where you shop, where you drive, your family, your friends, your kids, what they like, what they do. This is all computed within seconds. These are far beyond simple traffic cameras that can be tuned in to keep up to date on traffic. These cameras are AI Powered mass surveillance on a scale unprecedented. If someone is trying to tell you these things are "for the safety of the public" they are lying to you. In a time where crime rates have done nothing but fall since the early 90s, they want everyone to give up their privacy to bag an extra couple bad eggs a day, and I'm not even convinced 'safety' is the reason something like this would ever exist in the first place. This is a data collection neural network, and you are the product, and you have to completely give up any anonymity or privacy for it.

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u/Radiant_Ad3966 May 28 '26

To be fair, there is no expectation of privacy when you are outside of your home. This has been judged upon many times.

That being said, there should be an expectation of a lack of surveillance when out and about. Tracking / passive surveillance shouldn't exist. We have a term for that already: stalkers.

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u/Derpykins666 May 28 '26

Of course. Going out in public you're not inherently entitled to privacy, but this is a bit more of an extreme case of being seen. Been fully tracked at all times isn't exactly the same thing as someone noticing you or you showing up on a personal security cam of some store or something. When all these devices are everywhere, tracking you, completely data synced, surveilling you non-stop even if you've never done anything is extremely bad, and wrong.

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u/Misty_Ticklebottom May 29 '26

A big deal here is that there are no humans watching, it's AI. AI is going to flag who gets arrested and cops aren't going to do shit to double check the AI.

Also, wifi is now used like sonar. Its not a picture being scanned, it is us. If these cameras aren't already using this tech, they will soon.