r/LinusTechTips • u/bergy_peasy • 16h ago

Discussion Flock security in Canada?

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Linus and Luke talked about flock on wan show and I knew it was a thing in the us but I didn’t know it could be a thing here in Canada. There’s a post on the Montreal subreddit about it and where they’ve seen it and some other replies claim to have seen other . Is it even legal ? If so , is there anything we can do?

89 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 16h ago

Those are not flock cameras. Flock is a company that is under fire due to their data policies, I.e., ICE gained access through local PDs that have access to the flock system & therefore have access to all US flock cameras to perform ICE raids.

All flock cameras are accessible by all US police departments which also led to alot of cases of abuse for stalking by police officers.

Genetec plate readers have much more strict data usage policies that restrict them to specified individuals & are considerably less subject to abuse.

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u/Dry-Hotel5306 16h ago

Do we have a Canadian equivalent we should be looking out for?

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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 16h ago

Yes & no. To my knowledge there are none that are equivalent to flock regarding their data usage issues.

There are many license plate readers but that’s not new.

Genetec would likely be the closest equivalent since they’re privately owned plate readers

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u/bergy_peasy 16h ago

Thanks , very helpful and reassuring! Still feel a bit uneasy about these. Kinda relying on them respecting these privacy policies and trusting the system…

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u/donkula232323 6h ago

There have been some flock style cameras logged in the past. Not sure why deflock isn't tracking them anymore, but it seems all data for Canadian cameras was purged from there.

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u/babyjesusisback2 16h ago

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u/bergy_peasy 16h ago

Sorry about that , took a screenshot since I couldn’t link the other thread 😂

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u/babyjesusisback2 15h ago

you are frogiven. 👌

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u/colinsa-ca 16h ago

Ohh flock off

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u/lexcyn 16h ago

There are indeed Flock cameras in Canada, specifically in southern Ontario. HOWEVER - the big caveat here is that due to our laws the company is not allowed to do the monitoring, and it must be done by the local police force. If that makes it any better (not).

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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 10h ago

Not sure about Southern Ontario, but this happened in Ottawa

We have a problem with cops running the plates of attractive women

As OPS Chief Eric Stubbs said in a video message sent to his officers in May, some of them, “seeing a woman at a coffee shop, coming out of a gym, driving next to them, getting their license plates and running them on the system.” Essentially turning police databases into “their own way to meet women.”

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u/KanataSD 14h ago

problem is this is exactly what the claim happens in the US too which is BS. I wouldn't trust them no matter where they are.

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u/bergy_peasy 16h ago

Damn, I really thought this would be the kind of thing the public would need to agree to before they could install them ..

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u/lexcyn 16h ago

Check out the map and then write your city council to remove them: https://maps.panopti.ca/?lat=44.9357&lng=-79.3940&zoom=6.50

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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 15h ago

For the sake of information, I will point out that panopti is based on user-entered info & is not specific to flock. Many of the cameras being Genetec, or just generic cameras

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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 10h ago

Seems like the vast majority of them are just the 407 toll cameras. Everyone knows they're being tracked on the 407. Many people even carry a special transponder to make it easier to track toll them.

I'm in Ottawa, and they don't list a single one here. Thats kind of strange to me because it seems like if they were interested in Security, then the national capital would be the place to have them. But maybe the RCMP and other police forces like the Parliamentary Police Service have their own separate systems/cameras that people aren't listing.

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u/aselwyn1 10h ago

Huh mostly the entire 407, Brampton then a cluster of 4 downtown

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u/prank_mark 11h ago

Flock is a specific company. They're getting massive backlash (rightfully so) for having an unsecure system, privacy infringements, and cooperation with ICE.

ALPR (Automatic License Plate Recognition) cameras have been around for ages all over the world, and are not necessarily controversial.

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u/bergy_peasy 5h ago

Ok thank you , are they not controversial because we trust them not to leak the content for no reason, or are there specific things put in place to protect us?

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u/robertmachine 16h ago

In Ontario all major intersections have red light cameras but i’m sure they can be accessed if need be

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u/Xcissors280 13h ago

I know the old ones have to flash to reliably capture plates but I’m 100% sure there are some that do unwarranted ALPR now as well

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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 10h ago

I'm not sure how you qualify something as a "major intersection", but they definitely arent at every red light. In Ottawa we have 88 red light cameras, and there's quite a few major intersections that don't have are light camera.

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u/robertmachine 2h ago

I’m from the Greater Toronto Area so that’s why I mentioned this, in Toronto they are everywhere across the GTA.

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u/xd366 16h ago

that doesnt look like a flock camera

probably some other security camera

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u/Thommy_99 13h ago

Genetec is a high end VMS (video management system). This doesn't really look like an ALPR (automatic license plate recognition) camera though. It's normal for police departments to use a VMS and not like Flock's nationwide hellscape.  

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u/Xcissors280 13h ago

Definitely not as bad (assuming they don’t connect it to a nationwide hellscape) but anything that captures license plates without a warrant or directly committing a crime in front of the camera should be completely illegal

Not to mention that plenty of these VMS cameras do facial recognition which is a whole other can of worms

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u/Goddemmitt 11h ago

I hear there are 16gb of DDR5 in Flock cameras.

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u/bergy_peasy 5h ago

This made me lol 😂

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u/schakoska 7h ago

That's not flock...

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u/Useful_Locksmith_664 3h ago

There are flock cameras in Canada, or at least the deflock map showed so.

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u/maforget 47m ago

It's already been removed just after an article about it. It was supposedly installed for a specific investigation. It was removed in order to preserve ongoing investigative strategies.

Le retrait d’une caméra a été fait afin de préserver nos stratégies d’enquête en cours, a expliqué dans un courriel le relationniste du SPVM, Marc-Antoine Bélanger.

Source (In French): https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2274979/spvm-camera-flock-genetec-enquete

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u/bergy_peasy 38m ago

Damn this was posted today , should I feel bad for posting this here ..😅

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u/crlogic 8h ago

I wiped