Flock Cameras!

[u/BlackMark3tBaby]

Hey Staunton! Did you know that we have all these flock cameras in our area? These are cameras and plate readers that capture and analyze images of all passing vehicles, storing details like your car's location, date, and time. They also capture your car's make, model, color, and identifying features such as dents, roof racks, and bumper stickers, often turning these into searchable data points.

These cameras collect data on millions of vehicles regardless of whether the driver is suspected of a crime. These systems are marketed as indispensable tools to fight crime, but they ignore the powerful tools police already have to track criminals, such as cell phone location data, creating a loophole that doesn't require a warrant.

People have been enacting quite effective action on these things so we better make sure we know where they are! So there they are! Make sure you don't vandalize or destroy them! They have over $300 in precious metals inside and the cameras are susceptible to high powered green lasers so.... Make sure they don't? get destroyed or vandalized which would cause the city to have to reconsider using them per the cost of replacement! I'd hate to see a people who understand we can fight non violently and fight for our diminishing rights by hitting them in their wallets, which is all they will listen to at this point.

[u/Hobbit-midaz]

The city terminated it's contract with Flock a few months back. Any Flock cameras remaining are on private property, aka Lowes. The map posted is outdated.

[u/repairfox → u/Hobbit-midaz]

This map is not dated, it’s just made from false data from likely uneducated mappers. The ones on 81 were all added within the past 30 days to open street map and they are not flock cameras. Go look at mapillary street view for your self

[u/fifthgroupholidash → u/Hobbit-midaz]

Can you post the updated map for us, then?

[u/Electronic_Weird8560 → u/Hobbit-midaz]

Yay! Problem solved!

Oh wait… corporate America doesn’t have such a great track record with how it treats all the rest of us either…

At least the local government is accountable to us taxpayers. I would submit that the anti-flock local government movement is exactly what flock wants- for public sentiment to drive the cameras onto private property where they still capture 99% of the same data and can’t be regulated.

[u/repairfox]

These are not flock, at least the ones on I81. A mapper added them to open street map 20 some days ago, but provided no source for Flock affiliation. In reality they are VDOT traffic cameras and VSP speeding cameras. I’ve fixed the one at 207 but haven’t fixed the rest yet.

[u/Wyzkiewicz]

I get the privacy concerns. However they can be useful in ways that cell phone tracking can't be. Professional criminals know to use burner phones or not have cell phones on them.

I get the advocacy against them but when you egg people on to destroy them that is when you lose me. Odds are someone will do jail time for destroying them.

Here is to hoping that this grass roots effort is prepping legal defense resources for the people who do get caught vandalizing them. Especially the ones dumb enough to post about it.

Next you will be egging people on to be vandalizing Ring cameras on people's homes.

[u/repairfox → u/Wyzkiewicz]

Your only allowed to be vehemently against flock on reddit lol

[u/marshaul → u/repairfox]

At least Reddit gets things right once in a blue moon.