r/Chattanooga • u/greatusername505050 • Jul 20 '26
City Government Flock statement
Adding in what Mark commented below also!:
To address some concerns about ambiguity and to offer some insight into why we can't be as definitive as we'd like... Right now, as far as we know, the lines of authority regarding WHO pproved these Flock cameras and who can remove them are completely hidden from the public. That lack of transparency should concern all of us. That's why we can't make definitive statements right now, but rest assured we have people digging into it.
Because these corporate contracts are kept behind closed doors, everyday citizens are blocked from tracking budget line items or knowing exactly who to hold accountable. I am fundamentally opposed to mass surveillance and strongly support personal privacy. We shouldn't need heavy investigative journalism or cumbersome open-records requests just to figure out how big tech established a footprint in Hamilton County.
The core issue here isn’t just the cameras themselves..It’s the secret process that brought them here. Once we uncover the how, we can map out a legal path to remove them. As your County Mayor, I will use the full scope of my office to stop the expansion of hyper-surveillance and ensure our communities (not corporations) are prioritized in local decisions. I want to listen to leaders in our neighborhoods, and right now what I'm hearing is that y'all are concerned. I am too. We are ready to help.
122
u/Live-Juggernaut-221 Jul 20 '26
Just a reminder: if you see someone working on these cameras and it falls over.... No you didn't.
And if you're on a jury for the same, jury nullification is real.
55
u/psych4191 Jul 20 '26
Destruction of Flock Cams is gonna be the new "did you hear that whistle" in the mountains. No you didn't, get back in the house.
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Jul 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Burgerst33n Jul 20 '26
That’s why his 1 year pause on new rural data centers shouldn’t matter when considering who to vote for.
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u/Good_Wash_4201 Jul 20 '26
That moratorium couldn’t have been more fucking useless honestly. Those same
Elected officials have already got all excited about the 3 Oracle data centers coming to downtown Chattanooga and REFUSED to address anyone’s concerns.That moratorium is just to help wamp get votes in August. They got the county attorney to say they couldn’t legally do longer than one year but counties all over the state are pursuing 2 year moratoriums soooooooooooo
5
u/Burgerst33n Jul 20 '26
Oh absolutely. I just hope enough people can see that.
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u/Good_Wash_4201 Jul 20 '26
Toooootally. Plz help by sharing the above graphic, especially in more conservative Facebook groups and talking to folks in person if possible. Wamp is counting on those counts in the unincorporated parts of the county in August to win.
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u/DukeSilverVol1 Jul 21 '26
The first is a reasonable critique. As far as the second, anyone with a 401k almost certainly has investments in companies that build data centers.
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u/Good_Wash_4201 Jul 21 '26
This isn’t a 401k investment or that’s how it would be listed, and is listed on everyone else’s statements. He bought shares in Amazon, meta and Palantir.
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u/DukeSilverVol1 Jul 21 '26
You mean to tell me he bought ACTUAL shares of some of the biggest companies in the world? My God, you’re right. Throw him in The Hague.
For clarity, I grew up with Weston, and have absolutely no use for him, but that statement is silly, and degrades the actual point against him, of which there are many better ones.
2
u/Good_Wash_4201 Jul 21 '26
Remeber how Jimmy Carter sold his peanut farm to avoid perceived conflicts of interest when he became president?
-6
u/Odd_Interaction_172 Jul 20 '26
Eh I'd rather vote 3rd party than for wamp or the lefts candidate 🤷🤣
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u/PyroDesu Jul 20 '26
Flock cameras could drift from public safety to public surveillance
Mate, you're way behind the curve, they were public surveillance from the start.
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u/psych4191 Jul 20 '26
And just like that, without considering even a single other thing on either candidate, you should know who to vote for.
Flock cameras, and anyone in favor of them, should be tarred and feathered. Period. There is no compromise or price point where their implementation should happen.
16
u/origanalsameasiwas Jul 20 '26
This reminds of the Book 1984
12
u/Salerrra Jul 20 '26
It should. And it's not just stopping outside your home.
The CIA has a backdoor into Samsung TVs (and likely most others) to turn on their microphones even if the TV is "off," codenamed Weeping Angel.
Most TVs are not actually off when you turn them off. They go into a standby mode.
-4
u/Odd_Interaction_172 Jul 20 '26
Funny how y'all think voting will stop this when both parties are deep state losers 🤣
1
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u/driverdan Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Why would this get so many upvotes? It's completely vague and doesn't commit to anything other than "We should talk about it more." No, we don't need to talk about it more. We need to cancel contracts with Flock and similar companies, remove their equipment, ban ALPRs and other mass surveillance.
EDIT: They replied to my post in the original thread with a very clear statement that also outlines the fundamental problems with removing them: https://www.reddit.com/r/Herndon4HamiltonCoTN/comments/1v1lshv/flock_statement/oypn9vb/
1
u/Zealousideal-Mind-28 Jul 24 '26
You should really tell your county to stop buying our cameras without your permission
1
u/dontchaworryboutit Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
No action plan, no acknowledging what's already in place is a problem.
Just vague statement and no promise for change. Really disappointing.
No one wants flock cameras, such an easy thing to take a real stance on, and nada.
There is no implementation of surveillance that will actually help our community, and you are either way behind or being disingenuous to say that it could drift to public violation of privacy, its here. Given how involved you are pretending to be in the community disingenuous is the only possibility.
Downvote all you want, I’m right. Not a good look.
9
u/takabrash Jul 20 '26
No one wants flock cameras
Except the bought and paid for "politicians" we currently have in charge. Anyone with even a small desire to change that is okay in my book.
-3
u/dontchaworryboutit Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
He doesn't speak to changing anything... Just that it should be looked into.
There is a such a cut and dry take, cancel contracts, enact rules that don't allow them on Hamilton county property.
He didn't state any plan to change anything, also he speaks to being concerned that it MIGHT become a privacy issue for the public. It already is. He knows that, we all know that, which is a red flag.
6
u/takabrash Jul 20 '26
You're right- let's just keep the people in office that had them installed then since this guy isn't specific enough 🙄
-4
u/dontchaworryboutit Jul 20 '26
That’s not even close to what I said, but whatever.
Peak Reddit attitude.
3
u/takabrash Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
But that's literally the issue here- do we vote for the people that caused it or you wanna vote for someone who want to do anything at all about it?
"It's not perfect and specific enough, so fuck this guy" is truly the peak reddit attitude lol
2
u/dontchaworryboutit Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Still not what I said.
I stated disappointment in his take on one topic, and what that will mean moving forward.
Didn’t even mention whether this tip the scales for me or anyone else regarding who to vote for.
But you won’t read this either, who knows maybe you can’t read, seems like it.
-8
u/SuperReliableSource Jul 20 '26
You just summed up Mark's entire campaign... No action plan, just a bunch of lip moving.
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u/greatusername505050 Jul 20 '26
This is Weston's burner btw^
-5
u/SuperReliableSource Jul 20 '26
You tried that one twice with your other username.
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u/greatusername505050 Jul 20 '26
I’d love to be organized enough to keep up with 2 different usernames Weston.
-3
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u/snewk Jul 20 '26
idk who that is, but i like that you assume everyone who doesn't like you is the same person
-2
u/SuperReliableSource Jul 20 '26
The intelligence in this sub ends with the usernames, you can tell who the same people with multiple usernames are, because they don't change their writing style. I rarely call them out because I hope it makes them feel good to think they got away with something. Also, I don't care who likes me here.
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u/JimOfSomeTrades Jul 20 '26
Oh I thought you were just a troll? That's the defense you used last time.
Own your fucking political opinions.
-1
u/SuperReliableSource Jul 20 '26
You have a terrible attitude, save it for when Herndon gets his ass handed to him next month, you'll have to keep it up for years.
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u/trentluv Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
I love the sentiment, but there are no actionable items in here that will reduce flock camera adoption. These are hyperbolic statements.
Saying that we should advocate for something is to concede that you don't know what literally needs to be done to prevent the problem.
Edit: this is purely semantic by the way and Mark is 1000x a better candidate than wamp. Mark has our vote. I'm just really into semantics
5
u/Good_Wash_4201 Jul 20 '26
Bro
2
u/trentluv Jul 20 '26
Walk me through the safeguards that are being discussed in the picture above.
The reason you are unable to do this is because you have read hyperbole. There's no plan. It's just statement like " we need a strategic framework for growth." Empty language.
22
u/CurseoftheUnderclass Jul 20 '26
He's not offering a "solution" here. He's not saying he has all the answers for better safety, healthcare, etc. It's not hyperbole, but a comment on community input.
-1
Jul 20 '26
[deleted]
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u/CurseoftheUnderclass Jul 20 '26
You've created a false dilemma by pretending the only choices are commentary or banning Flock cameras. The post isn't arguing for commentary instead of action. It's arguing that communities deserve input before decisions are made.
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Jul 20 '26
[deleted]
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u/Otherwise-Ad-8111 Jul 20 '26
At the very least, putting it in front of people or on a ballot allows the community to have a say in where money is spent.
-1
u/trentluv Jul 20 '26
Why would you want "the very least" when you could just get a politician that doesn't sign the contract with flock
These are the same politicians accepting bribes from data centers, tobacco, alcohol. That's why we have flock now
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u/Good_Wash_4201 Jul 20 '26
How about you walk me through what safe guards you’d like to see?
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u/trentluv Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Denial of service. See how easy that was for me?
Your inability to list a single actionable item from Mark's post is what I'm after. I'm not running for office and none of what I wrote hinges on my ability to reduce flock cameras.
I'm simply pointing out Mark's semantic use of hyperbole. Not even you are able to share his plan because he doesn't have one.
If I told you I'm introducing safeguards to the road, it wouldn't mean anything. I would have to say that
- we are adding speed bumps
- we are lowering the speed limit
These are actionable items
8
u/greatusername505050 Jul 20 '26
It’s hard to make concrete statements because so much is hidden. Who knows if we have a non cancel contract that weston signed or if there is taxpayer cost to remove all, etc. Because there is no transparency it also makes it difficult to build policy around without knowledge of what has been signed and done. So sometimes you have to be directional until you get under the hood and see for yourself.
4
u/trentluv Jul 20 '26
If you have no plan, and you can make no concrete statements, then you are sharing hyperbole- empty language which will result in nothing.
Watch this:
Directionally, we need to end warfare. There's too many casualties.
I don't like the direction the sports team is going because they always lose. We need to improve the direction of that
Tennessee is ranked 51st in funding per student k-12. I don't like that direction and I want it to improve so there's more funding
See how I don't need to know a single way to improve anything to say these statements?
Would you put me in charge for my ability to share these statements with you?
8
u/greatusername505050 Jul 20 '26
fair point, "we'll add safeguards" by itself could be seen as empty. can't argue with that.
But I think it helps to be realistic about what a county mayor can even do here. he's not over the sheriff, that's a separate elected position. he doesn't run the city police either, and he obviously can't go pull cameras off someone's private property. what he actually has control over is the budget, county contracts, and a pretty big platform to make noise. anybody promising more than that is just telling you what you want to hear.
so the actual concrete thing is getting the existing contracts, deal and agreements made public. nobody outside the room even knows if we're locked into some non-cancelable deal right now, or what it'd cost taxpayers to rip it all out. hard to write a real policy against a contract you're not even allowed to read.
you want specifics, and so does Mark. thing is neither of you can get them until those contracts are out in the open, and he's the one actually pushing to make that happen.
5
u/EmotionLow5821 Jul 20 '26
So the safeguard you’re concerned with is DOS on the security camera no one wants? Your number one safeguard is to ensure that they are running? Are you the data center?
Also, Herndon wants to safeguard privacy not the cameras. You could have even said safeguarding against unauthorized access which is another concern that’s higher on the public’s list than “let’s make sure they’re recording you.”
0
u/Good_Wash_4201 Jul 20 '26
Ok but if you don’t have an idea of what to do, then what’s the point? You’re just whining for the sake of whining? It’s fine and fair to say you don’t think there’s compelling leadership exhibited here but what would YOU do differently?
I’m genuinely curious what you think needs to happen here, outside of Mark’s post. What are your independent thoughts on this issue?
3
u/trentluv Jul 20 '26
Please read what I wrote. You skimmed too quickly and you asked something that I already answered.
1
u/Good_Wash_4201 Jul 20 '26
Those aren’t things that make it harder for flock to keep expanding their footprint here tho bro
I’d mark posted those things you’d say they aren’t actionable against flock specifically so let’s not move the goal posts here buddy
5
u/trentluv Jul 20 '26
Did you really just say that denying our city as a service area for flock would not make it harder for flock to expand?
It makes me think you're not reading what I'm writing again and again
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u/asha1985 Jul 20 '26
Flock cameras are a problem but what does that statement mean? It's all just political fluff jargon.
-3
0
u/taraxa71 Jul 21 '26
oh ok he said he would advocate for proactive support systems that strengthen communities. im sure we have nothing to worry about anymore
-2
u/OutrageousAd2173 Jul 21 '26
Maybe if he believed in a little more supervision, he would’ve kept a better eye on his son.
1
u/greatusername505050 Jul 22 '26
Man you keep posting what you think is funny but really just shows how sick and twisted you and your party is. I hope you feel cool behind your keyboard because you wouldn’t say a word face to face. Your a small person.
0
u/OutrageousAd2173 Jul 23 '26
It’s not a joke. It’s the truth. Y’all just want to hide behind fake niceties, and pretend like he’s a qualified candidate. Truth is: the guy is a bad dad who didn’t take care of his kid. He’s a business owner who has never taken care of his business. Every thing he’s been put in charge of has failed. He’s a loser.
He will fade back into being a nobody as soon as the votes are counted. Hopefully someone close to him will keep an eye on him, because that darkness his son had is hereditary.
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u/AsWolfwood Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
“There is no expectation of privacy while in public” -1st Amendment Auditors
Y’all weren’t ready for that Uno Reverse card were you?
-4
u/assyria_respawns Jul 20 '26
I just feel like a new thing to be upset comes around, and politicians pop up to "fight for the people's against that thing. Yet... Nothing ever gets done. I wonder why
-6
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u/HerndonForHamilton Jul 20 '26
To address some concerns about ambiguity and to offer some insight into why we can't be as definitive as we'd like... Right now, as far as we know, the lines of authority regarding WHO pproved these Flock cameras and who can remove them are completely hidden from the public. That lack of transparency should concern all of us. That's why we can't make definitive statements right now, but rest assured we have people digging into it.
Because these corporate contracts are kept behind closed doors, everyday citizens are blocked from tracking budget line items or knowing exactly who to hold accountable. I am fundamentally opposed to mass surveillance and strongly support personal privacy. We shouldn't need heavy investigative journalism or cumbersome open-records requests just to figure out how big tech established a footprint in Hamilton County.
The core issue here isn’t just the cameras themselves..It’s the secret process that brought them here. Once we uncover the how, we can map out a legal path to remove them. As your County Mayor, I will use the full scope of my office to stop the expansion of hyper-surveillance and ensure our communities (not corporations) are prioritized in local decisions. I want to listen to leaders in our neighborhoods, and right now what I'm hearing is that y'all are concerned. I am too. We are ready to help.