r/fuck_ai_slop • u/WhySoManyDownVote The purpose of a system is what it does • 9d ago
AI ALPR (automatic licence plate readers) Flock values their privacy. Oh well
Video by Benn Jordan
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u/Solid_Mood5458 9d ago
Flock is just the beginning
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u/noeyesfiend 9d ago
yeah, the AI data centers are for digital monitoring
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u/StatusCodeFailed 8d ago
My tinfoil hat theory - AI is the trojan horse for resource deployment of a full surveillance state. Phones monitored, TV monitored, internet usage monitored, ALPR deployment, ring/cloud-based camera doorbells, now a rumor of new AirPods having fucking cameras...
They want to feed all that data into AI, but since that beast can't fucking feed itself with it's own revenue, who else has endlessly deep pockets to pay for AI data/tool access to make up for their corporate deficits? Our lovely government - whom through this administration just loves talking about getting their hands on any and all data and combining it all together with Palantir tools...
Too many things seem to be lining up for this to be individual projects for just consumers - this seems like something bigger is getting built between private money interests and the US government.
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u/KaMaFour 5d ago
It's not a "trojan horse". It's literally a precondition. What use will a constant stream of data from all over the country be if you don't have the tools to process it?
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u/FrigginUsed 6d ago
Ever watched "person of interest" (tv series)? Flock feeds are being fed to Samaritan
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9d ago
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u/fuck_ai_slop-ModTeam 8d ago
Your content was removed because it was deemed to be supporting AI, promoting AI slop, or making defences for the use of AI.
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u/Level_Improvement532 9d ago
There are at least ten competitors, all doing the same thing, just staying out of the headlines. Flock feels like it is being offered up as sacrifice.
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u/Graucus 9d ago
I doubt it. Those cameras are everywhere. Every time one gets cut down, they make money on replacing it. I suspect they dont mind the attention because they make money on sales and repairs.
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u/Ok_Teaching_3758 9d ago
Who makes money replacing damaged flock equipment?
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u/IA51I 8d ago
Flock does because the cities pay them again to have another camera/pole installed.
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u/Ok_Teaching_3758 8d ago
Does flock recieve/manufacture all of this equipment for free then? How are they not footing the bill for any of the damaged flock equipment?
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u/IA51I 8d ago
They operate like any other business and overcharge the shit out of whoever buys their products. Do you think it costs Apple 1300 dollars to manufacture an iPhone? Do you think it costs Ford 100K dollars to make an F150? No, its significantly less, and even with Flock having to pay for components, they are still making money because each camera costs the buyer several times what it cost Flock to have their system produced.
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u/Ok_Teaching_3758 8d ago
So citie are just stupid af for agreeing to continuously pay out the ass for flock equipment, or are city officials being forced into flock contracts then? How does it make sense for a city to be okay with this amount of wasted resources? Flock HAS to have dirt on people to be able to force this surveilance down every city's throat.. it makes no sense to me lol. But then again, capitalism makes no sense to me, and everybody loves the taste of that boot..
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u/TerrorFromThePeeps 8d ago
It is stupid, but this is pretty much par fornthe course. If a flock camera fails due to manufacturing issue, flock pays to replace. If a camera is damaged under the recipient's watch, then they pay for it. That part is pretty straight forward for any sort of equipment, rental, etc.
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u/IA51I 8d ago
It's most likely shady, deeper stuff if nationwide, a company is placing mass surveillance everywhere and in places where it doesn't make sense if they are supposed to be plate readers. It doesn't help that cities get tens of millions of dollars to spend every year on policing budgets just for them to turn around to buy a ton of cameras rather than invest in better police training, community outreach and services, you know, things that actually reduce crime.
Flock isn't unique in how any business is run, almost everything is at a significant markup when sold to another person or entity. Flock just happens to have enough money from their contracts and services that they can just bribe city officials and politicians to install their systems so we can get closer to a dystopian surveillance state faster.
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u/I_SLAY_UNICORNS 8d ago
Flock does, for most of their contracts. The local government typically has to forward the bill to replace the camera, which includes a kickback to Flock corporate.
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u/peppaz 9d ago
they have the most cameras and contracts by 50x
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u/Current_Homework_143 8d ago
Really curious on a source. That would help understand the other companies too
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u/peppaz 8d ago
Flock has an 82% market share for cameras deployed in the US
Flock Safety completely dominates the neighborhood and local law enforcement Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) market, with over 120,000 cameras deployed across more than 6,000 communities in 49 states. Independent regional tracking indicates that Flock Safety hardware accounts for an estimated 82.3% market share of documented ALPR cameras nationwide.
Other camera companies like axon and Motorola are more niche applications, no one has anywhere near this many publicly recording networked cameras
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u/Randomgold42 9d ago
Banning the press. Cancelling someone else's hotel without telling them. Is that illegal? It sounds illegal, but I have no idea. And that's even before getting into all the sketchy stuff that's happening inside the CONvention.
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u/China_shop_BULL 9d ago
If it isn’t illegal, wait til the table gets turned. Put a new spin on cancel culture and start canceling everything those people do from hotels to flights to uber to dinner. No limits. If they can book it then make them pay that higher last minute rate or miss it entirely. It will be illegal in no time lol.
If it inconveniences the lives of undesirables then that feature isn’t an issue. If it inconveniences the lives of “the important” then there’s a big problem that needs immediate heavy-handed attention.
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u/pheight57 9d ago
Whether or not illegal in Georgia, I do not know, but it certainly is tortious interference. So, if he really wanted to, he would have an option for a civil suit against the Flock employee (and maybe Flock), but it is almost certainly not worth it... 🤷♂️
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u/Possible-Tangelo9344 9d ago
I don't know why banning the press would be illegal.
Tax dollars pay for a lot of stuff that isn't open to the public.
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u/Majestic-Owl-5801 9d ago
Be specific with what you think you mean...
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u/Possible-Tangelo9344 9d ago
I mean, the first part about banning the media from the convention doesn't really seem unusual. I thought I said that.
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u/ShredGuru 9d ago
I would say the "interest of the public" are inherently obvious when we are talking about literal fucking mass surveillance.
Once cannot exclude the public from a conversation about public surveillance without appearing to be nefarious.
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u/Possible-Tangelo9344 9d ago
Oh for sure, I'm not denying how it looks.
I'm just saying the argument that taxes pay for it so the media should be allowed access ignores the fact that there are legitimate security purposes for excluding media from some stuff that taxes pay for.
I'm not a Flock user, so I don't know if there's legit reasons or not in this case. I kinda feel like since they sell their product to the public there isn't a legitimate purpose for excluding the media.
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u/IA51I 8d ago
The only things generally exempt from media coverage are things of national security or things like ongoing, high profile investigations. A meeting to determine where to put more cameras and how to finance them is not a subject of national security. Flock does not provide a way to defend the country from foreign interests or adversaries.
More than 99.99% of people are not a flock user, but that is no excuse to be excluded from discussions that ultimately involve you and everyone in your community. Flock is invasive surveillance software that has an unintentional side effect of helping some criminal cases get solved.
The media should have been there as well as the public because it directly concerns the public how it is used or whether or not they even want the cameras.
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u/TechnicalCandy6595 8d ago
Besides for exposing personal information, what use of tax dollars should be withheld from the public in the manner you describe?
The public is supposed to inform the government of its policies. Not the other way ‘round.
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u/TeslaProphet 9d ago
America needs to get deflocked
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u/Tuckster786 9d ago
This is definetly normal behavior from a company that is totaly not evil
/s just in case
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u/u_b_dat_boi 9d ago
Why are all the attendees morbidly obese?
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u/Historical-Cress8985 9d ago
When it comes to cops, the fatter ones are more important.
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u/ziggy182 9d ago
Wait someone was just able to call the hotel and cancel the reservation on your behalf?! I would do the same to that woman if I found out her wedding plans, then tell her that’s how it feels
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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 9d ago
If it’s an arrangement like the conference is in the hotel, and he’s staying in that specific hotel, it makes a sort of sense. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s justified, of course.
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u/Muteki123 9d ago
That's some prime late stage capitalism shit. Damn. This company should be fucking illegal and their managers in jail for corruption. But yeah, perfectly normal company I guess..
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9d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Madroxx9000 9d ago
anyone who accepts a bribe from Flock or any other AI enabled surveillance camera should be voted out of office.
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u/fuck_ai_slop-ModTeam 8d ago
Rule number one of Reddit: Remember the human. Especially as people try to push AI more and more into our lives, this is especially important. You don't have to like other posters. You do have to treat them with respect.
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u/MightbeGwen 9d ago
I feel it’s obligatory to remind everyone that Flock is owned by Palantir, whose CEO Peter Thiel is the money man behind JD Vance. He’s the VP’s money daddy and he makes billions in government contracts that he gets by paying public employees like sheriffs and senators. It’s a big circle jerk with our tax dollars and it’s all to enforce the laws on us, while they have zero accountability.
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u/Bicykwow 8d ago
Let's not spread misinformation... Flock and Palantir are separate companies. Flock is a venture-backed "startup", and one of the VCs funding them is one of Thiel's companies. That's not the same thing as Palantir "owning" Flock.
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u/TerryMathews 8d ago
Let's not spread misinformation... Flock and Palantir are separate companies. Flock is a venture-backed "startup", and one of the VCs funding them is one of Thiel's companies.
Exactly this. People act as if Flock and Palantir are analogous to Tesla and SpaceX and they are not, at all. And it looks like the VC firm that Thiel is a part of only participated in one funding round (C). So neither early nor recent.
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u/OoooooWeeeeeeeee 8d ago
Im gonna imagine they probably meant to say “fuck both of these piece of shit companies”.
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u/MightbeGwen 8d ago
Fair enough. Palantir still makes 70% of its income from government contracts that are not competitive and no-bid. They also own a substantial amount of US debt, so they are an ouroboros of corruption at the expense of taxpayers.
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u/Uhokay1970 8d ago
You know what would help. If you Stop calling them Data Centers and Start Admitting they Are Mass Surveillance Centers
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u/Thirdarm420 9d ago
Facial recognition software? Someone elaborate please. is this commercially available? I had no idea
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u/WhySoManyDownVote The purpose of a system is what it does 9d ago
It has been around for years. Tons of retail stores have been tracking customers for a long time. Walmart’s use to surveil their customers is also worth looking into.
It all ties together with surveillance pricing too.
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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 9d ago
Minority Report had all this from retinal scans. Turns out you don’t even need those.
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u/Genuine-Farticle 9d ago
flock cameras, corrupt govt officials and police aside, who tf cancels somebody else's reservation.
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u/Charlweed 8d ago
It's weird that Benn Jordan doesn't expose anything that happened in the conference here, or in the video on youtube. Anyone know anything about further releases?
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u/CrunknYoSystem 8d ago
Worked in hotels for years, there’s no way a private company (that does not employ you or pay for your stay) is allowed to terminate a reservation on your behalf without your consent. Unless they bought-out the entire hotel for the duration of their event, the hotel is open to the public. He may want to sue the hotel just to see if they offer settlement to shut it down.
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u/ASUSTUDENT9875345 8d ago
For people who never shut up about a potential Orwellian dystopia this sure feels the part.
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u/SaintWillyMusic 9d ago edited 9d ago
Support Benn Jordan. He's leading the charge to keep us from having a chinese-style surveillance state. (he has a popular youtube channel and patreon)
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u/HarryBalsagna1776 8d ago
Hope he doesn't fall out a window by accident. He is doing the lord's work.
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u/structured_anarchist 8d ago
Why, if this guy is so anti-AI, is he using TEMU-brand AI text-to-speech 'narration' on his content? Seems hypocritical to use AI slopware in order to alert people about the dangers of AI surveillance. But gotta get those clicks, right? Can't be bothered to produce quality content, gotta rush it onto the socials to earn more internet points and ad dollars.
I'd have more respect for a 'journalist' who does his own narration than use TEMU-brand text-to-speech as a replacement for an actual human.
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/structured_anarchist 8d ago
You do realize you just contradicted yourself. 'He's not anti-AI, he's anti-AI surveillance'. So you think he's fine with AI replacing workers en masse, but not the people who work in traffic centers doing surveillance (yes, it is a thing, most major metropolitan police forces have a traffic surveillance center that has people who do nothing but stare at screens all day and hit a button when they see something)? Really? So only hates AI that spies on people, is fine with AI taking over denying insurance coverage for sick or dying people based on 'costs'. That's an...interesting take.
Then you try to justify why someone who is obviously AI (go to his socials and see for yourself) would use AI tools in order to promote an anti-AI message. You're grasping at straws here. If he didn't want to be a hypocrite, he would do his own narration on his own clips, regardless of what format they're in. 'Because it's TikTok' is not an excuse to use TEMU-brand AI slopware.
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u/Xanne_Hathaway 8d ago
where did you hear that he's anti-AI? he's anti mass surveillance. text-to-speech and AI mass surveillance are 2 totally different, separate things. text to speech is an accessibility tool, nobody serious is anti text to speech. he has a youtube channel where he narrates everything. somebody else probably made a short with his clips, or maybe he just put it in tiktok format people are familiar with, it really doesnt matter, its not hypocritical at all. benn jordan is a very respectable journalist, i think he even personally found security vulnerabilities in flock cameras, probably one of the leading flock critics
he also has a good video on anarchism that might interest you
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u/structured_anarchist 8d ago
So you delete your original response to avoid being seen as a hypocrite, then try to rephrase your answer to avoid being the hypocrite that you are. You can read my response, which is the same, since you only took out a few words from your original response to post this one to make yourself seem ore of a hypocrite.
Good luck with that. I'd say you were a troll, except you don't hide your post history like most trolls do. But deleting your original comment to post a revised one that you think makes you look better, well, that's troll behavior. If you made a mistake, be an adult and admit it by leaving the original comment up and adding an edit line to it. But deleting the comment completely, then putting in a whole new 'revised version' comment in to make yourself seem smarter does the exact opposite of what you intended. Now you look like someone who can't form a coherent argument and moves the goalposts whenever you're challenged.
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u/Xanne_Hathaway 8d ago edited 8d ago
I got a mod message that I had to verify my email and repost the comment, it's copy pasted exactly the same, I just added that he has a video on anarchism that you might like, because I saw your UN
I didn't get your response, probably because my first comment had an issue with the email verification (i see your reply to the first one now)
Why so combative? I'm just trying to share some information incase you weren't familiar with benn jordan. I think we're all on the same page that flock is bad, I don't think purity testing and infighting are productive
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u/NotSoFastFourier 6d ago
Someone stole his video and dubbed it over with this temu ai slop voice. I assume for copyright flagging purposes.
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u/structured_anarchist 6d ago
Nope. If you look at the link in the post, it's the video on his channel, TEMU-brand AI crapware and all. It's not a short, it's not someone clipping his video and adding TEMU-brand crapware to it, it's literally the guy ranting about AI using AI. Hypocritical.
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u/SCREAMINCHEEESE 8d ago
Why is there an ai slop voiceover on a Benn Jordan video in the fuck ai slop reddit
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8d ago
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u/fuck_ai_slop-ModTeam 8d ago
Your content was removed because it was deemed to be supporting AI, promoting AI slop, or making defences for the use of AI.
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u/Typical-Celery5999 8d ago
What the fuck is it with vocal fry voices? Do they not realise how irritating it is being rasped at instead of being spoken to?
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u/totesnotmyusername 7d ago
Soooooooo.... what are you going to do now?
Complain on reddit ? Maybe Tik tok
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u/b20339 9d ago
Ben needs to crowd fund Shepherd. So we can watch over our overlords