What would a constitutional amendment that could head off the panopticon look like? How about
The people shall be secure against surveillance of their persons, data, communications, and movements. No government shall collect or compel such information except upon a warrant founded on probable cause. Mass or indiscriminate surveillance is prohibited.
duxup · 59m ago
“Sorry sir, computer says you are suspicious.”
That kind of opaque justification seems ripe for abuse.
FireBeyond · 1h ago
This sadly doesn't surprise me, at all.
Flock's founders vision is that Flock will "eliminate all crime", and as an ex-employee, it's not an aspirational quote - he is quite literal. All of the ethics around data gathering that you heard during recruitment is gone, and it's all about sharing all the data you can, and trying to speed run to a Minority Report style future.
Their data transparency report is ... a lot less than transparent. I'd estimate that a large number of agencies using Flock are not reported on their "Agencies using Flock" page. Just in my county and the next one over, I can name at least half a dozen agencies using Flock (and it's not even an issue on the part of the agency - my local PD and Sheriff will refer to Flock hits on their FB posts multiple times a week with respect to incidents. But "strangely", neither agency is listed as a Flock-using Agency on their transparency site).
SoftTalker · 44m ago
> Flock's founders vision is that Flock will "eliminate all crime"
And he quite possibly genuinely believes it.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
hattmall · 13m ago
Is that even good intentions? "Crime" is mostly how the world progresses.
That kind of opaque justification seems ripe for abuse.
Flock's founders vision is that Flock will "eliminate all crime", and as an ex-employee, it's not an aspirational quote - he is quite literal. All of the ethics around data gathering that you heard during recruitment is gone, and it's all about sharing all the data you can, and trying to speed run to a Minority Report style future.
Their data transparency report is ... a lot less than transparent. I'd estimate that a large number of agencies using Flock are not reported on their "Agencies using Flock" page. Just in my county and the next one over, I can name at least half a dozen agencies using Flock (and it's not even an issue on the part of the agency - my local PD and Sheriff will refer to Flock hits on their FB posts multiple times a week with respect to incidents. But "strangely", neither agency is listed as a Flock-using Agency on their transparency site).
And he quite possibly genuinely believes it.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.