Anti-Surveillance Mapmaker Refuses Flock Safety's Cease and Desist Demand
www.eff.org
Flock Safety loves to crow about the thousands of local law enforcement agencies around the United States that have adopted its avian-themed automated license plate readers (ALPRs). But when a privacy activist launched a website to map out the exact locations of these pole-mounted devices, the...

Flock Safety’s car-tracking cameras have been spreading across the United States like an invasive species, preying on public safety fears and gobbling up massive amounts of sensitive driver data. The technology not only tracks vehicles by their license plates, but also creates “fingerprints” of each vehicle, including the make, model, color and other distinguishing features.

Through crowdsourcing and open-source research, DeFlock.me aims to “shine a light on the widespread use of ALPR technology, raise awareness about the threats it poses to personal privacy and civil liberties, and empower the public to take action.” While EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance project has identified more than 1,700 agencies using ALPRs, DeFlock has mapped out more than 16,000 individual camera locations, more than a third of which are Flock Safety devices.

Flock Safety’s cease and desist later is just the latest in a long list of groups turning to bogus intellectual property claims to silence their critics.

    • em2@lemmy.ml
      10·
      2 months ago

      There is a question on the constitutionality of automated surveillance technology, the type of data that is being collected, who has access to them, and how they are using it. Additionally, some other concerns I can think of off the top of my head are:

      • Are the taxpayers funding this?
      • Is my data being sold?
      • If so, who is profiting?
      • Where is supporting data showing this type of surveillance is needed?
      • What demographical areas are these cameras more prevalent in? Aka are there a subset of peoples being targeted by this type of surveillance?
      • What are the rules and regulations agencies need to follow with the data they capture with this tool?
    • warbond@lemmy.world
      14·
      2 months ago

      Aggregating location data is very different from having a picture taken in public, wouldn’t you agree?

      • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
        3·
        2 months ago

        You may have misunderstood my comment. I was joking about Flock being mad at their cameras being tracked, by using one of the arguments for public surveillance.

  • dohpaz42@lemmy.worldEnglish
    231·
    2 months ago

    Flock Safety’s cease and desist later is just the latest in a long list of groups turning to bogus intellectual property claims to silence their critics. Frequently, these have no legal basis and are designed to frighten under-resourced activists and advocacy groups with high-powered law firm letterheads. EFF is here to stand up against these trademark bullies, and in the case of Flock Safety, flip them the bird.

    Everybody say it with me: 🖕

  • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
    18·
    2 months ago

    I’m so fucking sick of this. We need to outlaw using third party companies to get around constitutional protections. Ending the third party doctrine is just another reason we desperately need a revolution.