YouTuber Says Cops Visited Him After He Built a Flock-Style Camera to Track Cops(gizmodo.com)
665 points by gumby 4 days ago | 351 comments
tl;dr: Canadian software engineer Anthony Sistilli built his own ALPR camera to track police vehicles in Brampton, Ontario, documenting the project on TikTok as "a personal Flock surveillance camera to Flock the Flockers." Peel Regional Police officers subsequently showed up at his door asking about his "intentions," with one officer ironically expressing concern about how such surveillance data could expose officers' home addresses and schedules to bad actors—the exact concerns privacy advocates raise about police use of Flock cameras on citizens.
HN Discussion:
  • ↑Legislation like New Hampshire's should restrict ALPR usage to protect privacy
  • ↑Turning surveillance back on police balances power and exposes hypocrisy
  • ↑Public is insufficiently outraged about pervasive surveillance becoming reality
  • ~Tracking cops isn't equivalent to Flock and nuance/legislation is needed for both
  • ↓The YouTuber sought drama rather than meaningfully addressing the surveillance problem