I checked the DeFlock Maps today and there are around 30 Flock cameras within five miles of my house. The funny part is I had no idea they were even there until I went looking.
Just think about how many cameras you encounter every single day. Ring doorbells, home security systems, business cameras, dashcams, cameras built into cars, computer and phone cameras.
Hell, they even have a TV show called Neighborhood Watch, based on hilarious videos captured on people’s security cameras.
If you walk down your street, trip over the curb, and land face-first in somebody’s bushes, there’s a pretty good chance a camera caught the whole thing. If it’s funny enough, you might end up on social media without anyone asking your permission.
Now what happens when your car gets stolen, or someone hits your spouse and takes off, or a kid gets kidnapped and the only thing a witness remembers is the color of the car that left the scene? Are you still mad that cameras were watching the road, or are you hoping the police can pull footage from every single one of them to find the person?
That’s why this Flock camera debate isn’t as simple as privacy versus public safety.
People call them license plate readers, but they collect more than just a plate number. The system can pick up vehicle color, body type, and other details. Flock records when and where vehicles show up, and those records can be searched later. Honestly, so what?
Most new cars comes with an app that tracks it. The app on mine and Jamie’s cars shows the exact location as it’s driving down the road. And let’s not forget the phone in your pocket. That thing has a built-in tracker. It knows where you are almost every minute of the day, and most of us carry it around without thinking twice. So are the car companies tracking us too? What about the phone companies?
Criminals don’t stop at county lines and being able to quickly see where a vehicle was last spotted or being able to identify a face could help solve crimes and, in some cases, save a life.
I’m not even mad if these cameras do have facial recognition. One of my biggest fears is going to jail for something I didn’t do because someone THOUGHT the person looked like me.
That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be limits. There have already been cases of officers accused of searching these systems for the wrong reasons. It should be clear who has access, what reason they have to give before they search, how often those searches get reviewed, who the information gets shared with, and what actually happens to someone who abuses the system.
If the government and local law enforcement are watching, part of me thinks, “Don’t start nothing, won’t be nothing.” But I also keep coming back to, should we really expect privacy when we are in public?
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