4w ago

Flock Cameras are PUBLIC DOMAIN in Washington state. You can file a FOIA for your Flock data. Now police say that citizens getting public docs are now a "privacy concern".

www.kgw.com /article/news/investigations/judge-orders-washington-police-release-surveillance-camera-data-privacy-questions/281-c2037d52-6afb-4bf7-95ad-0eceaf477864

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/53812773

deflock.me @sh.itjust.works

cm0002 @europe.pub

4w ago

Flock Cameras are PUBLIC DOMAIN in Washington state. You can file a FOIA for your Flock data. Now police say that citizens getting public docs are now a "privacy concern".

www.kgw.com /article/news/investigations/judge-orders-washington-police-release-surveillance-camera-data-privacy-questions/281-c2037d52-6afb-4bf7-95ad-0eceaf477864

7735 41st Ave SE Lacey WA @reddthat.com

TheReturnOfPEB @reddthat.com

4w ago

Flock Cameras are PUBLIC DOMAIN in Washington state. You can file a FOIA for your Flock data. Now police say that citizens getting public docs are now a "privacy concern".

www.kgw.com /article/news/investigations/judge-orders-washington-police-release-surveillance-camera-data-privacy-questions/281-c2037d52-6afb-4bf7-95ad-0eceaf477864

49 comments

Flock cameras should be illegal, and it would be better if they were all destroyed.
They do so much damage to privacy. There's no way these things should exist.
- Okay but hear me out, how would we craft a world that combined all of the dystopias science fiction warned us against if we left out mass surveillance?
  
  You just gotta get creative. What if we had a lotto system, where every day one person gets a million bucks, and fifty people get to do forced labor for the rest of their life? We wouldn't need surveillance, we'd just have to tell them we're watching and let the RNG do all the work instead.
- Can you ask for the Police chief data?
- Wouldn't it fall under 2a to just shoot all these?
  
  Yeah it's right in the amendment:
  Thou shalt keep thyself strapped at all times when around shady electronics. What will YOU do when your printer makes a noise you don't recognize?
Maybe it’s the cameras themselves that are the privacy concern, hmm?
- Throw the cameras in jail!
  
  Why not deport them?
- No, it's fine if the state has access to that data, it's not a privacy concern. It's only if citizens can see it that it becomes a problem. /s
As a polite reminder there's a map of these cameras and if you see a camera not on the map, you can add it.
- Its an app called deflock and its on github. There's also a group called deflock to further expose them. They've called them domestic terrorist.
  
  OF COURSE they called them domestic terrorists. That's what all authoritarian regimes call groups that are a threat to them. 🙄
  
  Ah, their website says the app is coming soon. Didn't even think to check GitHub. Thanks!
- Bloody hell, I knew they were around, but not that they had rolled out that much already.
  
  And that they're now working with Ring doorbell now too so all of that is shared with police too.
- Nothing in my area it seems, phew!
  
  Yeah that's what I thought too, I added 4. Ugh. Keep your eyes open!
- Link doesn’t work for me
  
  Deflock.me you might have to copy/paste. But if you clicked it right after I posted it, I I had an extra letter in there, it's fixed.
The ruling came after the cities of Sedro Woolley and Stanwood sued Jose Rodriguez in civil court to block his records requests. Both cities have since turned off their Flock camera systems.
Great outcome
Not "Public Domain". That has a specific meaning in copyright law. It's about creative works that are owned by the public and not subject to copyright.
What the judge decided is that they're Public Records: "qualified as public records subject to the state's Public Records Act".
lol, stick a couple in a police union hall and see how fast the privacy walls go up.
- Put a license plate reader indoors?
Hell yeah Washington State. Let's hope that Cascades through the rest of the pnw
- Haha Cascades
  
  Pun intended
I may have misread but it seems the article says the records are qualify as public records and so can be requested by anyone.
That's not the same thing as public domain, unless I'm mistaken.
- Yes, it's different.
  Public records can be public domain. Public domain works can be requested with a public record request. Not all public record requests will result in public domain licensed documents being released.
  
  What are some (legitimate) examples where public records can't be released?
Oh, now it's a privacy concern.
I do like like them, these anti privacy pieces of shit.
I do not like these flock cameras. I do not like them one bit.
- "Would you like them in a store?
  Would you let us build some more?"
  "I would not like them in a store.
  I will not let you build some more.
  I don't want you to track my van.
  I do not like them, Sam-Alt-man!"
I couldn't reach the article so I found another one from the Everett Herald https://www.heraldnet.com/news/judge-denies-request-to-exempt-flock-footage-from-public-records-act/
Why is the community that is posted in someone's home address?
- Read the sidebar for the community. The person started it because they had multiple break-ins at that address. The person was an outspoken police critic, so the cops refused to do anything about it. They started the community to document all of it, and it eventually became a place for them to document more generalized police abuses and authoritarianism.
I wonder if there’s fewer around my area because there’s a local vendor doing the same thing. Their building is fairly prominent and is surrounded by cameras.

49 comments