Amen to this: “Given how many companies founded or funded by Peter Thiel and his acolytes have names drawn from Tolkien—Palantir, Anduril, Mithril, Narya, Valar, and so on—it’s ironic how many of these firms have been involved in developed liberty-endangering tools that resemble the malicious Eye of Sauron.”
One part of me is terrified by the possibilities for mass surveillance represented by the likes of Palantir. Another part of me asks, how is a Flock camera different from a cop parked by the side of the road and running plates?
Scale and data aggregation. Levels of invasiveness that would be labor-intensive and therefore rare before, like tracing your ex-girlfriend’s literal every move for a month, become as easy as a Google search. Finding patterns of license plates appearing together in multiple locations allows you to deduce relationships between people that you wouldn’t have known just from seeing them, among hundreds of others, from your one surveillance spot.
The camera may be analogous to a human eye (lenses, light detectors, etc.) but the amount of data captured and the ways it is processed are very different from human observation.
People are fighting against flock everywhere n making progress on this front. My little n very crime free town of Sharon MA has at least 7 flock cameras. We just succeeded in getting the town to end the contract with flock n will work with the town n the ACLU to develop n push for a bylaw that regulates surveillance n provides guidelines to ensure protection of data.
Flock cameras and data centers are the two areas where I’ve heard really encouraging things about people getting together as local communities and fending off the tech giants. Congrats on getting your town’s contract ended!
Once again, thank you for exposing a huge step to a "stassi society" that most of us would not have known without you. We not only have to expose and oppose these things, but we must start serious planning to eliminate them in the post Trump era, which a new Congress can start implementing in November, after his next attempt to steal an election fails. This is also important information for those affected communities to get effective get out the vote systems into place in time for November. The license plate in their system might be yours!
Amen to this: “Given how many companies founded or funded by Peter Thiel and his acolytes have names drawn from Tolkien—Palantir, Anduril, Mithril, Narya, Valar, and so on—it’s ironic how many of these firms have been involved in developed liberty-endangering tools that resemble the malicious Eye of Sauron.”
“Technology doesn’t create misconduct” is the new “Guns don’t kill people”.
One part of me is terrified by the possibilities for mass surveillance represented by the likes of Palantir. Another part of me asks, how is a Flock camera different from a cop parked by the side of the road and running plates?
LIKE for the Palantir warning.
Scale and data aggregation. Levels of invasiveness that would be labor-intensive and therefore rare before, like tracing your ex-girlfriend’s literal every move for a month, become as easy as a Google search. Finding patterns of license plates appearing together in multiple locations allows you to deduce relationships between people that you wouldn’t have known just from seeing them, among hundreds of others, from your one surveillance spot.
The camera may be analogous to a human eye (lenses, light detectors, etc.) but the amount of data captured and the ways it is processed are very different from human observation.
What, if anything, does a license plate reader add to carrying a cellphone, in terms of surveillance potential?
TomD's Palantir earning is spot on, in conjunction with your post.
Interesting. Now I'm wondering about statewide programs that offer to replace damaged license plates for free.
People are fighting against flock everywhere n making progress on this front. My little n very crime free town of Sharon MA has at least 7 flock cameras. We just succeeded in getting the town to end the contract with flock n will work with the town n the ACLU to develop n push for a bylaw that regulates surveillance n provides guidelines to ensure protection of data.
Flock cameras and data centers are the two areas where I’ve heard really encouraging things about people getting together as local communities and fending off the tech giants. Congrats on getting your town’s contract ended!
Thank you kindly for this information. ACLU was also a big part in winning the fight for birthright citizenship.
Please support:
ACLU
Brennan Center
Nuestra Lucha…
Once again, thank you for exposing a huge step to a "stassi society" that most of us would not have known without you. We not only have to expose and oppose these things, but we must start serious planning to eliminate them in the post Trump era, which a new Congress can start implementing in November, after his next attempt to steal an election fails. This is also important information for those affected communities to get effective get out the vote systems into place in time for November. The license plate in their system might be yours!
Thank you. High schools need protection. too.