Colorado Flock Camera Location Database

The first time I heard of Flock cameras was when I happened upon a Steve Lehto video where he discussed how Fedex was working with police departments and Flock in order to “prevent” crime and honestly let’s call it what it is, mass surveillance. Be it government, corporations or intelligence agencies, everything these days is about consuming data and monitoring the populace for “safety”. In Flock’s case, its being leveraged by the police to dragnet information to include bumper stickers, sounds, people, and license plates to geolocate where you were, for how long, your direction alongside the obvious time stamp. Flock’s website is straight to the point in stating their goal is to eliminate crime. By using their network of pole and Fedex mounted cameras they are always watching your movements and making a database of their findings for future recovery, pattern of life recognition, and trend analysis.

While this seems great, note that this is a nationwide network provided to various police and likely government agencies to investigate all without a warrant. The issue isn’t having a simple camera out to monitor traffic or ensure there aren’t disturbances within an area, but a network of smart cameras that are able to check license plates, search for specific license plates and track them around the city with no warrant, no due process. This capability alone is enough to raise hairs as it quickly can be abused to stalk individuals. With that information I got curious and checked to see if Colorado had any Flock cameras and lo and behold they do– around 50. So I went driving around the city to find them and decided that it’d be a good idea to mark their locations for the public interest. With them stealthed in many areas it was hard to notice at first, but eventually they got easier as I noticed more and more around the city. To my surprise (but are we really that surprised?) they tend to be in poorer areas while rich areas barely had any to speak of. While this does spark needed conversations of over policing and the divergence in treatment of rich from poor, I won’t cover it at this moment.

So what can we as a community do? Afterall these Flock cameras are paid for by our taxes to the tune of $2,500 per camera in yearly subscription fees, $300 in installation costs per camera. We’re looking at $140,000 total, $125,000 every year in subscription fees at the very least for 50 cameras. That assumes there aren’t more cameras which there likely are. Think about it. We are paying bills for the government to spy on us. No if ands or butts about it that’s a problem.

In terms of solutions we can go several directions. Some folks think the violent approach is necessary, which I don’t think is the best idea if you don’t think orange jump suits and being behind iron bars for vandalizing or burning cameras is the best for you. Imagine going to jail over a camera. I don’t think that’ll boost your street cred too much and we’re not freedom fighters in a movie. There are much more civil ways to resist this nationwide surveillance dragnet. Like protesting.

Civil disobedience is the most reactionary way to bring immediate attention to a cause. Peacefully picketing in front of government offices, protesting in front of conferences, or for that matter, any agency involved in the funding, testing, mounting, or servicing of Flock or general surveillance equipment works. Just ensure its nonviolent as to avoid the powers that be from using said violence as a justification for monitoring the population. Remember, we want positive change, not give government agencies the gun to shoot us with and say the public’s fears were right all along. Make sure you’re maintaining your privacy while protesting to avoid being victimized by government officials. As we know, us poors go to jail while those with power get small suspensions, slaps on the wrist, or lose a few days of pay. Ensure you’re  writing your representatives and informing them of your displeasure and what the state is using our tax dollars for. Democrat or Republican, write to whoever will listen or write to all of them to get the change you want in your state. And if that doesn’t work vote them out and install someone who will. Government works for us, not the other way around. Have them bend to our will or break under their replacement. Peacefully.

You have to ask yourself though. Is this really worth it? I mean, think about it, if you’re not doing anything wrong, what’s the point in worrying about these surveillance tools? The point is the erosion of rights. The U.S. is founded on innocent until proven guilty alongside the Fourth Amendment, which protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures. Looking here and around the world we can easily see that as governments left and right get more power they want more control, and the more control they have the less freedoms we have as a citizenry. While a large portion of cities typically vote for safety and rural areas tend to vote for freedom that doesn’t mean we should allow our governments to chip away at what makes us the envy of the world- freedom. The founders and their predecessors knew best, which is why we have the amendments we do, because an overly strong government and their analogs can and will use these tools to further subjugate us. There is nothing stopping the police or HOAs to use Flock cameras to monitor or harass people they don’t like or groups not within their vision.

I myself ran into this as soon as this article blew up where I had someone not only try and contact me posing as someone from my job trying to get information on me, but proceed to hack into a family safety app I was using then come to my house the very next day trying to talk “have a conversation”. Was I rattled? No. Because I expected this and had contingencies in place. If another buff burly guy came to my door again in a pickup would I be answering the door? Nope. Just watch, take pictures and video just in case the infamous “They” showed up again. The buzz cut is not intimidating though, nor the muscles.

But this is what people do when they don’t like what you’re doing. They try intimidation, then if that doesn’t work they escalate it to try and silence you in a more forceful manner. Now I don’t understand why posting locations of Flock camera locations is such a big deal, but apparently someone doesn’t like it, which is wild to me. In this case I suppose the counter argument can me made to the government and their agencies.

The Data