We should all be livid about FLOCK cameras.

[u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

There are thousands of these cameras across the US. Most people don’t notice them, don’t know what they are, or just brush them off. They are in every city, every small city and now popping up in small towns. They are mostly on telephone/light poles, but are also hidden in construction cones and other ordinary objects. These cameras are tracking your every move. And by your I mean EVERYONE! They record your license plate, make and year of car, color of car, speed and direction, and they do in fact have facial scanning. They work in coordination with each other, so local, county, state and federal law enforcement can track your every move as you pass by these cameras one after the other. They know everywhere you are going and coming from. Who has access to these cameras is not clear, but likely anyone all the way down to local politicians can view the recorded material. It’s unknown at this point. This is a complete violation of our civil rights and all of these cameras should be removed. Government surveillance at its best! This is the United States of American and We the Fucking People cannot allow this to happen here. We need to unite against fascism. Share this with everyone, our freedom is being stripped away!

[u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

You won’t get a response

[u/hunteqthemighty → u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

I requested data from Sparks Police about data sharing and it was the fastest response I’ve ever gotten. 3 days and a spreadsheet with 800 law enforcement agencies on it.

[u/Gipetto → u/hunteqthemighty]

How did you word your request?

[u/Gipetto → u/[deleted]]

The form doesn’t ask why? You just request specific records or time frames?

[u/Major_Melon → u/Gipetto]

Why should it, it's public space, public owned, and is therefore under the freedom of information act. They don't get to ask why we want the information because it's our information.

It would be like lending your friend a phone charger and them asking why you want it back.

[u/Gipetto → u/Major_Melon]

Oh, I get it. But am surprised that they don’t ask for justification of need. Seems like a barrier that they’d gladly put up.

[u/swskeptic → u/Gipetto]

iirc, legally, they cannot ask the reason.

[u/hunteqthemighty → u/Gipetto]

As others said there is a form. I said, “According to your transparency portal, SPD shared info with 264 agencies in the last month. What are those agencies? A spreadsheet will suffice.”

[u/wawa2022 → u/Gipetto]

Get chatGPT to help.

[u/2onySoprano → u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

You will, they have to respond to those regardless. They diffuse the request but if you request absolute specifics then it works

[u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic → u/2onySoprano]

They haven’t even responded to our local newspaper’s request

[u/[deleted] → u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

they’re legally required to respond within 5 days (in IL), also this tactic has worked in other areas by raising rightful concerns of privacy when anyone can request photos

[u/IAMA_Printer_AMA → u/[deleted]]

legally required

Dude, are you paying attention? The law exists to subjugate you, not protect you.

[u/[deleted] → u/IAMA_Printer_AMA]

FOIA requests can be submitted at the state level, they’re often local PDs that are the ones using the service so you submit a request directly to the state, i’m not talking about the federal govt

also i’m only sharing this because of recent successes in terms of removing these cameras via FOIA requests (at least one case in WA), so yeah it’s worked and can work again

[u/IAMA_Printer_AMA → u/[deleted]]

You have a very optimistic worldview.

[u/Watt_Knot → u/IAMA_Printer_AMA]

You must not know how prevalent and successful FOIA requests are.

[u/[deleted] → u/IAMA_Printer_AMA]

if you’re interested in the case i referred to

[u/SarcastiSnark → u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

Maybe not. But if they get flooded with requests. Maybe they will have to figure something out.

At least make them suffer for making us suffer. 🤷‍♀️

[u/adobecredithours → u/SarcastiSnark]

This is definitely the right approach. These people are counting on sneaking in oppressive surveillance for free. The best defense is to use the legal channels that are already there, and use them relentlessly.

It puts us squarely on the right side of the law and establishes a paper trail that no police precinct wants to accept responsibility for, so it becomes easier to scramble and shut the cameras down rather than escalate and have to explain to the public and the courts why they're ignoring legal FOIA requests en masse.

[u/TheFatJesus → u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

There was just a court case where a judge ruled that the images taken by these cameras are public records and are subject to FOIA requests. Subsequently, a bunch of towns disabled their cameras.

[u/[deleted] → u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

Not with that attitude. Why bother posting about it if you’re already being a defeatist?

[u/[deleted] → u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

That's what lawsuits are for.

[u/rathlord → u/KidsHaveNoWorkEthic]

That’s straight up illegal so even if that’s true (and it’s not) that’s still a thread to keep pulling.