Federal Judge Rules a Flock Search Was ‘Indiscriminate Mass Surveillance’ and Unconstitutional: it’s one of the first times a federal judge has decided Flock searches can be unconstitutional.
https://www.404media.co/federal-judge-rules-a-flock-search-was-indiscriminate-mass-surveillance-and-unconstitutional/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
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This is good news, and gotdamn I'll take my wins where I can get 'em, but just to clarify, its a victory with caveats:
So again, this is a good thing despite these flaws. I'd rather have some limits than none at all, but keep pursuing this. The fight has always been about whether this tech should be allowed or not, not whether or not you need to look suspicious. I can't help but feel that until a large case at the supreme court happens, our best route is still via legislative endeavors. While its scummy that politicians are only now addressing it when they're around an election time, it's still gaining traction nonetheless.
That's great, but the mass surveillance definition also fits Google, Meta, and so much of the internet.
The ALPR data is being collected and stored constantly. Does it only become mass surveillance if law enforcement searches it.? That is the next thing to consider IMO.
the constitution restricts the governments ability to conduct unreasonable searches, not people like google or facebook.
I think we need stronger legal protections against searching our data, even when we put it into the custody of others.
For example, I would like to have security cameras that record to the cloud, but all the big NVR providers will cough up data to law enforcement upon request. That means that a Ring/Nest camera is effectively a police camera.
But that's bullshit, because the best place to store security camera storage is somewhere other than the property you are surveilling, but I still want my goddamned privacy at home!
So I can either run Chinese network security nightmare cameras whose operators are outside of my jurisdiction, or I can run standard RTSP to my own cloud VPS and hope that it's harder for the police to get their hands on that footage since I am the NVR operator and can encrypt my footage at rest.
The VPS option I chose is also the most expensive option, and it wasn't easy to set up.
What'd you choose?
Turns out »it’s on a public road« stops being a magic privacy waiver when police can reconstruct a month of your movements with a few clicks. Flock sold dragnet surveillance as a camera network, and a federal judge finally called it what it is: indiscriminate mass surveillance.
I made a video that is tangentially related to this a week and a half ago. There isn't a ton of reporting on it, but Flock is losing a ton of cash thanks to local privacy movements.
Just in September they lost 100+ contracts. They've lost almost 400 since June, in 36 US states.
Seeing the response is the first thing that's given me a flicker of hope since the Patriot Act passed.
It’s encouraging, but annoyingly, most startups operate at losses for years. Unless they lose venture funding or more of the rest of the 6000 contracts, that’s not going to stop them.
And with enough data, you can morph it into any answer you want.
The "I have nothing to hide" people think cops tell the truth and dont make shit up to appease their bosses.
We have a thing in the constitution about this. It's called"unreasonable searches and seizures". But cops don't care about that.
So by extension the entire surveillance state apparatus
Americans will never stand up for their own privacy because the vast majority of them thinks they're talking about OTHER people - not them.
Even now, just like with the out of control law enforcement, they think somehow those cameras aren't looking at THEM.
Actually, you're kinda wrong.
There's not a ton of reporting on it, but Flock has lost 100+ contracts, just in September. They've lost 400ish since June. This has been across 36 US states.
People are standing up, we're just not hearing about it because the vast majority are doing so via the boring, pedestrian democratic process. And to be fair, I didn't know this either until I did research for a video I made about the Flock buyout a week ago.
This is also a good reminder that, while you have zero political power nationally, you have a ton of power locally if you're willing to attend city council meetings and speak.
"I have nothing to hide"
-Clueless morons
Change is a slow process. We have a system to follow to reverse all this but it doesn't happen overnight. We don't want violence or property damage.
No one thinks cameras aren't looking at them. It seems you are out of touch with real Americans and only get your information from social media.