Are Flock cameras a scam?

0:00Flock cameras are all over the news, but

0:01are they a scam? Find out on another

0:03episode of my hit series, is it a scam

0:04yet? Flock is the largest provider of

0:06mass surveillance tech to police

0:08departments, and its main product is a

0:09license plate logger that tracks

0:11everybody who drives everywhere. And

0:13there are a couple of obvious problems.

0:14Number one, if you have a warrantless

0:15surveillance system, cops are going to

0:17use it to stalk women. In Milwaukee, one

0:19cop got caught doing it, and then the

0:20officer investigating him also did it.

0:23After years of complaints, the company's

0:25finally making a few small tweaks. And

0:27if this is your first time hearing about

0:28the police, you probably believe that

0:29will stop them. They've also been used

0:30to track women who get abortions,

0:32immigrants, and peaceful protesters. If

0:34you were writing a movie about the

0:35abuses of the surveillance state, you

0:38wouldn't have to embellish at all. But

0:39at least the technology is good, right?

0:41Of course it isn't. They use AI to read

0:43license plates, so it has a huge error

0:45rate. Flock has led to hundreds of false

0:47arrests and detentions, including a

0:482-month period where LA cops pulled over

0:50161 people and accused them of stealing

0:53their own cars. I know, a rare miss for

0:56the LAPD. And the company gathering all

0:58this data has a terrible security

1:00record, has lied, and lied, and calls

1:02its critics terrorists. But that's not

1:04even the worst thing. They're called

1:05Flock, and they name their cameras after

1:07birds, and that's not fair. Birds don't

1:09want anything to do with your

1:10unconstitutional camera nonsense. Leave

1:12them alone. They're just little guys.

1:14So, it's bad tech by the people who you

1:16wouldn't want making it, given to the

1:17people you would not having it, and it's

1:19besmirching the name of birds. But is it

1:21a scam yet?