Tool Of The Surveillance State Big Brother Flock Is Watching You

Our Take

Rebecca Bradley Smith's video lands on a title that doesn't mince words — "Tool Of The Surveillance State" — and honestly, that's about right. Flock Safety has spent the last few years quietly bolting cameras onto intersections, HOA entrances, and rural roads across the country, building what amounts to a privatized, crowdsourced license plate dragnet. Most drivers have no idea they're being logged every time they pass one.

We appreciate creators outside the usual policy-wonk circles picking this up, because the surveillance-state framing isn't hyperbole. These aren't speed cameras ticketing you for one infraction — they're building a searchable timeline of everywhere your car goes, retained and shared across agencies with little public oversight. That's the kind of infrastructure that's supposed to require a warrant, not a vendor contract.

If this video got you wondering whether there's a Flock camera on your own street, check our camera map to see what's already been documented nearby, and head to our take-action page if you want to push back at a city council meeting or file a records request. Thanks to Rebecca Bradley Smith for putting this in front of a new audience — the more people asking questions, the harder it is for this stuff to stay invisible.