Should we record flock employees? #juliandorey #flock #flockcameras #tommyg #flocksurveillance
The short version: A viral clip asks if citizens should film Flock Safety workers in the field — a question that cuts to the heart of who gets to watch whom in America.
Our Take
This short from Juliandailys (via the Julian Dorey orbit, with Tommy G weighing in) raises a question we get constantly: if Flock Safety can point a camera at every car that passes a street corner, why would it be out of bounds for a private citizen to point a camera back at a Flock technician installing one? The discomfort some people feel about "recording the recorders" says a lot about how normalized one-way surveillance has become. Filming in public is legal, and documenting who installs these poles, for which agency, and under what contract is exactly the kind of accountability journalism this industry has tried to avoid.
Flock markets itself as a quiet, almost invisible infrastructure partner to local police. That only works if nobody asks questions when the install crew shows up. Residents filming deployments, asking for paperwork, or just logging the location isn't harassment — it's basic civic oversight of a company that scans your plate thousands of times a year without ever asking your permission.
We'd rather see people document first and debate etiquette second. If you spot a new camera going up in your town, log it on our map and then use our take-action guide to push your city council for transparency on the contract behind it.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Juliandailys, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.