who “they” really is || #flock #flockcameras #edit #xyzba #spying #viral
The short version: A viral-style edit from creator 679 Enthusiast riffs on the vague 'they' behind Flock cameras, and honestly, that vagueness is the whole problem.
Our Take
Credit to 679 Enthusiast for putting a finger on something that trips up a lot of people when they first spot a Flock Safety camera on a pole: who exactly is "they"? Is it the police? A private company? Some faceless algorithm? The honest answer is usually "all of the above, with very little public accountability tying them together." Flock Safety sells the hardware and hosts the data, local police departments sign the contracts, and the actual decisions about who gets flagged, how long footage is kept, and who else can access it often happen with minimal public input or oversight.
That murkiness is by design, not accident. Short-form edits like this one matter because they get the question in front of people who've never thought about the black boxes recording their commute. The joke format doesn't make the concern less real — a plate reader doesn't care if you're a criminal, it just logs everyone, everywhere, all the time, and hands that log to whoever "they" turns out to be that week.
If this clip made you wonder whether there's a camera on your own street, don't just wonder — check our map and see what's actually watching you. And if you want to push back on the contracts that put these cameras up in the first place, our take-action guide is a good place to start.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 679 Enthusiast, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.