This Website Lets Anyone Use Facial Recognition to Instantly Identify Cops
The short version: 404 Media reports on FuckLAPD.com, a facial recognition tool that flips the surveillance script by letting anyone identify police officers.
Our Take
404 Media's reporting on FuckLAPD.com lands like a mirror held up to every cop who's ever shrugged off facial recognition concerns with "if you've got nothing to hide." Now the tech points back at them, and suddenly the conversation about consent, accuracy, and chilling effects sounds a lot more urgent. Credit to 404 Media for digging into who built this thing and why — that kind of reporting is exactly what keeps the surveillance debate honest on all sides.
We're not here to cheerlead vigilante face-matching any more than we cheerlead Flock's ALPR network quietly logging your plate every time you drive to church, a protest, or a divorce lawyer's office. The point is the asymmetry: police and companies like Flock built biometric and location-tracking infrastructure with almost no public input, then act stunned when the same logic gets turned around on them. If identifying a stranger from a photo feels invasive, that's the whole argument against mass surveillance, not a special case.
This is why tracking the infrastructure matters just as much as debating any single tool. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and if you want to push back on secretive ALPR deployments in your town, our take-action page has concrete steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 404 Media, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.