Ep. 16 Privacy, AI & "flock" Cameras with Investigative Journalist Jen Barber
The short version: A local podcast digs into Flock camera surveillance with investigative journalist Jen Barber, proving this fight is finally breaking into mainstream conversation.
Our Take
Credit to Landon Ball and Martin Sears over at Beyond the Sign for bringing investigative journalist Jen Barber on to talk through the privacy and AI implications of Flock Safety's ALPR network. This is exactly the kind of long-form, unhurried conversation this topic needs — most people still have no idea their local police department has quietly wired up an entire county with license plate readers that log, timestamp, and store the movements of every driver who passes by, guilty or not.
What matters here isn't just the tech explainer, it's the format. Podcasts like this reach people who'd never click on a policy report or a city council agenda, and that's how public pressure actually builds. Flock's business model depends on nobody asking questions until the cameras are already bolted to the pole. Every episode, every local news segment, every conversation that treats this as a civil liberties issue instead of a neutral "public safety tool" chips away at that.
If this conversation gets you wondering whether your own neighborhood is already under watch, check our camera map to see what's been documented near you, and if it has, our take-action page walks through how to push back at the local level.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Beyond the Sign, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.