Roommate keeps trying to install Flock cameras...
The short version: Chris Barnes' Flock-camera roommate parody gets laughs out of a real problem: surveillance tech creeping into daily life while nobody consents to it.
Our Take
Credit where it's due: Chris Barnes turning Flock Safety's camera rollout into a recurring roommate bit is a clever way to make a dry policy issue land as comedy. The joke only works because it's rooted in something true — these cameras really do show up uninvited, in neighborhoods and now apparently in sketch-comedy apartments, with zero input from the people who have to live around them.
That's the part worth sitting with after the laughs fade. ALPR networks aren't opt-in. A city council, an HOA, or in this case a pushy roommate decides the cameras go up, and everyone else just has to live with the logging of their movements. The absurdity of the sketch is basically the absurdity of the real rollout, just compressed into one apartment instead of spread across a whole county.
If the bit makes you wonder whether your own street has picked up a silent roommate like this, check our camera map to see what's nearby, and if you want to push back for real instead of just on screen, our take-action guide walks through how.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Chris Barnes, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.