The $7.5 billion surveillance company Flock Safety is operating in 49 states and over 5,000 communities, but the residents of Scarsdale, NY, are fighting back.
We keep seeing Peter Thiel of Palantir's dirty anti democracy fingers in every tech assault on our freedom. It's worth noting that Thiel has been connected financially to Epstein and his espionage efforts. Connect the dots folks.
(Here is an excerpt from the ACPC)
Flock’s surveillance tech backed by investors with anti-democratic views
Flock’s initial venture capital came largely from members of the so-called “PayPal Mafia”: Former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel’s Founder’s Fund and several other Thiel-associated firms, including Bedrock Capital, Y-Combinator and Initialized Capital.
Critics termed members of this Silicon Valley-based capital formation the “Broligarchy” and have accused them of ushering in “technofascism” through a sweeping, cross-jurisdictional, AI-powered police state.
Thiel and the cadre of other early Flock investors envisioned surveillance technology as a “dual-use” product. Their idea is that governments, private businesses and even neighborhood organizations can buy and utilize surveillance technology as a “force multiplier”.
Some of Flock’s funders, including Thiel, have expressed anti-democratic views.
In 2009, Thiel wrote, “I no longer believe freedom and democracy are compatible.”
Marc Andreessen—whose venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is another Flock funder—previously called one of the early 20th century architects of fascism a “saint.” Andreessen has publicly espoused a political theory known as the Iron Law of Oligarchy, which holds that all organizations inevitably move toward oligarchy. (I added: Andreessen is one of the largest investors in Substack.)
“Democracy is fake,” Andreessen said on the Lex Friedman podcast. “There is always a ruling class. There is always a ruling elite, structurally… the masses can’t organize. The majority can’t organize. Only the minority can organize.”
Yes, I am happy to. I’ve written a few articles and cross posted several detailed articles to my site, from writers I admire. It’s free and you don’t need to subscribe if you don’t want to. I’m not here for fame or fortune.
One question: Do the Flock contracts with cities include any provision that says they cannot use the data acquired from the city for any other purpose than serving the city's needs?
It's easy to see Flock creating a national database that, when combined with other intelligence data bases, can not only be financially lucrative, but used for nefarious purposes.
The fact that Silicon Valley financiers are behind Flock makes it extremely suspicious.
According to Google: Jeffrey Epstein, the registered sex offender, met with many powerful people in finance and business during his career, but the financier invested with only a few of them. One of those people was Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire.
This is how mass surveillance takes hold: cameras installed in every community, as a service to the public, in the name of safety.
PERFECT SENTENCE TO END THIS PIECE WITH Jessica!!!! Really scary stuff.
I live in a very rural area of New Hampshire and I will be checking what system of surveillance, if any, my small town is using. It's easy to go unaware of what the local government may be implementing without the public knowledge of it's constituents.
Today's political environment demands of us to pay attention. It's too easy to get too busy to pay attention. Thanks for reminding us that it's really up to us!
Thanks for this important report. This is just more tightening of the noose by the robotic silicon incels controlling the masses. They lost their humanity long ago, if they ever had it. People who care about freedom and humanity--and they're few and far between-- should realize that fascist control, at least presently, is energy dependent.
Richland, WA? Where so many employees of Bechtel have died of diseases connected with the nuclear installation there, including one of my brothers-in-law.
Thanks for sharing. I serve on our City Council in a small California town, we just approved Flock cameras a couple months back. Had concerns about surveillance then that are definitely heightened now. Would love to connect with yourself or any contacts you have with deeper insight on the surveillance capabilities of these systems.
Yeah, I would really like to know ; the Santa Fe City Council in New Mexico has a $6 million budget for AI services, and it added another $ million last week. There are cameras in all directions at many road intersections which implies the ability to read lots of license plates.
And meanwhile, people don't have a place to live; a car to drive; healthcare and real food. That should all come first for all municipalities. The masses are so far-gone, brainwashed into embracing technology over life, synthetic over real, that there doesn't appear to be any hope.
The drive of unchecked capitalism is accumulation at the top ; this implies a few oligarchs and a lot of peasants, or surfs at the bottom unless we insist on having a say.
Serfs. It appears that our insistence will have to be made with something more effective than voting machines and emails. America is in the grips of a Stalin/Hitler/Mao-type dictatorship. Those male monsters massacred millions of educated people, attempted to erase history, committed genocide, and . . . see the Stephen Miller-Trump agenda for more details of what's to come for America.
I live in a small community, ~23,000 year round population, so far from an urban setting with lots of intersections and such. Yet I know the police in town have had LPRs for years. As they're always on the look for grant money to stay current in law & order, and thus expand their role, especially with all the focus on immigrants, ICE, "security" and such, I'm wondering if they're falling under the sway of marketing pitches from Flock and the like to push for their surveillance technology. As the article indicates, it can be a "beneath the radar" kind of thing going on.
Your system is fucked! I'm a paid subscriber yet I couldn't sign in. You sent me me code but nowhere to enter the numbers! I finally signed into Substack (not Dropsite) even though I was signed in already and found that I could now leave this comment. If I hadn't persisted, I would have walked away and likely cancelled my subscription.
I didn't enter the code anywhere, just clicked on the new email with the code. I presume all the run-around is to keep people from posting as people they aren't.
I hear ya--me too and I got the same game. I clicked on the button in the email, and was immediately in, rather than entering the code. The natural response is to enter the code.
Before I sold my house in the Fire Island Pines 10 years ago, the police had stepped up presence where the community had been left to pretty much govern itself, it being a summer community of small beach houses. One day the police stopped me and tried to sell me surveillance equipment. The drugs passing hands out there under the watchful/unwatchful eye of the Suffolk Country cops created the backdrop for the incursion of the scenario that the community could arm themselves against what was a very minimal amount of civic violations with cameras began that way. That a national network controlled by a private industry is in the works is a sickening threat to all.
"Azusa PD invites Business Owners, HOAs, schools, and community members to collaborate with us in conjunction with Flock Safety to help eliminate crime. Azusa PD already utilizes Flock Safety's License Plate Reader technology and has seen significant success in solving crime."
We keep seeing Peter Thiel of Palantir's dirty anti democracy fingers in every tech assault on our freedom. It's worth noting that Thiel has been connected financially to Epstein and his espionage efforts. Connect the dots folks.
(Here is an excerpt from the ACPC)
Flock’s surveillance tech backed by investors with anti-democratic views
Flock’s initial venture capital came largely from members of the so-called “PayPal Mafia”: Former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel’s Founder’s Fund and several other Thiel-associated firms, including Bedrock Capital, Y-Combinator and Initialized Capital.
Critics termed members of this Silicon Valley-based capital formation the “Broligarchy” and have accused them of ushering in “technofascism” through a sweeping, cross-jurisdictional, AI-powered police state.
Thiel and the cadre of other early Flock investors envisioned surveillance technology as a “dual-use” product. Their idea is that governments, private businesses and even neighborhood organizations can buy and utilize surveillance technology as a “force multiplier”.
Some of Flock’s funders, including Thiel, have expressed anti-democratic views.
In 2009, Thiel wrote, “I no longer believe freedom and democracy are compatible.”
Marc Andreessen—whose venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is another Flock funder—previously called one of the early 20th century architects of fascism a “saint.” Andreessen has publicly espoused a political theory known as the Iron Law of Oligarchy, which holds that all organizations inevitably move toward oligarchy. (I added: Andreessen is one of the largest investors in Substack.)
“Democracy is fake,” Andreessen said on the Lex Friedman podcast. “There is always a ruling class. There is always a ruling elite, structurally… the masses can’t organize. The majority can’t organize. Only the minority can organize.”
Can you advise of a good source of info on Thiel, etc.?
Yes, I am happy to. I’ve written a few articles and cross posted several detailed articles to my site, from writers I admire. It’s free and you don’t need to subscribe if you don’t want to. I’m not here for fame or fortune.
Cheers
Your stack has really important info that confirms . . .
Excellent report, Jessica.
One question: Do the Flock contracts with cities include any provision that says they cannot use the data acquired from the city for any other purpose than serving the city's needs?
It's easy to see Flock creating a national database that, when combined with other intelligence data bases, can not only be financially lucrative, but used for nefarious purposes.
The fact that Silicon Valley financiers are behind Flock makes it extremely suspicious.
According to Google: Jeffrey Epstein, the registered sex offender, met with many powerful people in finance and business during his career, but the financier invested with only a few of them. One of those people was Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire.
We all know it's bullshit. THEY especially know it's bullshit... Hence, it's done in secret and as quick as possible.
This is how mass surveillance takes hold: cameras installed in every community, as a service to the public, in the name of safety.
PERFECT SENTENCE TO END THIS PIECE WITH Jessica!!!! Really scary stuff.
I live in a very rural area of New Hampshire and I will be checking what system of surveillance, if any, my small town is using. It's easy to go unaware of what the local government may be implementing without the public knowledge of it's constituents.
Today's political environment demands of us to pay attention. It's too easy to get too busy to pay attention. Thanks for reminding us that it's really up to us!
Thanks for this important report. This is just more tightening of the noose by the robotic silicon incels controlling the masses. They lost their humanity long ago, if they ever had it. People who care about freedom and humanity--and they're few and far between-- should realize that fascist control, at least presently, is energy dependent.
Who knew that people in various levels of our government had a wicked case of malignant nosiness?!
Richland, WA? Where so many employees of Bechtel have died of diseases connected with the nuclear installation there, including one of my brothers-in-law.
Jessica,
Thanks for sharing. I serve on our City Council in a small California town, we just approved Flock cameras a couple months back. Had concerns about surveillance then that are definitely heightened now. Would love to connect with yourself or any contacts you have with deeper insight on the surveillance capabilities of these systems.
Please email @ japjeetuppal24@gmail.com if you can assist in anyway. Thank you.
Holy defecation!
Is there some website, source, database on the 5,000 communities nationwide part of this web?
Yeah, I would really like to know ; the Santa Fe City Council in New Mexico has a $6 million budget for AI services, and it added another $ million last week. There are cameras in all directions at many road intersections which implies the ability to read lots of license plates.
And meanwhile, people don't have a place to live; a car to drive; healthcare and real food. That should all come first for all municipalities. The masses are so far-gone, brainwashed into embracing technology over life, synthetic over real, that there doesn't appear to be any hope.
The drive of unchecked capitalism is accumulation at the top ; this implies a few oligarchs and a lot of peasants, or surfs at the bottom unless we insist on having a say.
Serfs. It appears that our insistence will have to be made with something more effective than voting machines and emails. America is in the grips of a Stalin/Hitler/Mao-type dictatorship. Those male monsters massacred millions of educated people, attempted to erase history, committed genocide, and . . . see the Stephen Miller-Trump agenda for more details of what's to come for America.
I live in a small community, ~23,000 year round population, so far from an urban setting with lots of intersections and such. Yet I know the police in town have had LPRs for years. As they're always on the look for grant money to stay current in law & order, and thus expand their role, especially with all the focus on immigrants, ICE, "security" and such, I'm wondering if they're falling under the sway of marketing pitches from Flock and the like to push for their surveillance technology. As the article indicates, it can be a "beneath the radar" kind of thing going on.
Your system is fucked! I'm a paid subscriber yet I couldn't sign in. You sent me me code but nowhere to enter the numbers! I finally signed into Substack (not Dropsite) even though I was signed in already and found that I could now leave this comment. If I hadn't persisted, I would have walked away and likely cancelled my subscription.
I didn't enter the code anywhere, just clicked on the new email with the code. I presume all the run-around is to keep people from posting as people they aren't.
Yeah, but I'm a paid subscrtiber!
I hear ya--me too and I got the same game. I clicked on the button in the email, and was immediately in, rather than entering the code. The natural response is to enter the code.
Before I sold my house in the Fire Island Pines 10 years ago, the police had stepped up presence where the community had been left to pretty much govern itself, it being a summer community of small beach houses. One day the police stopped me and tried to sell me surveillance equipment. The drugs passing hands out there under the watchful/unwatchful eye of the Suffolk Country cops created the backdrop for the incursion of the scenario that the community could arm themselves against what was a very minimal amount of civic violations with cameras began that way. That a national network controlled by a private industry is in the works is a sickening threat to all.
Does Flocks have offices in Israel?
"Azusa PD invites Business Owners, HOAs, schools, and community members to collaborate with us in conjunction with Flock Safety to help eliminate crime. Azusa PD already utilizes Flock Safety's License Plate Reader technology and has seen significant success in solving crime."
https://www.facebook.com/AzusaPD/posts/473656364796029/
Thank you Jessica. Great work as usual.
Now it's up to us readers to share this to overcome the algorithm and mainstream media that will no doubt, shadow ban this story.