Flock This!

Opinion on the Flock Camera system. 

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Hello, and welcome back to another podcast of Twisted Cracker, and that's Cracker with a K. This episode, we're going to dive into flock cameras and all the stuff that is out there about them now, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the benefits of them. It's not going to be a lengthy podcast. It's going to be more of an opinionated stretch on what is happening and my point of view, basically. So let's dive right into it. Flock cameras. Are they good? Are they bad? Are they both? Well, my personal opinion is they're both. They are both good and bad. So let's start with the benefits. A, they track down bad people. You know, let's face it. People do things, they go on the run, we have their tag, we have their car, we can track them down pretty quick. And that is the benefit of it. Could it stop crimes before they happen? Definitely, potentially. Can it apprehend and track down people that have done something? That's already proven. But I think my personal opinion is that the way that stuff is being tracked, the way that stuff is being held in a database is what people really have an absolute problem with. Because let's face it, nobody wants, you know, their daily methods being monitored and kept in some database for a lengthy amount of time. But if, you know, we can have this to access for like a seven or fourteen-day period, you know, that's a good thing. But also accessing this needs to have specific guidelines. And this is how I think it should roll. Those specific guidelines say that there should be a specific case number that has to be entered every single time in order for anyone, law enforcement officials especially, or you know, people that have these camera monitoring systems on on site, some type of code that they need to put in, along with their own credentials. But from a law enforcement point of view, let's just say that they have the case number. They have to put the case number in every single time that they do it. They can't just log in and track down their girlfriend or their boyfriend or person of interest, some three, four, five hundred times. That's definitely an abuse. Definitely an abuse. And that's where things are getting out of control because we're seeing that on the media all over the place. But the things that we don't see on the media are the good things that these flock cameras are doing more often than not. The people that they're tracking down, the people that they're apprehending prior to crimes that they commit, people that have committed crimes. They track them down. They get them before they can do anything else. So going back to what I said beforehand, the abuse of this system with people going into it and stalking, basically, you know, their person of interest, whoever it may be, that's where it's being definitely abused. Now, can anybody gain access to the site, to the to the database? Well, if they have the monitoring systems on their campus, on you know, their facility grounds, then yes, those people in those facilities can access the information that's out there and monitor people for a duration of time, because this information is being kept on a database for a lengthy period of time. Now, before I go any farther, I stepped into this about you know two, three months ago while everything was hot and bothered, and you know, all the media attention was on the flock cameras, and since then a lot has changed. A lot of different counties now are either pulling them completely to appease the public because the public is making a stink, or um, you know, they're changing the way that things are being monitored, held on the database. And I've also I've brought this up to a number of different people, and you know, one of the things that's being said is what's the difference between that and a ring camera? Well, you know, the ring camera is on your personal domicile, and these have been used to you know solve crimes, track down people in communities who are going, you know, house to house, doing all kinds of different, you know, things. But there is a definite difference between the two. And the definite difference is how this information is held and tracked. Because the people that have the ring doorbells on their cameras, they're held, you know, in their in their database per se, in their home, in their home systems, on their telephones. But their telephones are hooked to a cloud. And you know, that's how things are stored, not on a national database that can be basically accessed by anyone that has access to the flock camera system. But it's not just these poles that are popping up and you know being torn down all over the place because the flock system has a lot more to it than actually that. But that's the thing that's making the stink. That's the thing that's making the media are these poles that are sitting around tracking people's cars, are there dents in the cars, stickers in the cars, the color of the car, the make model of the car, the license plate of the car. All right, but a lot of people do not know, and the media has not brought attention to all the other things that Flock has out there. Ceiling cameras, housing cameras, um, you know, outside cameras, like in outside malls. They have, you know, cameras that are stuck on the side of the wall. You don't hear anything about that. All you're hearing about is these poles with a solar panel on it tracking cars and people as they go. So there's a lot more to it out there than what I think is being spoon-fed to the public. And people are coming to you know conclusions and different things only based upon what they're being spoon-fed by the media. Now, there are a certain amount of other people out there that have done a certain amount of research on you know the benefits of these flock cameras and the benefits of us being monitored. Is it a good thing? Well, there are aspects of it that are good, but there are aspects of it that are definitely an invasion of privacy. Because what comes down to it, you know, what we have is we have our word. And what we do in private, what we do behind our, you know, closed doors in our home is our business. What we do out there in public, you know, that's a little bit of a different story, and that is where that line is being crossed with invasion of privacy. But on that note, anytime you go into a store, you know that you're being monitored by cameras, that you know, these stores and everything put into play to make sure people don't steal things, that kind of stuff. And that's what you're being told by these cameras that are inside of a store. But more often than it's not, those cameras inside of the stores are actually there to monitor and police employees. The employees that are doing, you know, something wrong, stealing from their employer, you know, doing things that are not acceptable in the place of business. And that's been going on for quite some time because if you look back, you know, the millennials may not know this, but definitely, definitely Gen Z's know. How many times have you walked up to a door 30 years ago and saw the camera sticker on the door and it said, You're being monitored by a closed circuit, the television circuit. Well, all that information is held in the office, on premise, on site, not in a database. At first, we were up in arms about it, but then learned more on how the information was stored, how it benefited us, and it kind of went away. You know, we got accepted to it. So, with that being said, I think the big stink is how the information is being stored, and who has access to it, and how easily they can go in and search somebody three, four, five hundred times and really stalk them. And that's been seen on the media now, where some law enforcement people have been, you know, attracting down uh girlfriends, ex-pouses, you know, that kind of thing. Is that definitely abuse? That is not needed. But moving forward, now they've implemented different things, like the case number, like I mentioned, needs to be put in. There needs to be a legitimate excuse and legitimate reason why this database is being accessed and for what. But with anything, anything at all, there's always room for abuse. People are always gonna take things too far. There is no foolproof way or foolproof system in order to do this. But as technology enhances, as technology moves forward, these are the things that were gonna run into play. Now, how much of this is actually controlled by AI? That's a whole other thing. But I can tell you this. I worked in a certain establishment where the employees were monitored by cameras and AI monitored what the people were doing, what the employees were doing. And per se, if an employee did not have their name tag on, and the name tag was not there for more than 10 minutes, AI would alert the home office that such and such didn't have their name tag on, and this person inside of the business would receive an email of a picture of them with a little circle on their chest and another little, you know, nice, nice gram that said, Where's your name tag? Another instance, the employee laid down on a couch that was meant for customers to sit in. Nobody was in the store. Employee laid down on a couch for more than 10 minutes. AI would know that that person was laying there for more than 10 minutes, and there again, their supervisors would be notified that such and such is taking a nap while working, laying down on the job, and they'd get a nice little nicey, nice happy gram. The email that said you need to return to your desk. And that's not part of the flock system. No, that is being monitored in your place of business by AI to essentially help the employer per se help the employer monitor what the employers are doing. Is this over management? Micromanagement? Yes, definitely, but I digress. Getting off the subject. So there has to be a happy median with the flock cameras. A lot of counties now are just going ahead and saying, all right, throwing up the arms, there's nothing to stink, you're right, we're taking them down, removing them all. I'd like to be interested to see these counties, these cities, later on down the road, maybe a year or two, their crime rate, their apprehension rate of criminals that are apprehended, that have done some major crime, and then those cities that have taken them down. The apprehension rate of criminals that you know are scooting by because these systems are not in play. So I know it's a big thing in the media right now, and it's kind of a hot topic. Drop a line. Let me know what you think about them. Good, bad, ugly. You know, my opinion is mine alone. And you know what they say about opinions? It's a certain anatomy part, and everybody has one. I'd like to hear yours. So shoot it through, and if enough is being said, I get enough feedback about it. We'll definitely recover this topic. But as it moves forward and as it moves on, what's gonna happen? What kind of other monitoring system are we gonna have? And I leave on this note with one more thing to think about. Our cell phones now. They have cameras in them. Glasses now, they have cameras in them. They can be activated at any given time because of national security measures. If you have the right software, you can hack into my cell phone, microphone, at any time. Now, here's why. You also had a battery that you could remove. Well, as technology improved, even though you removed the SIM card from the phone, if the battery was still in the phone, they could still hack into it. Even though the SIM card was not there. It was on a Wi-Fi network, there you go. There's access to it. So, Big Brother, their infinite wisdom, along with, you know, corporations, decided, hey, because of national security reasons, let's put the battery inside of the phone so they can no longer take it out. So now you have a battery inside of a phone, a SIM card that is now electric, you cannot take it out. Both pieces of equipment are now inside of a phone to where they cannot be manipulated, cannot be removed. So at any given time, even when your phone is dead, it can still be popped on. Point proven is let's just say Apple, the iPhone. If you lost your phone and it goes dead, you can still see where it is for a certain amount of time because the phone keeps enough battery life in it to be able to find it even when it's dead. So there we go. That's a monitoring system that you really didn't think about too much. But seeing that it is a part of our life, we have accepted the fact that this can happen. So, how long is this gonna take with flock hamers? Are we gonna accept the fact that they're here to stay? Or is there gonna be a deviation, a meet in the middle, a compromise? We don't know, only time will tell. But the flock system, I can say this, the flock company has definitely listened to what the public has had to say, and so has some of you know the government and uh county and and uh city entities out there. They've listened. Because a lot of these flock cameras, they're just up and being removed. So let's see how it goes, but definitely drop a line, tell me your opinion, and if there is enough feedback, we'll put another one in play. But there's definitely gonna be some changes along the way that you know we're gonna possibly revisit this topic. So, like I said, drop us a line, twisted cracker, and that's crackerwitheke.com. Check us out. Um we'll go from there, and that's really all we can do. We also got another um uh different apparel coming down the pipe. Check that out. We'd love to see you wearing our stuff. Love your support. It's slow going and it's slow moving and it's slow growing, but so's a redwood. Our roots run deep, and that's what the cracker is. Twistedcracker.com. That's cracker with a key. Have a good night.