No Flock

Flock surveillance cameras have been in the news a great deal recently as protestors across the nation take their complaints to elected officials and some, embracing vigilantism, have even taken to vandalizing or destroying the expensive technology. But while most Flock complaints focus on the potential for civil rights violations, or the costs associated with the cameras and services, one local attorney told Grayson City Council there are other issues with the cameras and their A.I. powered analyses, which aren’t always reliable when identifying license plates. That’s important, because one of the main uses often cited for the cameras is in locating stolen vehicles, missing persons, or vehicles involved in other crimes. If the cameras can’t do that reliably, and there are also civil liberties and potential vandalism concerns, those are all things council should keep in mind when and if they’re approached about the technology.
But before that, there was a pig to deal with.
Council began their regular meeting by recognizing guests, and he first guest recognized was Deborah Pack, who spoke before the council to discuss the story of Hayden the Miracle Pig.
“I have a crazy story, but I am going to tell you anyway,” Pack began. “I am here on behalf of Delegate Brian Smith and Hayden the pig.”
“The reason I am here is that both of them have a testimony,” Pack told the council. “Brian is a delegate from West Virginia, and he had a surgery that paralyzed him.”
Pack told the council that Smith’s surgery had left him paralyzed from the waist down and that doctors had told him he would never walk again.
“But now he is walking,” Pack said.
“Hayden was born with a rare, life-threatening birth defect. What he had is called a Diaphragmic Hernia,” Pack continued. “It left a hole in his diaphragm, and his liver went up into his chest. He is the only known living pig in the United States with this condition.”
Pack said the day before the council meeting that Hayden had gone to the West Virginia state capital.
“They gave him a proclamation,” Pack told the council. “It stated he is a miracle pig.”
The end result, she said, was that the delegate and the pig have joined forces to show people that there is always hope and that nothing is impossible.
“So, Brian and Hayden are going from town to town, and they are letting people know that there is hope,” Pack said. “No matter what you are going through, no matter what changes are coming to you and at you, if you have faith and you have hope, miracles happen. Our journey is leading us to the White House.”
Pack said that they plan to go to the state capital in Frankfort, but along the way they will visit as many small towns as possible and tell Smith and Hayden’s story in each.
“And we are hoping you will support this because this area needs these types of stories. There is a lot of depression in this area and a lot of challenges,” Pack said.
The story they are sharing, she said, can help people remember to hope.
Pack did not ask the city council for any monetary support, but rather that the city recognize Hayden, Smith, and their amazing stories. The city council, after hearing Pack’s presentation, is considering a resolution at the September meeting that will officially recognize the miracle pig, Hayden.
Another guest to speak to council was local attorney Justin Criswell, who spoke on what he believed were serious drawbacks to the Flock Security Cameras many cities in the region have been utilizing. Criswell, a resident of Grayson, provided the council with a detailed packet of information which demonstrated, among other issues, the unreliability of the cameras.
Included in the packet was a report that Flock cameras “misread license plates in 71 percent of the alerts it sent to police.” That report was from the California city of Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento. In that report, one example identified the same individual’s car as stolen and used in the commission of a felony.
In the same packet another report stated that police “used ALPR camera networks to keep tabs on their romantic interests, including current partners, exes, and even strangers who unwittingly caught their eye in public.” The report states also that those caught indulging in such behavior were fired or resigned.
The cameras, designed ideally to prevent crime or assist in the investigation of such, have a questionable track record. Atlanta’s network of more than 28,000 such cameras, according to the data provided by Criswell, has not improved the city’s crime clearance rates. But perhaps the most telling indictment of the camera inefficiency – not to mention questionable respect for individual privacy – come from integration with Amazon Ring. The security device company cancelled its partnership with Flock as a result of a backlash following a Super Bowl advertisement.
The advertisement highlighted a “search party” feature, ostensibly to locate lost pets. When the user initiates this feature, it activates a network of participating cameras, which scans footage for images resembling the lost pet. This, theoretically, without the permission of the owner of participating cameras, essentially turning the network into a surveillance grid that The Electronic Frontier Foundation refers to as a “surveillance nightmare.”
It’s a nightmare that Criswell said Grayson should consider avoiding, even as their neighbors opt in.
“These Flock Cameras have infected everyone around us,” Criswell told council. “Huntington, Russell, Morehead, and Ashland. Everyone has cameras now. Luckily, we don’t. What I’m asking is to keep this from happening.”
“It is my legal opinion that Flock data will violate the Fourth Amendment (the amendment to the United States Constitution that protects the public from unlawful governmental search and seizure),” Criswell told the council.
“Flock will tell you this data is used to solve crimes,” Criswell said.
But the actual data, he said, tells an almost opposite story.
Criswell urged the council to seriously weigh all the available data before deciding whether or not to make use of Flock Cameras or any similar devices. The matter was not on the agenda, and no vote was taken or ordinance passed, but the council thanked Criswell for the information.

Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com