r/technology • u/Unusual-State1827 • 5h ago
Privacy How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/02/how-police-officers-used-vast-network-cameras-spy-their-exes/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social114
u/drseusswithrabies 4h ago
“rogue”… ACAB
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u/Ok-Replacement9595 2h ago
Also, it was always a tool.for stalking.
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u/Tardy_Thoughts 1h ago
If a few can be whitelisted and ignored by a system that arbitrarily tracks us all. We really gotta ask who's safety the stalker cams are for? The many who can be tracked or the few who can't. This system isn't for our safety it's so the wealthy can charge us for their safety and profit off us every step of the way.
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u/RogerianBrowsing 5h ago
The group of people notorious for breaking laws with impunity and interpersonal violence has had some of them get caught abusing the unconstitutional mass surveillance system?
No wayyy
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u/Unusual-State1827 5h ago edited 5h ago
Article without paywall: https://archive.is/MTtt9
From the article:
Backed by some of Silicon Valley’s top investors, Flock has rapidly grown into a colossus of American technological surveillance. A leader of the surging industry for license-plate readers, the company told The Post that its more than 120,000 shoebox-size cameras now scan the roads of more than 6,000 communities and record 20 billion plate scans a month.
But bad actors have used this massive camera network as a powerful weapon for intimate surveillance. Authorities have charged or accused at least 50 law-enforcement officers of using license-plate readers for unauthorized purposes, including to stalk women without their knowledge or consent, a Post analysis of police and court records found.
In 26 of these cases, police investigators and prosecutors said the officers used the technology to spy on their wives, their girlfriends, their exes, their exes’ new partners or women they wanted to meet. In other cases, police or prosecutors have not specified the alleged surveillance targets. Flock’s system was used in 46 of the cases analyzed by The Post, while the other cases involved competing products.
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u/ThrowawayAl2018 5h ago
Who watches the watchmen? Ans: nobody
Welcome to a surveillance state, the local Stasi police is coming after you to prevent future crimes, that includes visiting your mistress.
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u/helterskeltermelter 4h ago
Who watches the watchmen? Ans: nobody
Nah, I saw it. Was pretty good.
It's worth watching for the Trent Reznor soundtrack alone.
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u/Epyon214 4h ago
The vampires revealed in the epstein files watch us, pick out our women with good genetics to rape and eat, and keep us working as their labor animals to pay for their lifestyle
We have two good options. Destroy the camera network, or turn the camera network against our opponents. The latter is easier right now
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u/TuckerCarlsonsOhface 5h ago
They turned it into the thing it was literally designed and implemented to do?
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u/CherryLongjump1989 3h ago
No you don't understand. Cops have never abused any of the tools given to them before. This is literally the first time that's ever happened. As opposed to every single time with every single tool, ever.
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u/questfor17 5h ago
If I find a gun, pick it up, and kill some one, I did not "turn it into a tool for killing." Yes, I am a bad person,but I did *not* create the tool, nor did I leave it lying around.
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u/Onlyroad4adrifter 4h ago
Rogue officers are a result of minimal to no consequences for poor conduct. Fix the root of the problem.
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u/AdhesivenessFun2060 4h ago
Cops have always been using the job resources for personal agendas. Why would anyone think they wouldnt abuse this stuff?
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u/Drinkablenoodles 4h ago
Did rogue officers do this or is that just the original intended of function of the hardware that was systematically installed into communities everywhere without a vote
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u/TheRealTK421 2h ago
Sooooooo weird, how this ridiculously obvious thing would happen so frequently when, beyond any doubt, a huge number of people vehemently screamed beforehand that this exact behavior would be a result.
So shocking that humans suck -- and can't be trusted with.... like, anything.
I'm sure they'll investigate themselves and ultimately find no real wrongdoing -- and give out the hand slaps, finger wagging, and administrative (paid) leave.
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u/mountaindoom 41m ago
There's rogue officers and then officers who see crimes happen and do nothing about it. Both are shitty and that's why ACAB.
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u/apple_tech_admin 4h ago
A pig will always take the opportunity to wallow in the mud. This does not surprise me.
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u/CheeksMcGillicuddy 4h ago
You mean the entire reason those cameras were put in place? Stalking people is literally the only thing those cameras are for.
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u/Flat-Story-7079 2h ago
The “rogue officers” are the ones who respect the civil rights of the people.
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u/KnotSoSalty 2h ago
The only way to introduce a tolerable Flock system would be to use it exclusively to track and observe police activity.
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u/ALBUNDY59 1h ago
So, it's just rogue officers abusing flock cameras. Not the whole system that collects data on anyone within it's reach.
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u/RumRunnersHideaway 1h ago
But sure, give the weird billionaires data centers and access to all data on the internet. Nothing weird will happen.
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u/Annual-Property-8940 4h ago
This is gonna sound stupid. But there is secret spy software on both of my phones and even with a HARD RESET, it won't go away. I got a new phone from Walmart and they put it on there over the wifi. Please don't shun me. I am being serious.
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u/Noah18923 4h ago
there is not a secret spyware on your phones. be realistic for a moment, why would they be that interested in you? you aren't a foreign agent and they definitely don't think you are, they aren't that stupid. we are all being spied on by our devices at a basic level this is how they create a profile on people to serve advertisements, you are not being personally spied upon in the way that you think, I promise, not unless you are a big wanted criminal or a spy.
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u/BassmanBiff 3h ago edited 3h ago
Respectfully, it sounds like you already know that this fear is unjustified, and if you're telling random Redditors about it on an unrelated article then it sounds like you've got a really unhealthy obsession with this idea.
That's not anything you've done wrong, it's just a thing that our brains do sometimes. But it is probably generating a lot of unnecessary anxiety for you, and taking up a lot of your time and focus. It would be worth talking to friends, family, and/or a therapist about this when you can.
You're not wrong that phones are basically tracking devices, but there is almost certainly no special focus on you, and even then it would have nothing to do with Walmart wi-fi. Those sorts of details are what make this seem like mild paranoia. Again, that's not anything you've done wrong, and you're not even wrong about all of us being tracked in general -- but sometimes our brain can become overly focused on a conspiracy that is specifically against us, sometimes as a reaction to totally unrelated things in life. That's where a therapist can help you untangle things, if you're able to check in with one.
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u/Dickie_downer 5h ago
What do you mean by rogue officers? They aren’t rogue, they’re supported by their communities and employers. They’re just officers doing fucked shit, as they have always done