The article argues that conservative supporters of Flock cameras are being shortsighted by ignoring the potential for government overreach. Democrats such as Govs. Gretchen Whitmer and Andrew Cuomo, along with President Donald Trump, empowered state authorities to impose restrictive COVID-19 measures, including lockdowns and vaccine mandates. The author suggests that if a nationwide AI-powered camera network had existed in 2020, it would have enabled state officials to track individuals more easily, potentially leading to further erosion of civil liberties. The article concludes that conservatives should be wary of supporting surveillance tools without considering the potential for abuse of power by governments.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-25,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
YouTube host Benn Jordan, who has been critical of the surveillance company Flock Safety, was kicked out of their convention in Atlanta after he downloaded the conference app and exposed a data breach that revealed the entire guest list. In response, Jordan set up his own radio equipment and drone outside the convention hall to unmask attendees and listen in on microphones inside. He also noted that Flock Safety claims police customers don't need a warrant to use their automated license plate reading cameras because drivers have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" on public roads.
The controversy surrounding Flock Safety has been ongoing, with some critics warning about the potential for state tyranny and others arguing that the company's surveillance technology is necessary to keep communities safe. However, many experts are cautioning against losing sight of what truly matters: passing strong legal protections that outlive Flock Safety's dominance.
Flock Safety has 120,000 cameras across 49 states, working with over 5,000 law enforcement agencies and capturing more than 20 billion license plate scans every month. Despite the controversy surrounding the company, competitors are watching and waiting to potentially take advantage of any infrastructure left behind after the public-relations backlash subsides.
In a bizarre twist, some police departments have even started warning drivers about the potential risks of displaying stickers on their cars that reveal sensitive information about their lives, such as school names or extracurricular activities.
Written for “Flock Smart Doorbell Controversy” on 2026-08-31,
grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.
Sir Roger Daltrey famously said, “I’ll get on my knees and pray we don’t get fooled again.”
asserted
we → say → knees
Apparently many conservatives have been neglecting their prayers, and their early ’70s British rock and roll.
asserted
conservatives → neglect → prayers
Supporting the use of Flock cameras is as bizarre as it is shortsighted, especially coming on the heels of the most dramatic explosion of tyrannical state power in generations.
asserted
it → support → generations
Recommended Stories
American conservatives experienced an alarming wake-up call about the fragility of liberty in the spring of 2020.
asserted
conservatives → experience → 2020
Across the country, governors and bureaucrats unilaterally shut down small businesses, outlawed church services, fined families for visiting parks, and threatened innocent citizens with quarantine measures and masking/vaccine mandates, all while encouraging destructive and deadly race riots that killed 25 Americans and sending the elderly to their deaths in nursing homes.
asserted
that → shut → homes
It was President Donald Trump who empowered Dr. (in name only) Anthony Fauci and shut down the global economy, ushering in the current era of high inflation.
asserted
who → empower → inflation
Lest we forget, it was (likely) Republican cops who arrested a (likely) Republican pastor in (extremely) Republican Kentucky for the crime of holding a socially-distanced, outdoor church service.
asserted
who → forget → service
The conservative reflex to support “tough on crime” measures is not without warrant (pun intended).
asserted
pun → support → warrant
Empowering law enforcement, however, can come without ignoring the main lesson of the COVID era: If you give the administrative state an inch of “emergency” authority, they will take a mile of your constitutionally protected rights.
asserted
they → empower → rights
Supporting a massive automatic license plate reader dragnet requires conservatives to suffer total amnesia regarding how quickly government power can be weaponized.
asserted
power → support → amnesia
What if local health departments and blue-state mayors and governors had possessed a nationwide, AI-powered Flock camera network in the spring of 2020?
asserted
departments → possess → 2020
We know exactly how that would have gone.
asserted
that → know → ?
In Kentucky, officers recorded the license plates of churchgoers attending drive-in Easter services to issue quarantine notices.
asserted
officers → record → notices
In California, paddleboarders were chased down by health authorities.
asserted
paddleboarders → chase → authorities
Had a searchable, real-time vehicle tracking grid existed at scale, state officials wouldn’t have simply asked you to state home, they could have set up automatic “geofence” alerts to track any vehicle leaving its neighborhood.
uncertain
they → exist → neighborhood
It would have been far easier to track down church attendees, anti-lockdown protesters, and families driving across state lines to escape local mandates.
asserted
It → track → mandates
When Whitmer outlawed the use of boats, everyone still went fishing because this is America and Whitmer can kick rocks.
asserted
Whitmer → outlaw → rocks
But a Flock camera at every boat launch would have made the prospect far more precarious.
asserted
prospect → make → launch
But some otherwise principled and thoughtful conservatives are drinking the Flock Kool-Aid.
asserted
conservatives → drink → Aid
Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro is a First Amendment and Second Amendment absolutist, making his support of Flock all the more puzzling.
asserted
support → make → Flock
Conservative Flock supporters are making a classic trade: law enforcement convenience at the expense of the Fourth Amendment.
asserted
supporters → make → Amendment
The same infrastructure that helps catch a carjacker or illegal immigrant in Texas can be repurposed to track down gun owners or pro-life activists in New York.
asserted
that → help → York
You may trust Ron DeSantis, but how about Zohran Mamdani or the unsavory cast of characters currently running Dearborn, Michigan?
uncertain
You → trust → Dearborn
Is it unreasonable that, say, Jews, for instance, could eventually be targeted by this technology considering the last 5,000 years of human history?
uncertain
Jews → target → history
A moment in which Democratic Socialists of America candidates are winning elections and large swaths of the Right are becoming increasingly hostile toward constitutional rights and the American founding, is no time to break bad on the Fourth Amendment.
asserted
swaths → win → Amendment
Conservatives must wise up on Flock before the technology can be further weaponized against the innocent.
asserted
technology → wise → innocent
COVID taught us that this transition can happen far faster than anyone (this side of Rand and Orwell) could possibly imagine.
uncertain
anyone → teach → Rand
