Flock and companies like it are building the foundation for a surveillance state by installing high-tech AI cameras on every street corner, positioning them in every neighborhood, and even launching AI eyes in the sky through a drone network. More than 5,000 law-enforcement agencies use the tech in 49 states (Alaska being the outlier). The technology has been weaponized in some instances.
Earlier this year, Flock made national news when Amazon Ring doorbell company partnered with Flock to launch a campaign called "Search Party" to help find lost dogs. There was backlash in response to Ring's AI that could find the rogue pets by tapping into everyone's doorbell cameras through Big Brother-style surveillance. Ring severed its partnership with Flock.

Resistance to Flock is growing. DeFlock is a website and community that reports and maps out the locations of the cameras across the nation. DeFlock states that a private company constantly spying on Americans without a warrant or consent is unlawful and dangerous. 

From Los Angeles to New York, from the deep South to Midwest suburbs, more than 80,000 AI-powered cameras are actively surveilling nearly every American as they commute to work, walk their dogs, and drive to church. The company behind it, Flock Safety, is claiming to fight — and even prevent — crime, but the reality is more sinister.

Flock and companies like it are building the foundation for a surveillance state that would make George Orwell blush. They are accomplishing this by installing high-tech AI cameras on every street corner, positioning them in every neighborhood, and even launching AI eyes in the sky through a drone network.