DrJokepu 4 days ago

There’s something wrong with that guy. Quite apart from the gross privacy violation issues. Most of us didn’t even know what Flock was before the Superbowl and now there is this massive public controversy around it, and every time he opens his mouth he makes it worse. The board needs to replace him ASAP.

  • roosterIllusi0n 4 days ago

    Most companies are controlled by CEOs that are on the board and pay themselves a boatload of free stock. The CEOs make sure their exit requires paying them to leave.

darrylb42 4 days ago

I don't really understand how blurring out a house adds privacy. Looking around my neighborhood on Google street view I sometimes find houses that are blurred, now that otherwise normal looking house is now suspicious. Because I am physically close I can just look at the house if I wanted to. Someone "special" lives there.

  • schiffern 4 days ago

    I'm confused. If he has nothing to hide he has nothing to fear, right?

    Seems like some Good Samaritan should set up a mobile pole camera (or twelve) outside his house 24/7. Rest easy, it's all being done for his own safety!

    • jordanb 4 days ago

      The guy gives me unhinged stalker vibes whenever he does an interview.

  • NewJazz 4 days ago

    now that otherwise normal looking house is now suspicious

    Mysterious? Yes. Suspicious? I wouldn't think that. Plenty of houses in my neighborhood are blurred. I don't think much about it. And yes, I can just walk over and look. But I'm their neighbor. Not someone megameters away...

  • frollogaston 4 days ago

    You only know what the front of the house looks like.

    • ascorbic 4 days ago

      So does Street View

      • frollogaston 4 days ago

        Oh, turns out you can't blur the satellite images. Then yeah idk how this helps.

        Edit: Well maybe you aren't a target to begin with, but mass scanning can make you one. Like if you park some expensive car out front and someone far away checks all houses with expensive cars. It's a bit far-fetched, but there also aren't that many reasons not to blur your house unless the concern is they only target blurred houses.

  • b3lvedere 4 days ago

    It does enhance curiosity. As an experiment i once requested Google Street view to blur my previous home. It really stands out being the only blurred house in the entire area. And i can’t undo it either :)

  • everdrive 4 days ago

    "Hey, this house between 101 Main st. and 105 st. is blurred, how will we ever find it?"

water-data-dude 4 days ago

I feel like setting up cameras pointed at the houses of influential people with public web feeds might help push some privacy reform.

  • frollogaston 4 days ago

    Or make all the Flock feeds public. Presently I have to assume all of these can and will be hacked by someone, or abused at a mass scale, so better not put them anywhere that could be a problem.

bastawhiz 4 days ago

Didn't this man just go on record saying the public needs to "compromise" on privacy?

  • nxm 4 days ago

    public already does on multiple levels - it's just to what extent

Freedom2 4 days ago

As someone who may or may not have a Flock (YC 2017) watching me as I type this, I'm glad that it exists. I can now feel "Flock Safe and Secure™", knowing that the compromise I've made has been worth it.

higginsniggins 4 days ago

Flock ceo attempts to stop people using online photo system from stocking him…

Hmmmm…

  • dessimus 4 days ago

    I mean, I wouldn't want to be boiled into a soup or stew either.

  • frollogaston 4 days ago

    Those images aren't publicly viewable like Google Maps, at least not easily.

xvxvx 4 days ago

Tells you all you need to know about Flock.

deepc4life 4 days ago

I'd hope he did! I hope all of you do to. This isn't information you want so easily publicly available. It's a pretty easy request.

  • lorecore 4 days ago

    And yet there’s no way to get yourself blurred in Flock videos.

    • uberman 4 days ago

      Yes, an here in lies the hypocrisy of our times where tech titans can have their information removed from public data sources (anyone remember the guy tracking Musk's plane?) while amassing staggering quantities of data about everyone else. Then have the gall to call for a "compromise" on their collection and selling of this data and our privacy.

    • jordanb 4 days ago

      The first key feature of the Panopticon is that the guards can observe the inmate at all times and he can't hide.

      The second key feature is that the inmate can't observe the guards. He can't know who they are and can't even know if they're paying attention to him or not.

    • deepc4life 4 days ago

      for now I guess we just need to wear blue man group outfits....

  • cheese_van 4 days ago

    It is an easy request. When the announcement blurring was made available, I made the request just to see if it they would do it - and they did!

    Now, if anyone in the neighborhood asks me, "Why is your house blurred?" I reply, "Why are you asking? Is anyone asking questions about me? What did they look like?" (well, that's what I plan on replying if anyone asks)

    • everybodyknows 4 days ago

      It's easy? How please do we get Zillow to do that?

      Zillow publishes, right now, interior shots of my house -- put up years ago for a sale listing. I have claimed the place as mine, but Zillow won't let me take them down.

      Zillow allowed inserting new photos in the list, so I did: dozens of big wildlife photos. Considered a raging fire scene, or maybe a crack den, but then of course I might some day want to sell ...

  • frollogaston 4 days ago

    Yeah seeing this article was the reminder I needed to blur mine rn.

Borborygymus 4 days ago

I guess they must be doing something wrong.

gertburger 3 days ago

Link is dead now

> This Post violated the X Rules

spl757 4 days ago

What a futile and stupid idea.

alun 3 days ago

How ironic

marksully 4 days ago

remember Barbra Streisand?

metalman 4 days ago

hope the rest of this guys life rhymes with "blurred out"

thrownaway561 4 days ago

People are so childish nowadays. The fact that things escalate to the point.

  • newspaper1 4 days ago

    The Flock CEO just this week told the US public that it needs to "compromise" on their right to privacy. I'm glad things are escalating, we need every single one of these cameras taken down.

  • Micrococonut 4 days ago

    Indeed. This mass surveillance should have been stopped long ago.