No, Flock isn’t threatening people for debating surveillance
Surveillance company Flock Safety has denied sending cease-and-desist letters to a California lecture group that was discussing its technology. The company claims the letters are forgeries created as part of a disinformation campaign against them.
Why it matters
This incident highlights the growing tension between surveillance technology providers and public advocacy groups, as well as the risks of digital forgery in political discourse.
On Thursday, the Instagram account for a lecture series in Newport Beach, CA posted a photo of what appeared to be a cease and desist letter from the surveillance technology company Flock Safety. Flock has received significant backlash over its technology and work with law enforcement agencies, and this letter kicked off yet another wave of criticism against the company for allegedly trying to shut down discussions of its work.
“WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED,” the group, The Saturday Salon, wrote in the Instagram post, which has more than 3,000 likes. A separate post about the letter on Bluesky has more than 360 reposts. The text of the letter demands that the group stop hosting conversations about Flock’s surveillance technology. In a DM from The Saturday Salon’s Instagram account, Schuyler Lifschultz tells The Verge that it “found this letter taped to our front door.”
[Media: https://www.instagram.com/p/DajWr2evruu/]
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