Gutless Wonder

America is divided. No news there. Apparently Dunwoody is as well. Again, likely not a surprise. But, is it getting worse? That seems to be the case. That great, and widening, divide seems to be between city hall's bureaucrats and politicians, and the electorate...the citizenry. It started with bonds and general tax increases. City hall loves 'em. Citizens don't. Then there is the "pave paradise" folks at city hall, whose enthusiasm is largely driven by grant funding. Folks in daVille are less enthusiastic about an interstate lane in their front yard. Then there was attempted theft of the First Baptist parking lot that left more than a few folks wondering what they were drinking at the palace. The Dunwoody Dildos are universally regarded as ugly (or worse) and are now seeing "D" lids disappearing. Apparently city hall has so pissed off folks that a little malicious vandalism is cropping up. And the latest? That would be government surveillance. The Flock surveillance system. 

A bit of vandalism here too.

Reminiscent of the Biden stickers cropping up back in the day. Probably about as effective, no matter what they're trying to do. These are just a protest. 

At least one protester decided on something perhaps a little less harmless than a sticker-protest.

That blue box hanging below the gutless camera is the power and brains of the operation, keeping in mind that the real brains are in Flock's cloud. This vandalism speaks to excessive anger combined with minimal restraint. 

It isn't clear how widespread the anti-Flock sentiment is in daVille, and we'll never know because this city will never put the matter to the citizenry for a vote. It would be interesting to find out how many folks have tried the old see-click-fix on this bad boy. 

Best Of All...

...it's Dunwoody!

 

But Is It Really Warranted?

The law is a funny thing. There's laws. There's the constitution. There are courts. There are judges. There are processes. Many of these are intended to protect us. From the government. Some work. Some don't. In many cases we are being protected from the police, from heavy-handed law enforcement. Many folks today are concerned about a ubiquitous, pervasive surveillance state. 

But is it? Is it a surveillance state? Flock's acolytes would say thee nay. They claim that their extensive hordes of cameras, their exhaustive data collection and processing is not surveillance, it is observation. You know, exactly like a cop standing on the sidewalk, taking down license plate numbers. An objective observer would see this for what it is. Bullshit. But, is it surveillance? 

Legally, probably not. There is some merit, legally, to the notion that this is simply watching folks who have entered public areas, shedding any expectation of privacy. Then it gets tricky, because we're a quarter  of the way through the 21st century. Past the Information Age. Filled with Digital Natives. And, the law, the Supreme Court, has caught up. There are precedents around Digital Tracking, and warrants are required to access records. Almost as if you have an expectation of privacy in your own person. And this includes geofencing. Geofencing is arguably exactly what that flock o' cameras, and the information collection behind it are doing. 

It won't be long before this is argued. In court. Before a judge. Maybe even the Supreme Court, and if it makes it that far precedent suggest SCOTUS will not see this extensive data gathering as the legal equivalent of a cop with a pencil and pad. Maybe it is time for state and local governments to step up. Maybe they should establish requirements for a warrant, even an administrative warrant, to perform Digital Tracking. As it turns out, the government does not have a Constitutional right to surveil us. 

What's The Point?

There are several systems supporting encrypted text messaging. Does it work? Apparently not.

You might wonder how the FBI did that. You should. Did they get a warrant? It should not have been very difficult. Do they have a "relationship" with the messaging services? Maybe that ended with the change in administrations. Who knows? Can we ever find out? Unlikely.

It makes you wonder if there is any benefit to using these apps.