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Letters to the editor — Thursday, July 30

Sever ties with Flock

Your recent reporting (July 16) regarding private landowner’s embrace of the artificial intelligence mass surveillance company Flock was informative and timely.

It is disheartening that property owners are welcoming the government’s spying machinery into our community. Historical and contemporary examples show that totalitarian and undemocratic governments have an insatiable appetite for information about its citizens, especially those with whom it disagrees. Using informants from within a community is a totalitarian specialty. Property owners who host Flock cameras become electronic informants, and volunteer the rest of us to surrender our privacy rights.

Safe, legal, and effective law enforcement does not require warrantless gathering of information. There are numerous examples nationwide where Flock information has been used unconstitutionally, violating citizen’s Fourth Amendment rights. Like all artificial intelligence models, Flock’s is not perfect. There are hundreds of cases where citizens have been falsely identified or accused based on Flock’s failures.

Our community should be Flock-free, and I encourage current and potential Flock partners to sever their ties with it.

Greg Swinehart

Millerton

Millerton News
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The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Millerton News and The News does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

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The Millerton News - September 3, 2026

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Provided

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