this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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[–] SouthFresh@lemmy.world 152 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Someone's upset they're not getting their kickback.

[–] TipRing@lemmy.world 74 points 1 month ago

Flock should have splurged and bought two more councilmembers.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 135 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Can't read the whole article but this guy is clearly a moron. People can choose to not carry a phone with them but nobody chooses warrantless surveillance being conducted and paid for directly by the government

[–] BonsaiBoo@lemmy.world 47 points 1 month ago

Well at least the government and big tech companies have a perfect record of keeping sensitive private data safe! /S

He also recognizes the need for more privacy protections for cell phone and internet users but is clearly only interested in having a little tantrum and not in actually helping anyone.

[–] SaltySalamander@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

Can't read the whole article

https://archive.is/WGZoe

[–] Boppel@feddit.org 86 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

toddler minded. thats embarassing for an adult person.

[–] Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago

It seems to be a requirement for certain governmental bodies these days.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 81 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In an earlier February city council meeting, Flowers said, “I believe personally that guilty people act defensively. If you don’t have anything to hide, then it shouldn’t be a problem. I also believe when you are in a public space, your privacy kind of goes out the window because you are in essence in a public place.”

This guy really has a thing for spying on everyone in his town against their wishes, I wonder what he's hiding

[–] Enkrod@feddit.org 6 points 1 month ago

Someone needs to follow people like that around with a camera for weeks. And when they inevitably crack, just ask if they have anything to hide and state that in a public place all privacy goes out the window.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It would be interesting to learn how big his kickback from Flock is.

[–] SynAcker@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's probably something comically small. Like $5k. Most politicians are cheaper than we think.

[–] eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 month ago

I am continually shocked at how cheaply people hold their honor

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 47 points 1 month ago

Awww. Someone's kickback is contingent on a successful installation of spy cameras.

[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What a fucking candyass. You have to wonder if the fuckwhit was getting kickbacks or something… I just can’t imagine any other reason for that kind of behavior.

[–] UltraBlack@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Learned a new fancy word today thank you!

[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Here to help ;-) Which one was it?

[–] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

LOL …whole sentence, basically :-)

[–] UltraBlack@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Candyass. What a powerful word... I shall make good use of it

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

It's an older insult, but it checks out. A "classic", if you will.

[–] dangling_cat@piefed.blahaj.zone 31 points 1 month ago

Conspiracy: flock is a blackmail machine. This council member is doing it out of fear

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

If I was a member of a law enforcement agency who actually cared about the public good, I would run a sting operation on this guy, because Polymarket is running the chances on him accepting future bribes at 100%.

[–] flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Gotta invent that agency first

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I was writing that for the FBI agents that lurk around here inventorying the commies, hoping that if they have no shame, at least they would be careerist enough to go after an easy win.

[–] diabetic_porcupine@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well why don’t we just ban oxygen then?!?!

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 4 points 1 month ago

But only for people with 100 million or more dollars net worth.

[–] dukeofdummies@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

And yet something tells me that if someone followed him around with a camera crew 24/7 he would be deeply concerned.

If anything a faceless invisible entity following you should be even more horrifying.

[–] Bitflip@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 month ago

Gotta wonder with a town that small, how many restraining orders it would take to make it illegal for Flowers to enter city limits.

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Get the fucking money out of fucking politics. Solves around 90% of all conflict of interest issues.

[–] HikingVet@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Can't read the entire article unless you have an account, soooo....

[–] AlphaOmega@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Try Reading Mode, it gives you this:

After months of discussion and outrage from residents, the city council of the tiny town of Bandera, Texas voted 3-2 to immediately end its contract with the surveillance company Flock. In the aftermath of the vote, one of the dissenting council members crashed out and said he would be introducing measures to ban cell phones, the internet, cameras, and nearly all technology in the town of roughly 900 people.

Bandera had a state grant to install eight Flock Safety AI license plate reader cameras in the tiny town. The technology proved to be incredibly controversial, with residents repeatedly turning out to city council meetings to say that they did not want government surveillance in the town; the poles that the cameras were installed on were repeatedly destroyed by vandals in protest, leading the town to have to replace them at their own expense. Last week, the town formally decided to abandon its contract with Flock entirely.

After the vote, Councilmember Jeff Flowers, a staunch Flock supporter, said that if people in the town wanted privacy then the city council should basically ban all technology, essentially calling people who did not want government surveillance hypocrites. Flowers said he would propose a series of new regulations at an upcoming city council meeting, which he is calling the “Bandera Declaration of Digital Independence.” In a letter posted by the local newspaper, the Bandera Bulletin, Flowers said that in the name of preserving privacy he would suggest the city go back to the days of 1880.

💡

Do you know anything else about Flock? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at jason.404. Otherwise, send me an email at jason@404media.co.

“For months, I have listened to the outcry regarding License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology. I have seen the eyerolls, and I’ve even been met with ‘Nazi rhetoric,’ the dangerous claim that believing in accountability and community safety is somehow equivalent to totalitarianism,” Flowers wrote. “Comparing a neighbor’s desire for a safe street to a dark chapter of history is a classic case of comparing apples to oranges; it is a distraction used to avoid the reality of the threats our town faces today.”

Flowers said that at the next city council meeting he will propose “a total ban on all cellular and GPS-capable devices for all operations within city limits. If we are to be truly ‘private,’ we must leave our smartphones at the city line.” He will also propose “a total ban on outward facing cameras,” and “a total termination of all internet services and electronic record-keeping. We are going back to 1880, paper ledgers and cash only.”

This post is for paid members only

[–] FUCKING_CUNO@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 month ago

This post is for paid members only

Heh

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

I, for one, am glad that some politicians finally realise the privacy problems that come with GPS and cellular devices!

What?

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Looks like all that lobbying has gone to waste.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

This is why I stay the hell away from small or rural areas. They are run by the most insane people.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You realize that this town just voted to ban Flock, right?

That makes it more sane than almost all towns in yhr country

[–] stoly@lemmy.world -4 points 1 month ago

Not really. This is normal for libertarians. It all comes down to then being allowed to do whatever they want without interference. Flock = interference.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

And, it's never in a good way. Like, they're never insanely good people.

[–] ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com 4 points 1 month ago

Bwaaaahhhhhhh...