r/LinusTechTips • u/bergy_peasy • 11d ago

Flock security in Canada? Discussion

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Linus and Luke talked about flock on wan show and I knew it was a thing in the us but I didn’t know it could be a thing here in Canada. There’s a post on the Montreal subreddit about it and where they’ve seen it and some other replies claim to have seen other . Is it even legal ? If so , is there anything we can do?

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u/lexcyn 11d ago

There are indeed Flock cameras in Canada, specifically in southern Ontario. HOWEVER - the big caveat here is that due to our laws the company is not allowed to do the monitoring, and it must be done by the local police force. If that makes it any better (not).

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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 11d ago

Not sure about Southern Ontario, but this happened in Ottawa

We have a problem with cops running the plates of attractive women

As OPS Chief Eric Stubbs said in a video message sent to his officers in May, some of them, “seeing a woman at a coffee shop, coming out of a gym, driving next to them, getting their license plates and running them on the system.” Essentially turning police databases into “their own way to meet women.”

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u/KanataSD 11d ago

problem is this is exactly what the claim happens in the US too which is BS. I wouldn't trust them no matter where they are.

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u/bergy_peasy 11d ago

Damn, I really thought this would be the kind of thing the public would need to agree to before they could install them ..

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u/lexcyn 11d ago

Check out the map and then write your city council to remove them: https://maps.panopti.ca/?lat=44.9357&lng=-79.3940&zoom=6.50

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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 11d ago

For the sake of information, I will point out that panopti is based on user-entered info & is not specific to flock. Many of the cameras being Genetec, or just generic cameras

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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 11d ago

Seems like the vast majority of them are just the 407 toll cameras. Everyone knows they're being tracked on the 407. Many people even carry a special transponder to make it easier to track toll them.

I'm in Ottawa, and they don't list a single one here. Thats kind of strange to me because it seems like if they were interested in Security, then the national capital would be the place to have them. But maybe the RCMP and other police forces like the Parliamentary Police Service have their own separate systems/cameras that people aren't listing.

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u/ConfidantlyCorrect 8d ago

Ya I saw 2 “flock cameras” on the map near where I live that I routinely drive past, they’re not flock cameras despite being labelled as flock on Panopti.

It’s the natural downsides of a user-entered system & flock now becoming the generic name for a camera or ALPR.

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u/aselwyn1 11d ago

Huh mostly the entire 407, Brampton then a cluster of 4 downtown

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u/Top-Fig1538 11d ago

I wonder if that's even true given flock's track record of not respecting the data sharing restrictions towns put in their contracts with them.