iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dave Maass 🔦

DeFlock Redmond @deflock-redmond.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

⚠️ "Integrated Surveillance Towers" and the $1B plan to expand them across the country! 00:00 Intro 02:45 I. What are these things? 07:35 II. Why #AI matters 14:35 III. What about our #privacy? 23:01 IV. The six tests 29:56 V. Why? Ft. EFF's @maassive.bsky.social #surveillance #anduril #thiel

youtu.be

Something Worse than Flock is Coming.

YouTube video by Spectacles

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It's going to happen all over again with any police department that switches to Axon or another vendor. They're just hoping this moment will pass and by the time the inevitable scandals emerge with the next system, potentially years later, they can pretend like it took them by surprise. 6/

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

After problems were revealed about Vigilant Solutions (ICE deals, indiscriminate sharing, abuse, underhanded business practices), many cities changed to Flock Safety, which was billing itself as the ethical, more accountable alternative. Same surveillance, different profiteer. 5/

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Then they switched to Flock. And guess what? The problem got worse. By A LOT. In just 2026 so far, San Diego PD entered the term "other" 3,962 times instead of a legit reason. timesofsandiego.com/crime/2026/0... 4/

timesofsandiego.com

SDPD now discloses why officers search Flock license plate readers. Nearly 4,000 times, the reason was ‘other.’

San Diego Police Department is now listing the reasons for searches of Automated License Plate Readers.

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

For example: In 2016 San Diego Police didn't even enter a reason or case number in 149 of 496 searches of its Vigilant Solutions ALPR database. When they were called out, they promised stronger policies. voiceofsandiego.org/2018/04/23/s... 3/

voiceofsandiego.org

SDPD May Not Be Following State Law on License Plate Readers

SDPD audited its employees’ use of license plate reader data in 2016 and 2017. During both periods, SDPD staff failed to enter a reason they were accessing the database – one of the requirements of a ...

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

They are proposing more of the same, with the hopes it will mollify the public and they can quietly return back to the way it was, perhaps with less transparency. 2/

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Police, vendors and elected leaders have promised policy safeguards for ALPRs for more than a decade--and cops just adopted meaningless Lexipol boilerplate policies. Then they ignored those policies. 1/

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 21/09/2026

If surveillance at the US-Mexico border is so all-seeing, why isn't it saving lives? @technologyreview.com and the Times of San Diego used EFF's map of border tech to conduct this first-of-its-kind analysis of the relationship between surveillance and migrant deaths.

technologyreview.com

The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die?

Surveillance towers, increasingly powered by AI, promised faster responses to crossings. Our investigation of deaths near the towers found they are failing to deliver.

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Mat Honan ✅ @mathonan.com · 21/09/2026

Our reporters spent the past year and some months investigating deaths along the "virtual wall" of the southern border. Their investigation reveals that a humanitarian crisis at the border has unfolded in view of the government’s own cameras: www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/21/1...

technologyreview.com

The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die?

Surveillance towers, increasingly powered by AI, promised faster responses to crossings. Our investigation of deaths near the towers found they are failing to deliver.

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

So proud that our data helped inform this important investigation.

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404 Media @404media.co · 19/09/2026

EFF’s investigation found cops across dozens of jurisdictions writing “LMAO,” “LOL,” “Hehe,” “Haha,” “idk,” “blah,” “TBD,” and “robbery I don’t remember the case number leave me alone” in Flock’s “reason” box for searches.

404media.co

Cops Search Thousands of Flock Cameras for Reasons of ‘LMAO,’ ‘IDK,’ ‘Hehe,’ and ‘asdfg’

The EFF found cops writing “idiot,” “WEIRD KID,” "blah," "leave me alone," and button mashing in Flock's 'reason' box.

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

These are the tech and surveillance companies that are sponsoring next month’s International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference.

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 14/09/2026

1/3 Here's a riddle: Why did a Goshen Police Department officer search 6,474 automated license plate reader (ALPR) networks, representing data from 82,413 cameras, on May 7, 2025? www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

eff.org

The High Crime of “LMAO”: How Cops Are Treating Mass Surveillance As

With no warrant requirements, limited guardrails, and deficient audit processes, ALPR databases have fostered a culture of unrestricted access to everyone’s location information. This culture of

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The only thing surprising about the DHS Inspector General's report on Alligator Alcatraz is that they conducted an inspection at all. Also unsurprising is DHS pretty much shrugged them off. www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/defaul...

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Pre-saving January albums in September is the new Halloween decorations on the shelves in July.

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e.k. weaver @bigbigtruck.com · 10/09/2026

Front cover reveal!! Huge shout out to Sunny Lee for her masterful design work on the titling and layout

Front cover of SHOT AND CHASER, showing Tre and Olly in front of a storm cell

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Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Kitty merch to support EFF!

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Ripley's Believe it or Else 🎃 @ripleylacross.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Being a part-time worker these days may as well mean "temporary." My hours are crap at the day job this and next month, but rent is still due! Commissions are open ✨ artistree.io/request/ripl...

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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 22/08/2026

📢 Are you a journalist who uses FOIA or other public records laws in your reporting? You could win $25K with our new journalism award, the Penlight Prize. Read more and apply today:

freedom.press

New $25K ‘Penlight’ journalism award honors paywall-free FOIA reporting

The Penlight Prize celebrates paywall-free reporting based on records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act or state public records laws.

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

In my mind, the first person to raise the alarm about ALPRs was freelance journalist Jon Campbell, who wrote a series of investigative reports for alt weeklies and other pubs circa 2012. I don't think he's on social media and I don't think he's doing journalism anymore, but hats off to you, bro!

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Reposted by Dave Maass 🔦

Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 19/08/2026

Do you know how to spot covert automated license plate readers (ALPRs)? Here's what to look out for if you're on the U.S.-Mexico border. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

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404 Media @404media.co · 16/08/2026

Police in Wisconsin used Flock to determine that a man “travels to Michigan frequently,” where marijuana is legal, then back to Wisconsin, where it is illegal. They used it as probable cause justification to search his car for weed. www.404media.co/cops-used-fl...

404media.co

Cops Used Flock to Track a Man Across State Lines to Create Pretext to Search His Car for Weed

"The vehicle travels to Michigan frequently which is a known source state for marijuana as it is legal there," a probable cause justification reads.

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I'm wearing two hats at Dragon Con this year! We're discuss our graphic novel with the Atlanta Opera on the Alt History track. There will be live singing! Then on the Electronic Frontier Forums track I'll be discussing drones and giving my virtual tour of surveillance at the US-Mexico border.

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The new EFF clawback shirt is the thing to wear this anti-surveillance summer. It’s so good.

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

ATTN: if you want to commission someone, but not entirely confident in your ability to avoid paying a slopper for genAI trash? There's a site or that. 👇

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Cephalopods Daily @cephalopodsdaily.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I can only hope to be as cool as this octopus one day... 🐙📷Dave Maass (@maassive.bsky.social)

A Larger Pacific striped octopus standing in a tank with two arms with its suckers visible. It is leaning on a plastic tube with two of its arms, and its striped mantle is drooping down, facing the camera. One arm is reaching back behind the mantle and is curled, making it look like the octopus is deep in thought.

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

San Diego folks: don't sleep on this talk about safely covering the border on Aug 17.

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 02/08/2026

New: We found 50 cops who misused Flock cameras and other license-plate readers for personal purposes, often to spy on their girlfriends or ex-wives. He "watched every single move I made. ... Who do you turn the chief of police in to?" wapo.st/3S6rTuo

wapo.st

She left her ex. He secretly tracked her through a network of policing cameras.

Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 30/07/2026

"The number one group of people being surveilled by this technology are people who live at the border," EFF’s @maassive.bsky.social told @reason.com. "It's not migrants, it's not the cartels, it's people who live there."

reason.com

Homeland Security is spending $1 billion on 'autonomous' border surveillance towers

The department plans to triple the number of surveillance towers along the U.S.-Mexico border over the next decade.

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 30/07/2026

EFF’s @maassive.bsky.social spoke with @cnn.com about the anti-ALPR sentiment sweeping the nation. “Once people start learning about the massive scale of the data that’s being collected and who it’s being accessed by, it starts to freak them out.”

cnn.com

Flock cameras are getting mobbed | CNN

From coast to coast, Americans across the political spectrum have been taking official or vigilante action against the always-on, searchable camera network.

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404 Media @404media.co · 23/07/2026

By filing Freedom of Information requests, 404 Media has obtained bodycam footage and documents that uncover stories about tech that powers ICE and how cops abuse Flock. You can FOIA too! On July 30th at 1 pm ET, we will teach you how to file a FOIA request live: www.404media.co/our-new-foia...

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Holy shit. Flock Safety just got booed at San Diego Comic-Con during the Watch Dogs 2 tenth anniversary panel. Must’ve been 1500-2000 people in the room.

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

This dude was one of the first ever to contribute to the Atlas pilot, proving that it was a viable project.

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 17/07/2026

The Atlas of Surveillance, our database mapping police surveillance tech across the U.S., turns six this week! Want to know how police are keeping tabs on you and your neighbors? Search for your town on the Atlas of Surveillance: www.atlasofsurveillance.org

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Come see Andrew speak on our San Diego Comic-Con panel, “Comics vs. Authoritarianism!” on Saturday, July 25th 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm. Room 10

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WIRED @wired.com · 17/07/2026

A statement from WIRED leadership.

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404 Media @404media.co · 16/07/2026

NEW: Cops around the country have used Flock cameras at least hundreds of times to search for specific people, not cars, using searches such as “person on skateboard,” and “person wearing orange vest and construction hat,” according to data reviewed by 404 Media.

404media.co

How Cops Use Flock to Track People, Not Cars

Cops have used Flock's FreeForm search feature to look for people with tattoos and wearing specific sport shirts, and searches sometimes include the target's race, according to data reviewed by 404 Me...

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Come to the Black Girl Nerds-Nerd Initiative-EFF meet-up at San Diego Comic Con!

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 14/07/2026

Cities across the nation are re-evaluating whether to allow mass surveillance by Flock ALPR cameras. Want to find out whether your local police are using Flock to scan for immigrants targeted by ICE? EFF tells you how. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

eff.org

Are Your Local Police Using Flock Safety ALPRs to Scan for Immigrants?

When a car passes an automated license plate reader (ALPR), its plate is captured and instantly compared against a list of vehicles that police are actively looking for or that police have identified

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Dave Maass 🔦 @maassive.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Alas, it's time to finally have a public instagram account. If you're feeling generous with the follows on the other platform: www.instagram.com/maassinpublic

instagram.com

Instagram

Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

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