The Aporia · Surveillance Finds a Way

Surveillance Finds a Way

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Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Koebler, J. (2026, September 29). Surveillance Finds a Way. 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/surveillance-finds-a-way/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Jason's newsletter discusses how surveillance companies cannot be trusted to regulate their own use of technology, particularly regarding privacy. Specifically, it reports that despite Flock cameras not offering facial recognition, another company called VIDIZMO is advertising the ability to integrate facial recognition with Flock’s data for law enforcement purposes. VIDIZMO offers features like behavior prediction and racial/gender analysis on live feeds from FlockOS devices, aiming to provide a comprehensive solution to police departments looking to enhance surveillance capabilities.

Written by AI on 2026-09-29, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In the ongoing debate over surveillance technology, Flock, known for its automatic license plate reading cameras, has stated it will not implement facial recognition. However, another company, VIDIZMO, is promoting the addition of facial recognition to Flock’s data through third-party services. This move contradicts Flock CEO Garrett Langley's assertion that his company won’t incorporate such technology. The controversy highlights concerns about surveillance companies self-regulating their privacy practices. Additionally, a separate incident involves using ChatGPT to test autonomous driving capabilities in a San Francisco parking lot.

Written for “Surveillance Technology Advancement” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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Fox News

⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this Hedges 2 of 18 claims Outlet record 70/100

“The articles discuss different topics and events unrelated to each other.”

Surveillance Company Tells Cops It Wants to Add Facial Recognition to Flock Cameras Different event

404 Media

⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this Hedges 6 of 60 claims Outlet record 95/100

“While both articles discuss a third-party company's willingness to add facial recognition to Flock cameras, Article B is more of an editorial commentary and summary rather than reporting on a specific incident.”

US regulator launches probe into AI companies Different event

Al Jazeera

⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 12 claims Outlet record 60/100

“Article A mentions investigating a company's decision to offer facial recognition services, while Article B discusses an FTC investigation into several major AI companies for rogue AI agents and potential risks. These describe different specific investigations.”

Police cameras aren’t just surveilling the road. Nobody can prove who’s watching Different event

Washington Examiner

Hedges 2 of 55 claims Outlet record 70/100

“The articles discuss different aspects of surveillance technology and Flock Safety, but do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

10%

1 of 10 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

Leans left

of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate

Publisher signals

95/100

404 Media's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Technology

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-29 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

404 Media · 174 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected

No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Jason Koebler

25 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

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2026-10-02 · assertive framing · Federal Judge Rules a Flock Search Was ‘Indiscriminate Mass Surveillance’ and Unconstitutional

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🔮 “We will not add facial recognition to our devices,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in a recent video.

2026-09-29 · assertive framing · Surveillance Finds a Way

🔮 As Flock continues to be the center of a nationwide conversation about automatic license plate reading cameras, the company has said that it doesn’t, and won’t, do facial recognition: “We will not add facial recognition to our devices,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in a recent video.

2026-09-29 · assertive framing · Surveillance Company Tells Cops It Wants to Add Facial Recognition to Flock Cameras

🔮 “You may,” the judge says.

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All 25 articles by Jason Koebler →

Topics

ChatGPT Flock Muse San Francisco VIDIZMO

Subjects

Flock ORG · 5× VIDIZMO ORG · 3× ChatGPT ORG · 1× FlockOS ORG · 1× Garrett Langley PERSON · 1× Johnson City GPE · 1× Michael Adams PERSON · 1× Muse ORG · 1× San Francisco GPE · 1× Tennessee GPE · 1×

Narrative

-Jason Surveillance Company Wants to Add Facial Recognition to Flock Cameras As Flock continues to be the center of a nationwide conversation about automatic license plate reading cameras, the company has said that it doesn’t, and won’t, do facial recognition:

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-29

🔮 “We will not add facial recognition to our devices,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in a recent video.

2026-09-29 · 404 Media

Surveillance Finds a Way · assertive framing

Claims (10 extracted, 1 hedged)

A thing I’ve been saying over and over is that surveillance companies can’t be trusted to regulate themselves or to make privacy decisions themselves, because one company’s red line is another company’s business opportunity. asserted

line → say → decisions

Today we’re investigating a company that saw Flock was not offering facial recognition and saw a challenge. asserted

Flock → investigate → challenge

Also: Some dudes are letting ChatGPT drive a car in a parking lot in San Francisco, a data center company promises to cut people big checks if their data center gets approved, and the Muse backlash has begun. asserted

backlash → let → checks

If you like this, subscribe here. asserted

you → like → this

it → want → recognition

“We will not add facial recognition to our devices,” Flock CEO Garrett Langley said in a recent video. asserted

Langley → add → video

But other, third-party companies are telling cops that they are willing to add facial recognition to data gathered by Flock cameras in order to “close that gap.” asserted

they → tell → gap

A company called VIDIZMO is advertising the capability to export footage from FlockOS to its own platforms that do facial recognition, behavior prediction, and racial and gender analysis on live camera feeds. asserted

that → call → feeds

VIDIZMO is a several decades-old video analysis and database company that has started offering facial recognition technology to cops within the last six months. asserted

that → start → months

In a May email to Johnson City, Tennessee, deputy police chief Michael Adams, a salesperson from VIDIZMO wrote that the company’s product could do facial recognition on both Flock and Axon data in “one searchable platform.” uncertain

product → write → platform