Flock CEO Garrett Langley is avoiding the public. Last week, as individuals testified to Flock’s flaws in front of the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, Langley stayed home. He sent a letter in his stead.
But a group of ignited internet users believes the CEO, who runs an $8 billion surveillance technology company advertised as a security solution, should be put on display — and perhaps given a metaphorical swirly.
Using a previously circulated address that reportedly belonged to Langley and was shared online in an effort to doxx the CEO, a new group of anti-Flock users allegedly labeled his home as a public toilet. The reported listing is still unverified.
Others called on each other to share Langley’s personal information en masse, including the unconfirmed address, to show what “endless surveillance for no good reason feels like.”
“This internet backlash against the Flock CEO hiding his own house while selling surveillance to everyone else is honestly poetic justice. why do tech executives think privacy rules only apply to them,” wrote one user on X.
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People on social media also noticed images of the address on Google Maps’ Street View had been blurred from public view. A privacy feature offered at a homeowner’s request, many found the anonymity ironic and began circulating unverified images of the home in response.
“Shame if he gets egged and TP’d on halloween,” wrote a different X prankster.
In response to the purported doxxing, a recent thread on the r/AskConservatives subreddit asked, “Does the Flock CEO deserve privacy?”
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Flock is now synonymous with a nationwide surveillance apparatus enabled by the proliferation of Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), used by law enforcement to document, profile, and track drivers regardless of their participation in actual crimes. The anti-ALPR movement has grown exponentially in the last year, culminating in a new bipartisan effort to cancel Flock contracts, regulate their use, or even ban them outright.
Legislators are largely responding to an online movement that has united communities to force Flock out of their towns, often turning to public protest and guerilla tactics to physically remove Flock devices. Over the weekend, for example, the DeFlock America Facebook group — an online gathering place for surveillance opponents — reached a milestone of more than 820,000 members.
