Flock CEO gets his house blurred out on Google Maps and Zillow

(twitter.com)

151 points | by lorecore 15 hours ago ago

46 comments

  • gertburger 5 minutes ago ago

    Link is dead now

    > This Post violated the X Rules

  • DrJokepu 12 hours ago ago

    There’s something wrong with that guy. Quite apart from the gross privacy violation issues. Most of us didn’t even know what Flock was before the Superbowl and now there is this massive public controversy around it, and every time he opens his mouth he makes it worse. The board needs to replace him ASAP.

    • roosterIllusi0n 11 hours ago ago

      Most companies are controlled by CEOs that are on the board and pay themselves a boatload of free stock. The CEOs make sure their exit requires paying them to leave.

  • water-data-dude 13 hours ago ago

    I feel like setting up cameras pointed at the houses of influential people with public web feeds might help push some privacy reform.

    • frollogaston 13 hours ago ago

      Or make all the Flock feeds public. Presently I have to assume all of these can and will be hacked by someone, or abused at a mass scale, so better not put them anywhere that could be a problem.

  • darrylb42 15 hours ago ago

    I don't really understand how blurring out a house adds privacy. Looking around my neighborhood on Google street view I sometimes find houses that are blurred, now that otherwise normal looking house is now suspicious. Because I am physically close I can just look at the house if I wanted to. Someone "special" lives there.

    • schiffern 14 hours ago ago

      I'm confused. If he has nothing to hide he has nothing to fear, right?

      Seems like some Good Samaritan should set up a mobile pole camera (or twelve) outside his house 24/7. Rest easy, it's all being done for his own safety!

      • jordanb 14 hours ago ago

        The guy gives me unhinged stalker vibes whenever he does an interview.

    • b3lvedere 12 hours ago ago

      It does enhance curiosity. As an experiment i once requested Google Street view to blur my previous home. It really stands out being the only blurred house in the entire area. And i can’t undo it either :)

    • NewJazz 14 hours ago ago

      now that otherwise normal looking house is now suspicious

      Mysterious? Yes. Suspicious? I wouldn't think that. Plenty of houses in my neighborhood are blurred. I don't think much about it. And yes, I can just walk over and look. But I'm their neighbor. Not someone megameters away...

    • everdrive 12 hours ago ago

      "Hey, this house between 101 Main st. and 105 st. is blurred, how will we ever find it?"

    • frollogaston 14 hours ago ago

      You only know what the front of the house looks like.

      • ascorbic 14 hours ago ago

        So does Street View

        • frollogaston 14 hours ago ago

          Oh, turns out you can't blur the satellite images. Then yeah idk how this helps.

          Edit: Well maybe you aren't a target to begin with, but mass scanning can make you one. Like if you park some expensive car out front and someone far away checks all houses with expensive cars. It's a bit far-fetched, but there also aren't that many reasons not to blur your house unless the concern is they only target blurred houses.

  • bastawhiz 14 hours ago ago

    Didn't this man just go on record saying the public needs to "compromise" on privacy?

    • nxm 10 hours ago ago

      public already does on multiple levels - it's just to what extent

  • higginsniggins 14 hours ago ago

    Flock ceo attempts to stop people using online photo system from stocking him…

    Hmmmm…

    • frollogaston 14 hours ago ago

      Those images aren't publicly viewable like Google Maps, at least not easily.

    • dessimus 14 hours ago ago

      I mean, I wouldn't want to be boiled into a soup or stew either.

  • xvxvx 15 hours ago ago

    Tells you all you need to know about Flock.

  • Freedom2 13 hours ago ago

    As someone who may or may not have a Flock (YC 2017) watching me as I type this, I'm glad that it exists. I can now feel "Flock Safe and Secure™", knowing that the compromise I've made has been worth it.

  • jasonriddle 13 hours ago ago
  • Borborygymus 11 hours ago ago

    I guess they must be doing something wrong.

  • deepc4life 15 hours ago ago

    I'd hope he did! I hope all of you do to. This isn't information you want so easily publicly available. It's a pretty easy request.

    • cheese_van 14 hours ago ago

      It is an easy request. When the announcement blurring was made available, I made the request just to see if it they would do it - and they did!

      Now, if anyone in the neighborhood asks me, "Why is your house blurred?" I reply, "Why are you asking? Is anyone asking questions about me? What did they look like?" (well, that's what I plan on replying if anyone asks)

      • everybodyknows 13 hours ago ago

        It's easy? How please do we get Zillow to do that?

        Zillow publishes, right now, interior shots of my house -- put up years ago for a sale listing. I have claimed the place as mine, but Zillow won't let me take them down.

        Zillow allowed inserting new photos in the list, so I did: dozens of big wildlife photos. Considered a raging fire scene, or maybe a crack den, but then of course I might some day want to sell ...

    • undefined 14 hours ago ago
      [deleted]
    • frollogaston 13 hours ago ago

      Yeah seeing this article was the reminder I needed to blur mine rn.

    • lorecore 15 hours ago ago

      And yet there’s no way to get yourself blurred in Flock videos.

      • jordanb 14 hours ago ago

        The first key feature of the Panopticon is that the guards can observe the inmate at all times and he can't hide.

        The second key feature is that the inmate can't observe the guards. He can't know who they are and can't even know if they're paying attention to him or not.

      • uberman 15 hours ago ago

        Yes, an here in lies the hypocrisy of our times where tech titans can have their information removed from public data sources (anyone remember the guy tracking Musk's plane?) while amassing staggering quantities of data about everyone else. Then have the gall to call for a "compromise" on their collection and selling of this data and our privacy.

      • deepc4life 10 hours ago ago

        for now I guess we just need to wear blue man group outfits....

  • undefined 14 hours ago ago
    [deleted]
  • spl757 10 hours ago ago

    What a futile and stupid idea.

  • josefritzishere 11 hours ago ago

    Privacy for me but not for thee

  • marksully 11 hours ago ago

    remember Barbra Streisand?

  • metalman 11 hours ago ago

    hope the rest of this guys life rhymes with "blurred out"

  • thrownaway561 14 hours ago ago

    People are so childish nowadays. The fact that things escalate to the point.

    • Micrococonut 14 hours ago ago

      Indeed. This mass surveillance should have been stopped long ago.

    • newspaper1 14 hours ago ago

      The Flock CEO just this week told the US public that it needs to "compromise" on their right to privacy. I'm glad things are escalating, we need every single one of these cameras taken down.