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July 13, 2026: Dystopia roundup, police edition

Automotive journalist Joel Feder reports how he was suddenly swarmed by armed cops while test driving a Range Rover with his wife in Minnesota. The police used four squad cars to box him in in a coordinated maneuver; when he demanded an explanation, the officers said that they had been tracking him for days using Flock’s AI-integrated cameras, which had tagged his car as stolen — erroneously, as it turned out.

. . . One officer presented photos taken by the cameras in the Flock app showing his SUV, plate number 34 10 DTM, confirming they had the right car — at least according to Flock.

But when Feder got Jaguar Land Rover on the phone, the automaker said that the reported plate number was 34 03 DTM, not 34 10 DTM. . . . This apparently drove Flock’s AI tech haywire.

• Footage Shows Cop Stalking Woman He Met on a TV Set After Surveilling Her With a License Plate Reader (by Jason Koebler in 404 Media, July 6, 2026)

• ALPR Abuse Library: “A publicly maintained, editorially reviewed index of news articles documenting abuses, misuses, and civil liberties concerns related to Automated License Plate Readers — with a focus on Flock Safety deployments.”

• Former Officer Explains Why He Was Forced Out (June 27, 2026): former cop Noel Pichardo on Flock surveillance cameras in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and why he claims he was fired for speaking out.

• deflock.org - doing great work tracking Flock (as mentioned by Noel Pichardo)

• Suffolk man accused of damaging Flock cameras said they’re ‘unconstitutional’ (WAVY in Portsmouth, VA, June 27, 2026; see also summary from Futurism):

A man charged with damaging more than a dozen Flock safety cameras last year told an investigator that the devices were “unconstitutional and a violation of his and others’ Fourth Amendment rights.”

The comments were revealed during a detective’s testimony as part of a preliminary hearing Friday morning in Suffolk District Court.

Jeffrey Sovern, 41, faces 13 counts of destruction of property, six counts of petit larceny and six counts of possession of burglary tools for what happened between April and October of last year in North Suffolk, according to charging documents.

• LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire, citing ‘serious concerns’ over civil liberties and privacy (TechCrunch, July 13, 2026)

• Council votes to terminate Flock Safety contract (Bandera (Texas) Bulletin, May 13, 2026), as mentioned in 404 Media (May 20, 2026) by past guest Jason Koebler:

The Bandera Declaration of Digital Independence
[by councilmember Jeff Flowers]

To the Citizens of Bandera:

For months, I have listened to the outcry regarding License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology. I have seen the eyerolls, and I’ve even been met with "Nazi rhetoric", the dangerous claim that believing in accountability and community safety is somehow equivalent to totalitarianism. Comparing a neighbor’s desire for a safe street to a dark chapter of history is a classic case of comparing apples to oranges; it is a distraction used to avoid the reality of the threats our town faces today.

. . . Since the Council has decided we are the "Free State of Bandera", a place where the 'rights' of a car thief or human trafficker to remain anonymous apparently outweigh the right of a resident to protect their property and the safety of their family, then we must go all the way.

To ensure our historic County Seat becomes the most "traditional" sanctuary in Texas, I have requested the following for the next City Council agenda:

• A Modest Proposal for Digital Device Prohibition: A total ban on all cellular and GPS-capable devices for all operations within city limits. If we are to be truly "private," we must leave our smartphones at the city line.

• A Modest Proposal for Total Surveillance Abolition (Residential & Commercial): A total ban on all outward-facing cameras, including residential doorbells and all commercial CCTV or security camera technology. If municipal safety cameras are "invasive," then no business or homeowner should be allowed to "monitor" the public. We will remove every lens in town.

• A Modest Proposal for Total Municipal and Commercial Decommissioning: A total termination of all internet services and electronic record-keeping. We are going back to 1880, paper ledgers and cash only.

. . . A History Lesson: In the 1880s, privacy in this County Seat was non-existent. When a stranger rode into Bandera, the Marshal gave them an interview, not "space." The livery stable registered their horse’s brand, and the merchants watched their every move. Anonymity was for outlaws; accountability was for citizens. . . .

Let’s take Bandera back to 1880 properly. No double standards, no hypocrisy. If LPRs are "unconstitutional" and invade our right to "public" privacy, we need to be courageous enough to go all the way. I look forward to the "Privacy First" crowd showing up to support these bans….just remember to leave your phones at home.

• [Google] Waymo car delivers misbehaving teen passengers to San Mateo police (Bay Area News Group, July 7, 2026):

[Two] 15-year-olds allegedly were drinking alcohol and shooting water beads from a toy gun as they rode in the driverless car . . . Waymo stopped the car in a parking lot and notified the police, who detained the teens.

. . . Waymo cars have interior cameras, and the images can be monitored by the company’s employees. In “more urgent circumstances,” the support team “may access live video during a trip,” Waymo’s support page says.

• Feds demand autonomous vehicle companies stop interfering with first responders (TechCrunch, July 8, 2026):

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator Jonathan Morrison issued a directive Wednesday to autonomous vehicle (AV) developers, stating that it is unacceptable for their vehicles to interfere with first responders or law enforcement.

Morrison noted in the letter that the agency has “identified a clear pattern of driverless AVs interfering with law enforcement and other first responders,” citing instances in which these vehicles drove into active emergency scenes, blocked the paths of ambulances and firefighters, or failed to recognize and respond to basic safety conditions like flashing lights, flares, smoke, fire, and traffic cones.

. . . In at least six incidents identified by TechCrunch through March of this year, first responders had to take control of Waymo vehicles and move them out of traffic during emergency situations.

. . . “Every second matters when law enforcement officers, firefighters, or paramedics are answering a call because lives are on the line,” the letter states. “That is why human drivers who impede these operations are subject to fines and even jail time.”

• CEO Reveals How He Used AI To Build One-Person Company That's $1.3 Billion In Debt (The Onion, July 9, 2026)

• From More Perfect Union (July 8, 2026):

In a hearing where residents grilled officials on data centers, a resident of Tyrone Township, Michigan, asked a simple question: Have you signed an NDA with any party regarding developments that could affect the town?

The majority of the township's officials refused to answer.

• [Facebook] Meta Patents AI Device That Tracks Your Emotions, Watches You Take Your Meds (404 Media, July 8, 2026), concerning a patent application from Facebook/Meta:

According to the filing, [Facebook] Meta needs to know when a user laughs or sighs, where they are physically, and what objects they’re surrounded by. It would even like to know when you’ve taken your meds. “The AI assistant may listen to a user(s) at predefined times to hear various types of communication, such as sighs, laughter, and/or the tone(s) of a voice(s),” the patent said. “The AI assistant may use these inputs to quantify the user’s emotional state or generate other insights about the user […] in another example, the AI assistant may take multiple inputs in in addition to audio inputs (e.g., of a user’s voice) to provide a summary of emotional trends based on various inputs (e.g., a happier emotional state associated with a particular time of day or at a time when medication is taken, etc.).”

See above (top of this page) for an image from the patent filing.

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