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

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llorecore about 4 hours ago 31 commentsRead Article on twitter.com

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Discussion (31 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

DrJokepu•about 1 hour 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.

water-data-dude•about 2 hours 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•about 2 hours 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•about 3 hours 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•about 3 hours 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•about 3 hours ago

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

b3lvedere•29 minutes 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 :)

everdrive•22 minutes ago

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

NewJazz•about 3 hours 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...

frollogaston•about 3 hours ago

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

ascorbic•about 2 hours ago

So does Street View

frollogaston•about 2 hours 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•about 3 hours ago

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

jasonriddle•about 2 hours ago

https://twitterwebviewer.com/?tweet=2092993787605717176

higginsniggins•about 3 hours ago

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

…

Hmmmm…

frollogaston•about 2 hours ago

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

atmavatar•about 2 hours ago

I'm not so sure about that.

See: https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/14/flock-condor-...

    However, what Jordan found was a free-for-all, with less security than even what a standard Netflix account would require to watch a show. Not only could he access the live footage, but he could also review the video archives and even delete the recordings if desired.

There's also https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2025-59407

    The Flock Safety DetectionProcessing com.flocksafety.android.objects application 6.35.33 for Android (installed on Falcon and Sparrow License Plate Readers and Bravo Edge AI Compute Devices) bundles a Java Keystore (flock_rye.bks) along with its hardcoded password (flockhibiki17) in its code. The keystore contains a private key.

But that's hardly the only one. For a fuller picture, you may be interested in https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/search?keyword=flock&resultType=re...

kayfox•9 minutes ago

> flockhibiki17

I guess we now know what someone at Flock likes in their whiskey glass.

frollogaston•about 2 hours ago

So who's at this intersection right now? https://maps.app.goo.gl/nQauinrTH3aYStk57

dessimus•about 3 hours ago

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

xvxvx•about 3 hours ago

Tells you all you need to know about Flock.

Freedom2•about 2 hours 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.

deepc4life•about 4 hours 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•about 2 hours 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•about 1 hour 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 ...

frollogaston•about 2 hours ago

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

lorecore•about 4 hours ago

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

jordanb•about 3 hours 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•about 4 hours 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.

thrownaway561•about 3 hours ago

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

Micrococonut•about 2 hours ago

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

newspaper1•about 2 hours 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.