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

4 days ago (twitter.com)

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.

  • 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.

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.

  • 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!

  • 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 :)

  • 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...

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

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

  • 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.

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

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

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.

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

Hmmmm…

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.

  • 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)

    • 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 ...

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

    • 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.

    • 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.

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

  • 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.