6 ms·

Flock Offers Employees Buyouts as Customers Flee

96 points by ent101 9d ago

0x737368 9d ago
I wonder if something similar will happen to Palantir et al.
- black_13 8d ago
  [dead]
Barbing 9d ago
Flock seeks to shed whistleblowers via financially-motivated self selection > And we just want people to be safe. We’d all be safer if we were in jail (sorry to give the clown ideas)
- akokanka 9d ago
  Been to America the other week on IT conference honestly felt like I was in prison since the moment I landed my boots on your soil
  - Varelion 9d ago
    A disturbing amount of people so not recognize the fact. An even higher percentage willingly supports their own disenfranchisement.
    - ElProlactin 9d ago
      It's amazing what easy access to meat, processed food and Walmart does to your brain.
      - ParentiSoundSys 8d ago
        It's the phones and the propaganda being streamed through them 24/7. And if your reaction is, "the rest of the Western world has that too," well, they're really not all that far behind us.
      - cyanydeez 8d ago
        AI is now the digital Walmart. It's basically proposing to do exactly what mom & pop found out, except everywhere on the internet.
  - hyperlinerapp 8d ago
    What made you feel that way?
    - piva00 8d ago
      For me (not OP) a clear example I can give from a collage of my past three visits: arrive at JFK, get in the immigration queue, heavily armed agents walking around, some ICE agents looking tough surrounding the area, someone is directing the queue like we are cattle. Get to the immigration officer, answer questions, get a cold stare a few times looking at me and my passport, unpleasantly asked why do I have two passports (I'm a dual citizen), told I don't look Swedish (of course, I'm naturalised), get told to wait, they leave to get someone else to check something, two immigration officers start shuffling my passport, wait while no one talks to me or acknowledge I'm there, passport stamped and I get told to "move". Get my bags, and out of the terminal, on the walk through the terminal there's another 15-20 officers with rifles strutting around, get out of the terminal and there are two massive armoured cars from NYPD parked up front, more cops looking a bit tough. It's an overwhelming presence of "security" everywhere, signs plastered with messages about how illegal stuff will be punished (littering, leaving your bags unattended, smoking, every message seems to say something about "under penalty of the law"). I think if you live with that all the time it's easy to filter out the noise but there's an eery feeling of oppression all around, like a boot is just waiting the right moment to stomp on you.
      - SubmarineClub 8d ago
        Maybe Sweden is different from every other country I’ve visited in Europe…but having traveled quite extensively in the EU, most countries I’ve been to don’t feel much different than the US. Very immigration officer I’ve ever interacted with has been chilly, it’s not some uniquely American thing. Pretty much every rail station I went through in Europe had extremely (to my eyes) heavily armed guards standing around. I was also asked to present my passport on several occasions. At one Italian station, it happed twice within a few minutes. I’ve been on multiple trains where some flavor of police comes on, checks people’s papers, and then grab some guy and escort him off at the next stop.
  - joinHNtheysaid 8d ago
    [dead]
  - pseudohadamard 8d ago
    Interesting you should say that, friend of mine transited through the US recently (overnight stay before a connecting flight) after having not been there for some years and described the experience as "very unnerving". Since she was messaging from inside the US she didn't want to say any more, but I'm expecting a more detailed report once she lands at the other end.
- ahartmetz 8d ago
  > And we just want people to be safe. Heh. Real-world occurrence of Silicon Valley "We just want to make the world a better place" (also $billions, mainly that actually)
babelfish 9d ago
https://archive.is/9FuDK https://archive.is/9FuDK
redhale 8d ago
Oh nooooooo! /s I cannot believe how tone deaf this quote is. Mind boggling. Veep, torture nexus-level parody. > “Because you go on to X or you go on to Reddit and you go, why are people so mad at us when we've been doing the same thing for nine years?” Langley said. “And why are they so mad at us for things we don't do? And we just want people to be safe.” I find this story to be heartwarming. I hope the employees flee to companies with missions and products more worthy of their talents.
ParentiSoundSys 8d ago
It would be nice to think this will significantly hamper Flock and its goals and methods in any way, but it will probably just have the effect of selecting for the employees who are either true believers, or are desperate enough that they'll keep their heads down and get good work done just to keep their jobs. Sporadic vandalism, a handful of canceled contracts, some employee morale problems, all of this falls far short of the organized campaign of resistance that would be needed to roll back Flock at this point. Flock really should be the last nail in the coffin of Edward Snowden's libertarian take that mass surveillance can be fought only with individual action and technology rather than political movements.
1vuio0pswjnm7 8d ago
"Founded in 2017, Flock raised money at a valuation of more than $8 billion in a funding round that closed in April."
- FlockIsYC 8d ago
  [dead]
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 8d ago
  https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-safety-secures-major-funding https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-safety-secures-major-... https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety/jobs https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety/jobs https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/13/y-combinators-police-surveillance-darling-flock-safety-raises-275m-at-7-5b-valuation/ https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/13/y-combinators-police-surve... https://techfundingnews.com/275m-at-7-5-valuation-y-combinators-flock-safety-to-provide-a-public-safety-operating-system-that-eliminates-crime-eyeing-an-ipo/ https://techfundingnews.com/275m-at-7-5-valuation-y-combinat... https://www.ycdb.co/company/flock-safety https://www.ycdb.co/company/flock-safety https://www.linkedin.com/posts/y-combinator_flock-safety-has-just-raised-275-million-activity-7305973452862078977-a8dE https://www.linkedin.com/posts/y-combinator_flock-safety-has... https://www.inc.com/lisa-bonos/how-flock-became-the-most-controversial-startup-in-america/91386340 https://www.inc.com/lisa-bonos/how-flock-became-the-most-con...
noworriesnate 8d ago
Why are they doing this when they're hiring: https://www.workatastartup.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.workatastartup.com/companies/flock-safety
- floro 8d ago
  Over the last months I've gotten very familiar with the tech job market. Those job postings are ghost jobs. Companies usually keep a few generic jobs online continuously like "Fullstack developer" to fish for top candidates, but there is no actual position that needs to be filled.
  - steve-atx-7600 8d ago
    Or because required by law for some reasons including visa holders (assuming that’s still a thing in the US these days - fortunate not to have to know)?
    - floro 7d ago
      Yes its disgusting that companies rather hire cheap foreigners over qualified natives.
FlockisYC2 8d ago
[dead]
theturtle 8d ago
[dead]
steve-atx-7600 8d ago
My city right outside Austin scrapped it. Its even split between red and blue voters and support for abandoning flock was overwhelmingly in favor of abandoning. Makes me feel good to see others banding together for positive change in today’s political climate in the USA….even if the motivation comes from self interest (too used to “get your government hands off of my medicaid/care” deluded thinking).
- darksim905 8d ago
  It's weird to see that any towns even remotely close to Austin would support Flock at all in the first place.
joshstrange 6d ago
> “Because you go on to X or you go on to Reddit and you go, why are people so mad at us when we've been doing the same thing for nine years?” Langley said. “And why are they so mad at us for things we don't do? And we just want people to be safe.” I can't believe this is being said with a straight face. "We've been dumping chemicals in this river for a decade, why are people getting so mad about it now (when they are finally finding out more about it)?". Completely absurd. Couple that with "we just want people to be safe", sorry but ignoring the abuses of the system (which they tacitly allow due to lack of safeguards) is not acceptable.

96 points by ent101 9d ago

0x737368 9d ago

I wonder if something similar will happen to Palantir et al.

black_13 8d ago
[dead]

Barbing 9d ago

Flock seeks to shed whistleblowers via financially-motivated self selection > And we just want people to be safe. We’d all be safer if we were in jail (sorry to give the clown ideas)

akokanka 9d ago
Been to America the other week on IT conference honestly felt like I was in prison since the moment I landed my boots on your soil
- Varelion 9d ago
  A disturbing amount of people so not recognize the fact. An even higher percentage willingly supports their own disenfranchisement.
  - ElProlactin 9d ago
    It's amazing what easy access to meat, processed food and Walmart does to your brain.
    - ParentiSoundSys 8d ago
      It's the phones and the propaganda being streamed through them 24/7. And if your reaction is, "the rest of the Western world has that too," well, they're really not all that far behind us.
    - cyanydeez 8d ago
      AI is now the digital Walmart. It's basically proposing to do exactly what mom & pop found out, except everywhere on the internet.
- hyperlinerapp 8d ago
  What made you feel that way?
  - piva00 8d ago
    For me (not OP) a clear example I can give from a collage of my past three visits: arrive at JFK, get in the immigration queue, heavily armed agents walking around, some ICE agents looking tough surrounding the area, someone is directing the queue like we are cattle. Get to the immigration officer, answer questions, get a cold stare a few times looking at me and my passport, unpleasantly asked why do I have two passports (I'm a dual citizen), told I don't look Swedish (of course, I'm naturalised), get told to wait, they leave to get someone else to check something, two immigration officers start shuffling my passport, wait while no one talks to me or acknowledge I'm there, passport stamped and I get told to "move". Get my bags, and out of the terminal, on the walk through the terminal there's another 15-20 officers with rifles strutting around, get out of the terminal and there are two massive armoured cars from NYPD parked up front, more cops looking a bit tough. It's an overwhelming presence of "security" everywhere, signs plastered with messages about how illegal stuff will be punished (littering, leaving your bags unattended, smoking, every message seems to say something about "under penalty of the law"). I think if you live with that all the time it's easy to filter out the noise but there's an eery feeling of oppression all around, like a boot is just waiting the right moment to stomp on you.
    - SubmarineClub 8d ago
      Maybe Sweden is different from every other country I’ve visited in Europe…but having traveled quite extensively in the EU, most countries I’ve been to don’t feel much different than the US. Very immigration officer I’ve ever interacted with has been chilly, it’s not some uniquely American thing. Pretty much every rail station I went through in Europe had extremely (to my eyes) heavily armed guards standing around. I was also asked to present my passport on several occasions. At one Italian station, it happed twice within a few minutes. I’ve been on multiple trains where some flavor of police comes on, checks people’s papers, and then grab some guy and escort him off at the next stop.
- joinHNtheysaid 8d ago
  [dead]
- pseudohadamard 8d ago
  Interesting you should say that, friend of mine transited through the US recently (overnight stay before a connecting flight) after having not been there for some years and described the experience as "very unnerving". Since she was messaging from inside the US she didn't want to say any more, but I'm expecting a more detailed report once she lands at the other end.
ahartmetz 8d ago
> And we just want people to be safe. Heh. Real-world occurrence of Silicon Valley "We just want to make the world a better place" (also $billions, mainly that actually)

babelfish 9d ago

https://archive.is/9FuDK https://archive.is/9FuDK

redhale 8d ago

Oh nooooooo! /s I cannot believe how tone deaf this quote is. Mind boggling. Veep, torture nexus-level parody. > “Because you go on to X or you go on to Reddit and you go, why are people so mad at us when we've been doing the same thing for nine years?” Langley said. “And why are they so mad at us for things we don't do? And we just want people to be safe.” I find this story to be heartwarming. I hope the employees flee to companies with missions and products more worthy of their talents.

ParentiSoundSys 8d ago

It would be nice to think this will significantly hamper Flock and its goals and methods in any way, but it will probably just have the effect of selecting for the employees who are either true believers, or are desperate enough that they'll keep their heads down and get good work done just to keep their jobs. Sporadic vandalism, a handful of canceled contracts, some employee morale problems, all of this falls far short of the organized campaign of resistance that would be needed to roll back Flock at this point. Flock really should be the last nail in the coffin of Edward Snowden's libertarian take that mass surveillance can be fought only with individual action and technology rather than political movements.

1vuio0pswjnm7 8d ago

"Founded in 2017, Flock raised money at a valuation of more than $8 billion in a funding round that closed in April."

FlockIsYC 8d ago
[dead]
1vuio0pswjnm7 8d ago
https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-safety-secures-major-funding https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-safety-secures-major-... https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety/jobs https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety/jobs https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/13/y-combinators-police-surveillance-darling-flock-safety-raises-275m-at-7-5b-valuation/ https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/13/y-combinators-police-surve... https://techfundingnews.com/275m-at-7-5-valuation-y-combinators-flock-safety-to-provide-a-public-safety-operating-system-that-eliminates-crime-eyeing-an-ipo/ https://techfundingnews.com/275m-at-7-5-valuation-y-combinat... https://www.ycdb.co/company/flock-safety https://www.ycdb.co/company/flock-safety https://www.linkedin.com/posts/y-combinator_flock-safety-has-just-raised-275-million-activity-7305973452862078977-a8dE https://www.linkedin.com/posts/y-combinator_flock-safety-has... https://www.inc.com/lisa-bonos/how-flock-became-the-most-controversial-startup-in-america/91386340 https://www.inc.com/lisa-bonos/how-flock-became-the-most-con...

noworriesnate 8d ago

Why are they doing this when they're hiring: https://www.workatastartup.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.workatastartup.com/companies/flock-safety

floro 8d ago
Over the last months I've gotten very familiar with the tech job market. Those job postings are ghost jobs. Companies usually keep a few generic jobs online continuously like "Fullstack developer" to fish for top candidates, but there is no actual position that needs to be filled.
- steve-atx-7600 8d ago
  Or because required by law for some reasons including visa holders (assuming that’s still a thing in the US these days - fortunate not to have to know)?
  - floro 7d ago
    Yes its disgusting that companies rather hire cheap foreigners over qualified natives.

FlockisYC2 8d ago

[dead]

theturtle 8d ago

[dead]

steve-atx-7600 8d ago

My city right outside Austin scrapped it. Its even split between red and blue voters and support for abandoning flock was overwhelmingly in favor of abandoning. Makes me feel good to see others banding together for positive change in today’s political climate in the USA….even if the motivation comes from self interest (too used to “get your government hands off of my medicaid/care” deluded thinking).

darksim905 8d ago
It's weird to see that any towns even remotely close to Austin would support Flock at all in the first place.

joshstrange 6d ago

> “Because you go on to X or you go on to Reddit and you go, why are people so mad at us when we've been doing the same thing for nine years?” Langley said. “And why are they so mad at us for things we don't do? And we just want people to be safe.” I can't believe this is being said with a straight face. "We've been dumping chemicals in this river for a decade, why are people getting so mad about it now (when they are finally finding out more about it)?". Completely absurd. Couple that with "we just want people to be safe", sorry but ignoring the abuses of the system (which they tacitly allow due to lack of safeguards) is not acceptable.