If You’re Worried About Flock Cameras in Montana, Throw Out Your iPhone

Before you send me an email or actually throw your phone out, hear me out. This isn't me "supporting" Flock cameras or being okay with it, of course I'm not.

But I do like to think I see things pretty black and white. If anything, it's my hope that this opinion will actually help some chill out a bit and think before we freak out more than we should.

The keyword here is "should."

Flock Cameras: They're Wrong

Right off the bat, let's establish that many of us agree, myself included, that a private company putting up cameras to collect our data and "track" us is wrong.

These cameras have fancy technology like facial recognition and can even scan your license plate.

Not cool, right?

Why I Don't Have A Problem With Flock Cameras

You probably already know where this is going just from the headline alone. But newsflash:

Your cell phone and social media accounts are already tracking you.

If you have an iPhone or Android, I can tell you right now that you're being tracked and far more in-depth than what a Flock camera is capable of.

ALSO READ: Sheriff Slaughter Talks About the Legality of Flock Cameras in Montana

Where do I even begin? You've got the face scan lock feature, older models used to have THUMBPRINT scans, you've got all of the messages you send (and shouldn't be sending) sitting in a server somewhere, the government can ping your phone and track you, etc etc.

And did I mention most phones have pretty good microphone quality and you almost always have your phone on you. How many times have you talked about something like bedsheets with your spouse only to start seeing ads for bedsheets just moments later on social media?

How do you think they did that? You didn't even search for it yet.

You do your shopping there, you search the web, and by the way - looking at content in "private" or "incognito" mode? Yup, it's being tracked. According to multiple sources, all it takes is a subpoena and poof - everything you've ever searched in "private" can be pulled up by authorities.

Get our free mobile app

Oh yeah, there's also cell phone towers pinging your location as long as your phone is on.

According to court documents and Proton, in one privacy case, Apple lawyers said: "Given Apple’s extensive privacy disclosures, no reasonable user would expect that their actions in Apple’s apps would be private from Apple."

People Volunteer Their Private Information Every Day

Then there's social media! I talked briefly about ads popping up on your feed once you mention them but also think about how much people share on social media.

People voicing their anger and frustration about Flock cameras capturing our data without consent are the same people volunteering their persoal lives on Facebook. By the way, by sharing your photos with Meta, you're giving them a royalty-free license to your photos and those images live on their data servers.

Not to mention the fact that your photos can be shared by anyone who can view them.

Are We Still Worried About Flock Cameras?

Now maybe you've gotten this far and you're thinking "that's not the same thing."

READ MORE: President Trump Says Communities Are "Begging" For AI Data Centers... Should Montana Get On Board?

That's fine, you're allowed to have your concerns but why not be consistent everywhere? If you're that concerned about being tracked then maybe go down the list of which things you use daily that are tracking you... and get rid of them, right?

I could be wrong and that would be okay but...

Isn't it a bit hypocritical to criticize Flock cameras tracking you as you comment on Facebook using your iPhone?