185. Get the Flock Out w/ Jessica Burbank
Summary
Hosts Greg Stoker and Mark Wayne interview journalist Jessica Burbank about Flock, a surveillance company securing local government contracts through opaque processes. They discuss how AI-driven monitoring, often tested in Palestine, enables mass data collection and wrongful arrests while evading public oversight. The episode highlights the "imperial boomerang" effect, where foreign military tech is repurposed for domestic control. Finally, they explore resistance strategies, emphasizing community withdrawal from corporate systems and direct political pressure to dismantle this emerging pol…
Topics discussed
Intro, sponsor reads, and podcast housekeeping
Introduction of guest Jessica Burbank joins to discuss Flock surveillance
What is Flock? How the surveillance company operates
Case study: Scarsdale Village's secret Flock contract
Privacy violations, misuse of data, and lack of oversight
AI fallibility, wrongful convictions, and legal challenges
How Flock bypasses democratic processes via sole-source contracts
The broader surveillance ecosystem: Palantir, Cognite, and competitors
Connecting surveillance to the pro-Palestine movement and resistance
Force multiplication, state control, and revolutionary theory
Community defense strategies and low-tech organizing
Tactical advice on deception, intelligence, and concluding thoughts
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