Flock and Cyble Inc. Weaponize "Cybercrime" Takedowns to Silence Critics

(haveibeenflocked.com)

145 points | by _a9 2 hours ago

9 comments

  • softwaredoug 0 minutes ago
    My city just ended our pilot Flock program. I hope others do the same.

    But I think the real issue with Flock will be private security. Random Home Depot parking lots, etc.

    https://www.29news.com/2025/12/17/charlottesville-ends-flock...

  • greyface- 56 minutes ago
    If Flock truly believed that the domain name infringes on their trademark, they would file an ICANN UDRP complaint instead of Cloudflare and Hetzner abuse reports.

    But they don't, because the former would require them to perjure themselves, and the latter just requires them to lie to a hosting company.

    • CalChris 27 minutes ago
      I wonder if Flock and Cyble can be sued for fraud. There are five elements to a fraud:

        Misrepresentation of Fact
        Knowledge of Falsity
        Intent to Induce Reliance 
        Justifiable Reliance 
        Resulting Damages
  • _a9 2 hours ago
    Part 2: Flock and Cyble Inc. Continue to File False Notices

    https://haveibeenflocked.com/news/cyble-part2

  • defrost 1 hour ago
    Related: Flock Said It Does Not Use Dark Web Data. Code Analysis Tells a Different Story - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46341674
  • cosmicgadget 20 minutes ago
    > With the new Divinity game in the works, I decided to do a run as Gale in BG3.

    I don't support this decision but I respect it.

    Curious what the Cloudflare HNers have to say about this debacle.

  • citizenkeen 33 minutes ago
    Is this not libel?
    • dawnerd 2 minutes ago
      Problem is they have way more money to fight and that’s basically their whole playbook. I was caught up in a fraudulent libel claim that had to settle* back in the Twitter days. When those companies want to come after you, it’s really hard to fight back.

      * no money was exchanged just some guarantees to not disclose their client and remove tweets.

  • therobots927 1 hour ago
    Absolutely unacceptable behavior. Wild that Americans are so distracted by pointless social issues that they haven’t even realized the ruling elite are treating them like cattle. Absolutely pathetic.
    • westmeal 1 hour ago
      The pointless social issues are manufactured specifically in order to distract Americans from the fact they are being treated like cattle.
      • chii 14 minutes ago
        > are manufactured specifically

        the fact that these majority do accept the distraction points to lack of intelligence and discipline in critical thinking and future planning. The populous has half the blame - not just those who do these manufacturing of distractions.

      • anjel 36 minutes ago
        Cattle is as Cattle does
      • ares623 45 minutes ago
        And they/we absolutely love the distraction
        • therobots927 30 minutes ago
          Because our educational system has been dismantled
    • voidfunc 8 minutes ago
      America is huge and there's a lot of exceptionally stupid people especially in the South and Midwest.

      Not much I can do about that over here in the coastal Northeast.

    • JumpCrisscross 30 minutes ago
      > Wild that Americans are so distracted

      There is a tonne of civic action against Flock, specifically, in the works, in many cases with successful results.

  • CamperBob2 1 hour ago
    This is a Y Combinator company? https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety

    dang/tomhow, does Y Combinator have a code of ethics that comes into play when one of your funding recipients does something unethical and/or illegal like this?

    • mmooss 2 minutes ago
      Are dang and tomhow involved at all in YC member ethics? I expect they know about ethical behavior on HN.
    • avaer 1 hour ago
      One long-standing code is that they moderate YC companies less on HN, allowing criticisms like yours to stand: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34320816

      To HN's credit I haven't seen this rule violated.

      For example I wouldn't have known it was a YC company if not for your comment.

    • edm0nd 1 hour ago
      yeah their code of ethics is to laugh all the way to the bank and be untouchable. nothing will happen to them from YC.
    • sergiotapia 28 minutes ago
      So these are the scumbags putting cameras in front of schools and sending tickets to people on Sundays. Thank you for making peoples lives materially WORSE.
      • sneak 23 minutes ago
        Speeding tickets are not related in any way to why Flock (YC S17)* is bad.

        * how I will now always refer to them

  • tamimio 1 hour ago
    Remember when Zuck called his fellow students at harvard who used facebook “Dumb fucks”? The US is accelerating into techno-authoritarianism, and all of these tech companies adopted “companies over countries” motto since the start, it’s not a surprise now.
    • bongodongobob 14 minutes ago
      In the sense that the US has been anti-intellectualist for decades, I'm kind of ok with it. All the kids who fucked around in school and picked on the nerds for just existing are kind of getting their comeuppance. It's definitely cut off your nose to spite your face type shit, but does give me a little bit of joy. "You stuffed me in a locker and destroyed my social life because I read a book at lunch. I'm going to automate your job away and help billionaires make sure you'll never rise out of poverty."
      • CamperBob2 0 minutes ago
        All the kids who fucked around in school and picked on the nerds for just existing are running the government. Not sure this is the win you're painting it as?
      • Terr_ 4 minutes ago
        [delayed]
    • sneak 36 minutes ago
      it’s important to contextualize that quote: he called them dumbfucks specifically because they trusted him with their data.
      • tamimio 2 minutes ago
        The context is given, it’s all about users’ data. facebook, google, plantir, flock, you name it, the end goal is to harvest data as much as possible to sell it, profile the individuals, manipulate the public opinion (facebook did a mood-manipulation “experiment” back in 2012, you can only imagine now in the era of social media dependency and AI), invade people’s privacy, among many other things. Now add to that mix a mandatory digital ID, and let’s hear what these CEOs will call the public behind closed doors, I’m sure it’s worse than “dumb fucks”. Fun fact: Zuck early days business card printed with “I’M THE CEO, BITCH.”
      • Aeglaecia 30 minutes ago
        it is fairly evident that contextualisation is paramount in objectively assessing a situation ... in the context of having god like power over billions , it seems entirely moot to debate the merits of why such a god like individual would label his subjects as idiots ...