Researcher Who Oversaw Flock Surveillance Study Now Questions How It Was Done (404media.co) 12
samleecole writes: Last month, the surveillance company Flock Safety published a study and press release claiming that its automated license plate readers (ALPR) are "instrumental in solving 10 percent of reported crime in the U.S." The study was done by Flock employees, and given legitimacy with the "oversight" of two academic researchers whose names are also on the paper. Now, one of those researchers has told 404 Media that "I personally would have done things much differently" than the Flock researchers did.
The researcher, Johnny Nhan of Texas Christian University, said that he has pivoted future research on Flock because he found "the information that is collected by the police departments are too varied and incomplete for us to do any type of meaningful statistical analysis on them." Flock is one of the largest vendors of ALPR cameras and other surveillance technologies, and is partially responsible for the widespread proliferation of this technology. It markets its cameras to law enforcement, homeowners associations, property managers, schools, and businesses. It regularly publishes in-house case studies and white papers that it says shows Flock is instrumental in solving and reducing crime, then uses those studies to market its products.
The researcher, Johnny Nhan of Texas Christian University, said that he has pivoted future research on Flock because he found "the information that is collected by the police departments are too varied and incomplete for us to do any type of meaningful statistical analysis on them." Flock is one of the largest vendors of ALPR cameras and other surveillance technologies, and is partially responsible for the widespread proliferation of this technology. It markets its cameras to law enforcement, homeowners associations, property managers, schools, and businesses. It regularly publishes in-house case studies and white papers that it says shows Flock is instrumental in solving and reducing crime, then uses those studies to market its products.
A company published a study on itself (Score:1)
Seems legit, a company publishes a study that they were involved with the creation of and are the subject of that lifts it up and makes it look good. Sorry, this isn't a "study" it's an ad. Any company publishing any study about itself should have both the study and the company questioned. Who's going to believe it if Microsoft releases a study showing Windows as the most secure platform? How about Facebook releasing a study that they are strong privacy advocates.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Isn't this how the entire scientific paper/academic/post-doc research industry works? The money has to come from somewhere. Corporations fund academics, research, and science. It's corporations all the way down.
Not saying I like it, far from it.
So what is it? (Score:2)
"major concerns about it"
"has questions about it"
"Would have done it differently"
"has research for a future study"
One and two look to be modern journalism with it escalating for views what was actually said.
three is sour grapes
and four looks to the only thing that might happen, let him publish and then will see if it is actually "pivotal"
Re: (Score:2)
Alternatively, academic needs to publish, leading to #4. This gets him thinking about #3, which leads to #1 and #2, possibly with the help of motivated reasoning.
surveillance for sale (Score:2)
Flock those guys.
Re: (Score:2)
They sell cameras that HOAs and other such entities use to monitor the people coming and going in their neighbourhood. You can program it with the list of allowed license plates so it ignores them as they pass by, but unknown plates are captured.
They're basically like doorbell cameras except for vehicles.
Re: (Score:2)
Flock those guys. Fuck those guys too.
So ... (Score:2)
What are they surveilling?
A Flock of sheep or a Flock of birds?
Data should be made public... (Score:2)
If data is gathered about the public by the government then it seems fair to share that information with everyone too. Not just when prosecuting someone.
Let's talk reality (Score:2)
I believe the researcher when he says this.
In 1991-92, I was working on a project to collect data from the Lake Michigan Ozone Study, put it into a database and *magic occurs here* produce reports. We were getting data from over thirty different sources - agencies, companies. We told them the format the data should be sent to us in.
100% of them said "we don't have the budget for that. We'll just send the data to you in whatever format we have, from text files to dBase to Lotus 123, right?"
I wrote the d/b lo
Are You Flocking Kidding Me? (Score:1)