Flock's license-plate cameras have quietly gone up in more than 6,000 municipalities around the country, and lately the backlash has gone from angry town halls to actual dismantling in the streets. That's the backdrop for the newest Macrodosing, which pulled in David Covucci — editor-in-chief of FOIAball, the outlet that's made a habit of FOIA-ing local police departments for exactly this kind of story — to walk through how the network actually works.
Macrodosing's promo clip teasing the new episode, stacking Flock cameras alongside segments on Tucker Carlson's nuclear weapons take and Jayden Daniels.
It's a loaded rundown. Flock alone is enough for a full episode — Covucci is the guy who broke the story that Aaron Rodgers reportedly helped bankroll ALPR-style cameras in his New Jersey town while publicly griping about his own privacy, which is the kind of contradiction that makes for great podcast material. Add in reporting elsewhere that ICE has been running thousands of lookups through local departments' Flock systems without a formal contract, and you've got a surveillance story with actual teeth, not just a tech-panic segment.
PFT Commenter's own post promoting the episode leaned into the pun instead of the paranoia, running a clip of an actual flock of sheep clogging a rural road as the visual.
A literal flock of sheep blocking traffic — the visual gag PFT Commenter used to plug the episode with Dante the Don and David Covucci.
Dante the Don, who co-hosted the sitdown, made clear afterward that Covucci wasn't just a guest filling airtime. "Could have listened to @DavidCovucci talk for hours," he wrote, adding that the guy simply knows the subject cold. For a topic this dense — hotlists, data retention windows, which departments have already pulled the plug on their contracts — having someone who's actually filed the records requests instead of just reading headlines about them is the difference between a real breakdown and a rant.
The bigger picture: this isn't a fringe complaint anymore. More than 20 jurisdictions reportedly canceled their Flock contracts in July alone, and states have started passing privacy laws specifically aimed at reining in license-plate readers. Macrodosing tackling it alongside its usual grab-bag of sports and internet chaos is a sign the surveillance-camera fight has fully crossed over into mainstream conversation — not just ACLU newsletters.