No, Flock isn’t threatening people for debating surveillance

On Thursday, the Instagram relationship for a speech bid successful Newport Beach, CA posted a photograph of what appeared to beryllium a cease and desist missive from the surveillance exertion institution Flock Safety. Flock has received important backlash complete its exertion and activity pinch rule enforcement agencies, and this missive kicked disconnected yet different activity of disapproval against the institution for allegedly trying to unopen down discussions of its work.

“WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED,” the group, The Saturday Salon, wrote successful the Instagram post, which has much than 3,000 likes. A abstracted station astir the missive connected Bluesky has more than 360 reposts. The matter of the missive demands that the group extremity hosting conversations astir Flock’s surveillance technology. In a DM from The Saturday Salon’s Instagram account, Schuyler Lifschultz tells The Verge that it “found this missive taped to our beforehand door.”

But Flock denies that it sent the letter, pinch main strategy serviceman Rahul Sidhu citing it arsenic an illustration of a wide disinformation run against Flock. “Flock ne'er sent this letter, these group made it up (with a forged signature) to effort to manipulate people,” Sidhu says. “We are pro-democracy. People SHOULD person discussions and lectures for illustration this.”

In a connection to The Verge, Flock’s main ineligible officer, Dan Haley, says that Flock is alert of “at slightest 2 forged” letters and that “these letters did not travel from maine aliases from anyone astatine Flock.” Here is Haley’s afloat statement:

Looking intimately astatine the photograph of the missive successful The Saturday Salon’s station reveals immoderate dodgy details. Haley’s title successful the missive is “Head of Legal Affairs Division,” but his existent title is main ineligible officer. The Verge besides emailed Haley’s purported email reside connected the missive but received a bounceback.

Lifschultz tells The Verge that The Saturday Salon would “love to person personification from Flock travel successful and show their views and springiness a lecture. We are politically neutral and not a business.”

One of the different apparently forged letters Flock is alert of was shared successful an Instagram post from musician Noah Orion. On his website, Orion has a shop listing for “Fuck Flock” stickers, and the cease and desist missive successful the photograph says that Orion has engaged successful behaviour “involving the unauthorized dissemination” of ocular materials successful a measurement that encourages Orion’s fans to “claim and spot stickers that represent a rude and different mode towards our institution and association.”

This missive besides has immoderate different characteristics, specified arsenic identifying the institution arsenic Flock Cameras and Flock incorporated [sic]. The missive successful the photograph says that nonaccomplishment to comply pinch the purported cease and desist “may consequence successful Flock Group inc. [sic] to persecute you”, which is some an awkwardly worded building and incorrectly uses “persecute” alternatively of “prosecute.” Orion didn’t instantly reply to a petition for comment.