Atticus Garrison: Watching the Watchers
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Host Annika O'Melia sits down with Atticus Garrison — Blackhawk College librarian, digital literacy advocate, and returning friend of the show — for a close look at the 21 Flock Safety license plate reader cameras now watching the edges of our city and listening to the sounds of our city.
Atticus walks us through what these ALPR cameras actually do, how the Rock Island Police Department has worked to manage them responsibly, and why his deepest concerns lie not with our local department but with the vendor, Flock Safety, and the nationwide surveillance network it's building. From AI-powered "search by description" to person-tracking tools like Nova, from security failures to cross-jurisdictional access, it's a clear-eyed, fair-minded conversation about a technology quietly reshaping public life in Rock Island — and a reminder that the city's Flock contract is coming up for renewal.
📖 This episode's book recommendation: Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant.
📝 Read Atticus's full companion piece, "Always Watching: Flock Cameras in Rock Island," here: https://www.rockislandline.com/post/always-watching-flock-cameras-in-rock-island
🎵 Episode music: "Different Times" by Jett Everett, licensed via Epidemic Sound.
This episode description written with the support of Claude.