Free tattoo for Flock camera joke goes terribly wrong
Man gets arrested, but wouldn’t say no to a Flock-inspired tattoo.
A Flock surveillance camera in the parking lot of a Lowes store. By Bloomberg/Getty Images
- A Michigan tattoo artist jokingly offered free tattoos to people who tore down Flock cameras.
- The viral post drew about 2 million views and more than half a million likes.
- Some users sent him proof they had vandalized cameras, and one claimed they were arrested.
- Flock Safety faces growing protests over its license plate readers and surveillance technology.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
A tattoo artist went viral for asking users for vandalized Flock cameras in exchange for free tattoos. He was shocked to learn that people were taking his joke very seriously.
Steven Jean (buzz_ironside on Instagram), the owner of The Alien Bodyshop, a modification studio in Michigan, posted an advertisement promising a free tattoo to anyone willing to tear down a Flock camera.
Roughly two million people have seen the post. The ad received over half a million likes and nearly 2,500 comments.
What started as satire meant to poke fun at Flock surveillance spiraled into something Jean couldn’t control.
Some of those two million users took the post seriously, sending Jean proof that they’d vandalized Flock cameras, the tattoo artist told CBS News.
The ad was never meant to encourage people to vandalize, remove, or damage the cameras, Jean said, particularly as tearing down private property can have serious legal consequences.
One person contacted Jean and told him that they’d supposedly been arrested.
The person told Jean he should get a free tattoo for his efforts and was even open to one inspired by Flock cameras.
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The American public has taken a strong dislike to Flock Safety, the private, for-profit company responsible for license plate readers and other surveillance tech.
Across the country, people have been accused of tearing down cameras and even setting fire to them.
Flock camera vandalism has become such a widespread issue that police put up a 3D-printed camera as bait and arrested one man who was charged with three felonies.
As certain members of the public engage in violence, other Americans have taken a pacifistic approach to protest.
One Florida man protested Flock by blocking cameras with signs, and another man used his 3D printer to blind Flock cameras without damaging them.
But that hasn’t quelled the hatred towards Flock surveillance, as netizens announced a Halloween-night purge of Flock cameras.
