Heres where flock of controversial Big Brother surveillance cameras are in NYC

What the Flock?Controversial Flock surveillance cameras are nowhere to be found in New York City, but a flock of online users is still squawking about similar “Big Brother” tech on the street.A growing nationwide backlash against Flock hit the Big Apple after a recent New York Times report highlighted DeFlock — an app that maps automated license plate readers from the company and other vendors.Reddit users scoured the app and discovered that Big Apple’s streets are dotted with scores of license plate readers, although not from Flock, used by several government entities.“There are no Flock cameras in New York City,” a user noted.What the app instead revealed was the city’s vast network of license plate readers maintained by the city Department of Transportation, MTA and, most controversially, NYPD.After the 9/11 terror attacks, the NYPD steadily built out a massive citywide surveillance network — first with private-sector security cameras, then with license plate readers.The department’s expanded Domain Awareness System, described by the NYPD as the “largest networks of cameras, license plate readers, and radiological sensors in the world,” rolled out to every police precinct in 2013.But the use of license plate readers drew concerns from New York Civil Liberties Union advocates, who argued more than a decade ago that the cameras come with significant privacy risks.“With data over a longer period, with more license plate readers, and more sophisticated analytical tools, automatic license plate readers can tell an intimate story about an innocent New Yorker,” a report from the group stated.Those decade-old concerns have only expanded in New York and nationwide with the proliferation of Flock.“Every day, the NYPD funnels license plate reader data into the Domain Awareness System, making New Yorkers’ locations — like where you work, your doctor’s office, or house of worship — trackable and searchable for a mind-boggling five years,”...