| Backlash to Flock cameras grows... |
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Welcome aboard. A Porter Airlines flight to Toronto was canceled last week because a young kid refused to sit down and secure their seatbelt before takeoff. The child and parent were eventually removed from the plane, but the process took so long that the runway closed for the night. That’s certainly one way to get grounded. —Molly Liebergall, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Adam Epstein In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:
- The growing backlash against Flock cameras
- Mark Zuckerberg’s AI manifesto
- Ozempic changing workplace etiquette
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- Markets: Stocks stumbled and oil prices rose yesterday as investors continued to wait to see if a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is on the horizon. Elsewhere, Archer Aviation popped after Boeing announced it was taking a stake in the company and folding its flying taxi business into it.
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SMILE! YOU’RE ON CAMERA Backlash to Flock cameras is now a bipartisan issue  Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photo: Adobe Stock |
Hordes of towns and cities are doing the opposite of flocking to a leading surveillance startup. Amid widespread concerns of privacy infringement and dozens of cases of police misuse, many communities have recently canceled their contracts with Flock Safety, a company with 120,000+ license plate readers installed across the US. What are Flock cameras? AI-equipped devices that can track vehicles from their license plate, make, model, color, and even bumper stickers. The cameras are used by thousands of law enforcement agencies across the US, plus some college campuses and homeowners associations. The International Association of Chiefs of Police called Flock’s type of technology a “crime-fighting star,” but critics see it as a panopticon ripe for warrantless abuse, based on several recent use cases:
- At least 50 police officers have been accused of misusing Flock’s cameras or similar systems, mostly to stalk women, the Washington Post reported last week.
- Though Flock says it doesn’t work with ICE, some police departments can grant access to immigration agencies. The Columbus, Ohio Flock system, for example, has fielded 15,000+ potential immigration-related searches since 2024, according to audit data that Flock now allows clients to share publicly.
- Cops recently used Flock to arrest a Wisconsin man for marijuana possession after tracking him to and from Michigan, where weed is legal, 404 Media reported.
United in flock skepticismVigilantes are reportedly disabling the cameras, and a grassroots group called DeFlock is mapping the devices’ locations. Apparently heeding concerns of mass surveillance, Amazon-owned Ring canceled its partnership with Flock in February. And more than 70 municipalities—from Los Anglees to small Virginia towns—have stopped working with Flock in recent months amid local outcry, according to the ACLU (though some areas have reportedly just switched to other license plate readers). It’s a rare moment of bipartisanship. As one Republican commissioner of a North Carolina county told Politico, “We had work boots and Subarus in our parking lot and they were united in their position against the Flock cameras.”—ML
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World Tour de headlines  Giovanny Galvez/Getty Images |
🇨🇴 Dozens dead after 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Colombia. At least 111 people have been killed and more are trapped under debris after the powerful quake hit western Colombia yesterday, local officials said. The earthquake struck about 250 miles west of the capital, Bogotá, and could also be felt in Ecuador and Panama. Authorities said there was damage to buildings across more than 20 municipalities. Per Colombia’s Geological Service, it was the most powerful earthquake in the country in a decade. It comes less than two months after more than 6,000 people died in a pair of earthquakes in Venezuela. 🍔 Trump admin proposes new restrictions on food ingredients. The Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new rule yesterday that would require food manufacturers to notify the FDA when they introduce new ingredients to their products. The proposal would close a loophole that food safety advocates have long complained about: For many years, companies could avoid regulatory review for new ingredients by asserting that they were “generally recognised as safe,” or GRAS. Though food policy experts applauded the proposal, some experts have cautioned that it’s unlikely to actually improve the healthiness of the US’ food supply, as companies would still be able to determine the safety of ingredients themselves. ⚽ Soccer confederations accuse FIFA of “deception” over investment scheme. Calls for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s ouster grew louder yesterday as UEFA, Concacaf, and the Asia Football Conference wrote an open letter alleging that FIFA and Infantino made a “profound failure in judgment” with their failed plan to allow private investors to buy a stake in the World Cup. “When an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned,” the letter said. Infantino was forced to scrap the plan after widespread backlash, including a threat by European nations to boycott upcoming World Cups. A number of soccer legends have also called for him to resign.—AE |
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OPEN AI, NOT OPENAI Zuck’s manifesto argues for decentralized AI  Picture Alliance/Getty Images |
Dating in San Francisco now involves getting an earful about Mark Zuckerberg’s 6,500-word manifesto on AI published yesterday. The Meta boss painted a rosy picture of the tech’s potential to improve lives by turbocharging scientific advances and empowering people. He also expanded on how he thinks AI should develop in a decentralized manner. AI for allZuckerberg argued that AI should align with individuals’ values, rather than those of AI labs, have strong privacy controls, and be widely available for free. He thinks that top AI labs shouldn’t single-handedly control AI development, arguing for open-source models that individual developers can modify:
- Zuck says these models broaden access to the best AI capabilities and are key to ensuring Silicon Valley can compete with popular Chinese open-source AI.
- He believes US labs should be able to use each other’s AI for model training, a process called distillation that Meta’s rivals and the US government oppose.
Some AI safety advocates say open-source models can be easier to exploit for malicious ends. Addressing widespread safety anxieties, Zuck also called for government oversight of AI models as they are being trained. And he announced Meta earmarked $1 billion to invest in communities near data centers. Big picture: Zuck’s essay comes as Meta races to keep up with models from OpenAI and Anthropic. Meta announced yesterday that it will develop open models that can run locally on laptops and will release an open version of its most powerful model, Muse Spark 1.2.—SK
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Fashionable bathroom humor There’s Fecal Matter all over the red carpet  Angela Weiss/Getty Images |
If you’ve seen a celebrity rocking a look for a movie premiere or awards show that’s a little more grotesque than usual, it’s probably from the poop label. Paris-based fashion house Matières Fécales—which translates to Fecal Matter—was once a project to critique the luxury fashion world. Now, it’s leading it. Designers Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran started the label in fashion school at LaSalle College in Canada, selling their early designs on Depop. They quickly gained a cult following, with pieces ranging from edgy to unsettling, like their $10,000 knee-high heeled boots meant to look like they are made from actual feet. The brand began attracting artists like Madonna and Lady Gaga, who commissioned looks. Last year, Matières Fécales was invited onto the official calendar for Paris Fashion Week for the first time. Now the brand is dressing mega celebrities. Zendaya donned a winged gown from Fecal for the Odyssey premiere; Demi Moore wore its puffy, pink, campy gown at Cannes; and model Gabbriette married musician Matty Healy in the label’s first bridal gown last month. But the true peak of high fashion? Kylie Jenner wore a Matières Fécales blazer in a Dunkin’ ad.—MM
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Matty’s work-life balance Stop being weird to your coworkers about weight  Niv Bavarsky |
On Tuesdays, the Brew’s Matty Merritt brings you the news you need to make life a little easier during your 9-5, 5-9, or OOO. Nothing has tested the boundaries of small talk in the office quite like GLP-1s. Despite interactive harassment trainings reminding people not to comment on their coworkers’ bodies during a lunch break, workers and HR professionals say that the proliferation of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is emboldening many to discuss their colleagues’ body changes. Employees told Business Insider that compliments about their weight loss—already uncomfortable and generally frowned upon—have quickly turned into invasive questions about GLP-1 use. GLP-1s are also making the bias toward thinner bodies in the workplace even more apparent: According to Harvard University economics professor Rebecca Diamond, unemployed women who take weight-loss drugs are 27% more likely to find a new job after 18 months.—MM |
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News What else is brewing |
- President Trump signed an executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccines, citing autism cases, despite science finding no link between the two.
- Intel announced it’s planning to offer $15 billion of common stock amid increasing demand for its AI computing power.
- Spotify added a feature that allows users to skip through some podcast ads, potentially disrupting the industry’s ad economy, Semafor reported.
- Lake Mead, the US’ largest reservoir by capacity, fell to a record low last week due to prolonged drought conditions and a low snowpack.
- Jeff Bezos is among a group nearing a deal to buy a one-third stake in Liverpool Football Club, Sky News reported.
- Harry Potter fans forced an undersea cable between the UK and Ireland to be rerouted after complaining that it desecrated the “grave” of Dobby the elf. You hear that, Dobby? You’re free.
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Brew Mini: Your sample clue of the day is “labyrinth features.” Rack your brain and play the Brew Mini here. Sports triviaThis has got to be one of the best Final Jeopardy clues of all time: “It’s a 2-minute penalty in the NHL, 15 yards in the NFL & no penalty in MLB if you’re Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter in 1970.” |
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