Post by @conscious.app

If you thought Flock was bad, meet the streetlight surveillance camera that's harder to tear down. Axon makes Tasers, body cameras and surveillance cameras for police, and its new camera, Lightpost, attaches to existing streetlights and runs on their power. It reads plates across multiple lanes at highway speeds, day or night, logs details like make and color, and livestreams video to police, and that's just what Axon advertises on its own website. It also competes with Flock, whose cameras scan about 20 billion plates a month in 49 states, by Flock's own count. People have vandalized Flock cameras in at least 36 states, according to NPR. In an August webinar Axon later deleted, its CEO said Lightpost appeals to police because it sits higher and is harder to vandalize. Plate readers like these have been used by police officers to stalk exes and have led to innocent people being arrested, and many say they violate people's Fourth Amendment right against searches without a warrant. In February 2026, Axon bought Carbyne, which makes 911 call software for hundreds of emergency agencies, for $625 million. Forbes reported that Justice Department emails show Jeffrey Epstein put $1 million into Carbyne in 2015, through a deal arranged by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, who chaired the company. Carbyne's CEO says he didn't know, and that neither Barak nor Epstein's estate owns a stake today. In 2019, Axon backed away from facial recognition on body cameras over ethical concerns. In December 2025, police in Edmonton, Canada tested it on about 50 officers' body cameras, scanning faces against a watch list, and Axon calls it just early research. If you want to fight corporate power and see what companies are hiding, use the Conscious Spend app to see ethics ratings for almost any company, from food to clothing and even surveillance companies like Axon. That way, we can start taking control back from corporations.