Flock Safety Says It's Not the One Sending Fake Cease-and-Desist Letters, Which Is Exactly What Someone Sending Fake Letters Would Say
Flock Safety says it didn't send a cease-and-desist letter to a lecture series, despite the letter being taped to their door and full of typos - because nothing says 'we love debate' like a forged legal threat.
On Thursday, the Instagram account for The Saturday Salon, a lecture series in Newport Beach, CA, posted a photo of what appeared to be a cease and desist letter from surveillance tech company Flock Safety. The letter, allegedly taped to the group's front door, demanded they stop hosting conversations about Flock's technology. The Instagram post, captioned “WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED,” racked up over 3,000 likes, while a Bluesky version got 360+ reposts. Schuyler Lifschultz of The Saturday Salon told The Verge they found the letter taped to their door.
But Flock says they didn't send it. Chief strategy officer Rahul Sidhu called it part of a “mass disinformation campaign,” claiming the letter is forged with a fake signature. “We are pro-democracy. People SHOULD have discussions and lectures like this,” Sidhu said. Chief legal officer Dan Haley confirmed Flock is aware of “at least two forged” letters and that “these letters did not come from me or from anyone at Flock.” Haley added that Flock welcomes public debate and would happily participate in any such discussions.
The letter's details are suspicious: Haley's title is listed as “Head of Legal Affairs Division,” not his actual title of chief legal officer. The Verge emailed the address on the letter and got a bounceback. Lifschultz said The Saturday Salon would “love to have somebody from Flock come in and tell their views and give a lecture.”
The other forged letter targeted musician Noah Orion, who sells “Fuck Flock” stickers. That letter claimed Orion encouraged fans to place stickers constituting “a rude and unusual manner towards our company.” It also referred to the company as “Flock Cameras and Flock incorporated [sic]” and threatened that noncompliance “may result in Flock Group inc. [sic] to persecute you” - a phrase that manages to be both grammatically awkward and legally incorrect (it's “prosecute,” not “persecute”). Orion didn't reply to a request for comment.
The Good Times
News in your inbox.
One sardonic roundup, delivered on your schedule. Free. Unsubscribe whenever your tolerance for wit runs out.
Already subscribed but we never reach your inbox? Check your spam folder and hit 'Not spam' (or 'Remove from spam') to bust us out of junk-mail purgatory. You'll be helping everyone else too.
Rewrite Article
Select parts to regenerate with a fresh AI pass. Translations will be updated automatically.
Generate AI Image
Creates a sardonic version of the article image using OpenAI.