"Water Boarding A Camera In 2026" - Man Tortures Flock By Showing It 23,040 License Plates Per Second

A man "digitally waterboarded" a Flock camera by showing it a million license plate images in under a minute. TikTok user @calculator_playing demonstrated the torture technique in a social media post that's accrued over 3 million views on the popular app.

In the video, he shows off the controversial piece of surveillance equipment that is duct-taped to a chair. Before the device is a dual monitor set-up. One one screen is the control module that allows @Calculator_Playing to adjust the speed in which the images are presented.

The other monitor is where all of the plates are displayed in rapid order. At the onset of the clip, the TikToker explains his methodology.

"Subjecting my Flock camera to 23,040 license plates per second," and a devil emoji highlights the agony that awaits the device.

From the video's onset, @Calculator_Playing lets his feelings regarding Flock's surveillance tech known. He unequivocally states he's not a fan of them, as many others have already expressed online.

Next, he reveals that he has more than just two screens in his laboratory of digital pain.

"I am subjecting mine to six 4K monitors flashing 96 license plates, 240 times per second," he says as he pans his camera lens around to reveal there are even more plate set ups for the Flock camera to try and process.

"You want license plate data? Well you can get license plate data," he says maniacally. As he does so, countless pictures of car tags populate the screens in what looks like an effort to overload the camera's sensors.

There's no shortage of folks who applauded @Calculator_Playing's torment tactics. "This is lawful evil and you can't convince me otherwise," one wrote.

Someone else stated that they believe this technique will have major implications for town planning.

"Somewhere, a city is planning infrastructure improvements because their Flock data says they are getting 42 million more visitors than last year," they wrote.

Others speculated that this method could prove disastrous to Flock's databases.

"Y'all don't understand what he's doing to their server," they stated. However there were others who quickly soured this idea, writing that the Flock camera, more than likely, isn't hooked up to any of Flock's databases. "Nothing, because it's not connected to anything."

The aforementioned TikTok user sounds like he has a point. After all, @Calculator_Playing did write in a caption that the Flock camera displayed in his video "is probably the world's only individually legally owned Flock camera" out in the wild.

Flock's products are receiving a lot of hate — citizens across the US are vandalizing these pieces of tech. Largely because of the privacy concerns associated with them.

As local news outlet KCRA 3 writes, "Flock Safety makes surveillance camera systems that record and analyze everything that passes them."

The company has partnered with law enforcement and government agencies across the US. Additionally, these cameras aren't just used to record their surroundings, but their software's outfitted with license-plate reading tools that can be used to track the whereabouts of private citizens when they're out and about.

Due to the fact that Flock cameras are all connected to the same network, the company's software can track a person's movement across state lines. Let's say you're driving across country and your license plate number gets flagged by authorities for whatever reason.

Flock's software can determine where you were at any given time, that is, if you drove through an area with its cameras installed in it.

And there's a good chance there is: 49 US states have Flock cameras installed in some parts of the And according to the outlet, the private surveillance company has a bevy of units disseminated throughout America: around 120,000 with license plate analyzing tools installed on them to be exact.

KCRA went on to write that in response to widespread civilian outcry against the cameras, major cities have decided to stop installing them in their jurisdictions. Fort Collins, Colo., Eugene, Ore., Madison, Wis., Knoxville, Tenn., Syracuse, N.Y., and Walla Walla, Wash. are a few areas that will no longer employ the use of Flock cameras on its streets.

That's not to say all the news surrounding Flock Cameras is bad. Galt, Calif. police were able to locate a kidnapping suspect within 5 minutes thanks to the always-on, always-connected surveillance database alerting another law enforcement agency in the Golden State to the whereabouts of a vehicle associating with the crime.

In September 2026, Moody, Ala. police officers were able to find a missing 13-year-old who was abducted at a Circle K gas station. Flock Cameras assisted in rapidly finding the young girl. Cops were able to retrieve her, unharmed, even before an amber alert was issued.

This presents a moral quandary, the same one Bruce Wayne presents Lucius in The Dark Knight when he utilizes a massive surveillance network to locate The Joker and save Gotham City.

Should protection cost people their freedom?

The Constitution's Fourth Amendment protects individuals from "unreasonable search and seizure." Which begs the question: is Flock's ever-watchful network of digital eyes a violation of the Fourth Amendment?

No Federal Court has deemed it such as of yet, but there are plenty of people who are arguing that living in an area with Flock cameras is effectively residing in a Police State.

Although Flock's systems haven't been deemed as transgressing constitutional law, individual usage of its technology has been. Federal Judge Sara E. Hill ruled that a Tulsa County Deputy Sheriff abused his post by referring to Flock camera databases to track a woman headed towards California's border.

Police believed the woman in question, Melisa Kyle, was driving across state lines with the intention of selling methamphetamine. At first, the Deputy Sheriff said that he had pulled Kyle over due to suspicious driving, but it was revealed he used Flock cameras to nail down her location and pull her over.