User:Louis/Flock Group cease-and-desist to the Saturday Salon
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A cease-and-desist letter dated July 3, 2026 that presented itself as a demand from Flock Group Inc. (doing business as Flock Safety) ordering The Saturday Salon, a lecture series in Newport Beach, California, to stop hosting events about surveillance technology is a forgery. Flock did not send it. The company's Chief Strategy Officer, Rahul Sidhu, said the letter was made up with a forged signature, and its Chief Legal Officer, Dan Haley, said it did not come from him or from anyone at Flock.[1][2] The Verge examined the letter and confirmed it is fake.[1]
An earlier version of this page analyzed the letter as if it were a genuine legal threat. That analysis was wrong: it rested on a document that no news outlet had verified, and the letter turned out to be fabricated. This page now records what the letter actually was.
Marks of forgery
[edit | edit source]The letter is signed "Dan Haley, Head of Legal Affairs Division." Flock's Dan Haley holds the title Chief Legal Officer, and Flock has no "Legal Affairs Division."[1][3] The return email on the letterhead is at flockgroup.com, while Flock Safety operates from the domain flocksafety.com.[4] The Verge emailed the address printed on the letter and received a bounceback.[1]
Flock's response
[edit | edit source]Rahul Sidhu, Flock's Chief Strategy Officer, said the letter was fabricated:
Flock never sent this letter, these people made it up (with a forged signature) to try to manipulate people.[1]
He added that Flock is "pro-democracy" and that "People SHOULD have discussions and lectures like this."[1]
Chief Legal Officer Dan Haley gave a written statement to The Verge:
We're aware of at least two forged letters circulating on the internet, including this one, that purport to be cease-and-desist letters from our legal department. To be clear: these letters did not come from me or from anyone at Flock. Flock welcomes and encourages public debate about our technology. We have not and would not seek to discourage, prevent, or prohibit such discussion and debate.[1]
How it spread
[edit | edit source]The Saturday Salon posted an image of the letter on Instagram with the caption "WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED," and the post drew more than 3,000 likes.[1] A member of the group, Schuyler Lifschultz, told The Verge the group "found this letter taped to our front door."[1] The letter also spread on Bluesky, where one post about it drew more than 360 reposts.[1]
Benn Jordan, a musician and technologist who has documented real security failures in Flock's cameras, shared the letter before it was debunked, then retracted it:
Saturday Salon forged a cease and desist letter and shared it on their official profile. They put themselves and others in legal jeopardy and handed Flock a win by making critical press seem hyperbolic. I apologize for not fully vetting this, as Flock had sent frivolous letters in the past.[5]
Journalist Christopher Ingraham identified the letter as "a fake viral marketing bit by this 'Saturday Salon' group" and noted that the same group "also posted a much more obviously fake cease and desist from Palantir a few months ago."[6][7]
More than one forged letter
[edit | edit source]Haley said Flock was aware of at least two forged letters.[1] The Verge described a second fake that identified the company as "Flock Cameras and Flock incorporated [sic]" and used the word "persecute" in place of "prosecute"; it was shared by the musician Noah Orion on Instagram.[1] Writing about that second letter, Sidhu said:
Another fake cease and desist letter that Flock did not send. This one isn't even signed. The grammar is terrible, so lazy. The mass disinformation campaign continues.[2]
A genuine Flock cease-and-desist for contrast
[edit | edit source]Flock has sent real cease-and-desist letters. In early 2025 it sent one to the DeFlock.me mapping project, a document that came from an outside law firm, cited specific laws, and ran with exhibits.[8][9] The Electronic Frontier Foundation represented DeFlock's creator and rejected that demand as protected by the First Amendment.[10] The forged Saturday Salon letter, by contrast, cited no law, came from no firm, and carried a title its purported author does not hold.
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Jay Peters (2026-07-11). "No, Flock isn't threatening people for debating surveillance". The Verge. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rahul Sidhu (2026-07-11). "Statement by Rahul Sidhu, Chief Strategy Officer of Flock Safety, on X". X. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ "Dan Haley Joins Flock Safety as Chief Legal Officer to Help Communities Thrive Through Ethical Innovation". Flock Safety. 2025-07-16. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ "Flock Safety". Flock Safety. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ Benn Jordan (2026-07-11). "Post by Benn Jordan on Bluesky". Bluesky. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ Christopher Ingraham (2026-07-10). "Post by Christopher Ingraham on Bluesky". Bluesky. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ Christopher Ingraham (2026-07-10). "Post by Christopher Ingraham on Bluesky". Bluesky. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ "Flock Safety C&D to DeFlock.me". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ Christopher Ingraham (2026-07-10). "Post by Christopher Ingraham on Bluesky". Bluesky. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
- ↑ Dave Maass and Cara Gagliano (2025-02-26). "Anti-Surveillance Mapmaker Refuses Flock Safety's Cease and Desist Demand". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2026-07-11.