Even a billionaire cannot escape the impending backlash Herd safety.
Chris Larsen, the crypto billionaire and Co-founder of Ripple who helped fund the expansion of surveillance tools in San Francisco to tackle crime, said he is facing criticism at home over his support of the technology. In an episode of the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast published Monday, Larsen said his 19-year-old son called him.
“He always gives me a hard time. ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this kind of surveillance? What are you doing?'” Larsen said his son asked him.
When Larsen responds that surveillance has helped reduce crime in San Francisco, he says his son isn’t backing down.
“I’d rather have the crime than the surveillance,” his son said, according to Larsen.
The pushback comes as opposition to surveillance cameras — specifically the automated license plate readers used by law enforcement — continues to grow, with much of it focused on Flock, an Atlanta-based company whose products are used in thousands of communities across the US.
In addition to privacy concerns, critics point to cases in which Flock’s technology misidentified license plates or was used by police officers for nefarious means, such as tracking down an ex. A Business Insider investigation found that there were a dozen cases where someone who had not committed a crime was wrongly targeted police use Flock.
Flock has said its technology is a crucial public safety tool that has helped law enforcement agencies across the US. The company also announced last month that it was tightening safeguards for privacy and liability in response to the counter-reaction.
A growing ‘DeFlock movement’
Larsen donated $9.4 million to the San Francisco Police Department in 2025 to support the Real-Time Investigations Center, a technology and surveillance center that uses automated license plate readers, drones, cameras and real-time video feeds to help respond to crimes. In announcing the donation, Larsen said it would help police gain additional technological tools to reduce crime, specifically mentioning Flock.
The city of San Francisco has said technology, including drones and Flock’s automated license plate readers, has helped tackle car burglaries. Between fiscal years 2023 and 2025, the number of reported thefts from vehicles dropped 79%, reaching the lowest level since 2017, officials said.
Larsen has previously faced public backlash for his support of the technology. A group of protesters gathered outside his home last month as part of a wave of national demonstrations calling on cities to cut ties with Flock.
“We are here for one very specific reason: to look at the man who feels entitled to watch us all,” one protester said in a speech. video of the protest.
In the interview with Swisher, Larsen said that one to two years ago there was much more support for tools like Flock cameras, but now there is enormous opposition from the ‘DeFlock movement’.
Jurisdictions have already begun banning or reducing the use of Flock cameras. The Florida Department of Transportation ordered the removal last month automated license plate readers from state highways, while cities like Denver and Tempe, Arizona, have turned off their Flock cameras.
Larsen praised San Francisco’s use of drones for being “incident-based,” or used only when there is a report or ongoing situation, rather than actively patrolling the streets. He suggested the city might reconsider how long it keeps the data collected by Flock, which he said is currently a year. Flock’s current standard is to store data for seven days.
“This is going to be the topic of the day,” Larsen said of using tools like Flock to tackle crime. “It’s a trade-off between public safety and privacy, and just not being able to be seen. Where is that line?”
