Some local governments have caved and are cutting deals with Flock now though, so it’s all bad.
YC and HN are at the center of it. It’s their company.
Flock were part of the YC Summer 2017 batch: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety
"YC funded Flock" is a more accurate representation.
https://www.ycombinator.com/companies lists 6,202 funded companies now. I'm sure anyone on HN could find at least a few there that they fundamentally disagree with.
I get that Flock is now a pretty obnoxious company but it's hard to attribute that to YC.
The point is, even VC's should have some moral standards, and should not make pursuing profit more important than supporting mass surveillance (in violation of one of America's most important founding principles).
(I personally am not a flan of Flock, and I've been worrying about the privacy impact of automated license plate readers for years: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43073385#43073939 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45996860#45997278)
(EDIT: and even when they don't, they own a major % of the company; that doesn't give them control, but it absolutely gives them a say in its future.)
In your scenario, the funders would be directly responsible (along with other investors) for growing the company in that direction ... again, for their own personal profit.
They also don't own anything close to a controlling stake.
Which year did they take part in HN?
I dislike flock too but bring receipts.
Source?