you can also do the exact same thing with any other HikVision camera too

Most people that install security cameras don't directly connect them to the internet like this. A company that's installing them at scale should be aware of this.

using default credentials

Modern Hikvision and Dahua cameras don't have a default password. They require you to set a strong password during initial setup.

In general, a lot of electronics have moved away from generic default passwords, as many jurisdictions ban them now. Any modern device should either require you to set the password during initial setup, or have a randomly-generated password printed on a sticker under the device.

The device you found was either a very old one, or one where the owner intentionally set a basic password.

There's a huge difference between someone putting a webcam on their house for personal security and an AI driven face tracking camera that purposefully records every person that wanders into its field of vision being setup in a public park and on every street corner in the country.

The author does know - I guarantee it. The author wasn't claiming that this is an unique issue to Flock cameras, but rather that the folks behind the Flock cameras are negligent and creating an unsafe environment (among orher things)

This is a video about Flock cameras, it shouldn't be surprising that they didn't talk about some other brand.

Are HikVision cameras being used to surveil people on a level never before seen in this country? Serious question, I truly don't know..

It's all well and good to prove someone wrong, and it seems you've done this with only one of his arguments but only partially. It seems a safe argument that security ought to be default for something that gets placed anywhere and everywhere. He should never have been able to make that video due to the high quality of the security of the devices.

This is a much wider issue. So many people leave the default password on devices. I once installed an automatic gate with a pushbutton keypad at an airport and they wanted me to leave the default password of 0000 because it was easy to remember. I argued with them for 10 min, but they had the programming instructions and the airport manager straight up told me he'd just do it himself after I left, so I imagine that's what happened because he seemed pretty thick and didn't think that was an issue at all.