Flock Tries to Quell Surveillance Fears as Questions Pile Up
The company said the changes are meant to curb officer misuse after civil liberties groups and lawmakers raised privacy concerns over its 120,000-camera network.
- On Thursday, surveillance technology company Flock Safety announced platform changes intended to address privacy concerns and documented abuses of its system by law enforcement following months of pressure from civil liberties advocates and Congress.
- Reports of police officers using the camera network for unauthorized purposes, such as tracking romantic partners or family members, led to mounting scrutiny and canceled contracts in dozens of cities nationwide.
- New controls require agencies to implement Audit Assistance tool to flag abnormal search behavior and automatically lock out users, while shortening the recommended default data retention window from 30 days to seven.
- The American Civil Liberties Union called the retention changes 'a step in the right direction,' but critics labeled the reforms 'window dressing' that fails to address fundamental search problems.
- Litigation continues in courts over whether the surveillance network violates Fourth Amendment privacy protections, as experts argue that balancing effective crime-fighting technology with democratic privacy rights remains an unresolved tension in policing.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Flock Safety Decides To Implement A Few Changes After Months Of Negative Press
Flock Safety has spent a few years building a massive network of ALPR (automated license plate reader) cameras. Flock's cameras are a step ahead of competitors. They not only grab plate/location info, but they provide searchable tags/images that cover everything from car make/model to specific vehicle features. These photos also include images of the drivers…
What Flock’s defenders are missing
This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Flock, the police-tech giant known for its network of some 120,000 automatic license plate readers around the US, announced some changes to its platform last Thursday. The updates are meant to prevent…
Flock announces changes amid backlash over its license plate reader network - WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Flock Safety, the surveillance technology company increasingly under scrutiny from lawmakers from both parties, civil liberties advocates and citizens across the U.S., announced...
Flock tries to quell surveillance fears as questions pile up
Flock Safety is facing a growing backlash across the country from communities and civil liberties advocates concerned over the surveillance technology company’s network of AI-powered license plate readers. Amid a wave of privacy lawsuits and terminated contracts, Flock announced changes to its privacy and data retention policies Thursday in an attempt to quell concerns around mass surveillance and misuse...
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