tech
Flock cameras are everywhere. Here's how they track cars.
Flock Safety's license plate readers are raising privacy concerns and igniting a surveillance debate. Here's what you need to know.
TL;DR
- Flock cameras are automated license plate readers (ALPRs) made by Flock Safety, deployed in thousands of communities across the US.
- The cameras capture vehicle details, including license plate, color, make, and model, creating searchable information useful for law enforcement.
- Law enforcement agencies use Flock cameras to track vehicles and locate crime suspects, with the ability to search across tens of thousands of cameras nationwide.
- Privacy concerns have led dozens of communities to cancel or suspend contracts, citing potential misuse and data sharing with federal immigration officials.
- Flock Safety asserts that their cameras do not use facial recognition, customers control data access, and vehicle records are automatically deleted after 30 days by default.
- The company, founded in 2017 by Garrett Langley, has deployed approximately 120,000 cameras across 49 states and operates on a subscription model.
- Critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argue that Flock cameras constitute mass surveillance because they photograph every passing vehicle.
- Concerns exist about misreads by the cameras leading to innocent individuals being stopped or detained, and potential misuse for surveillance of personal activities or First Amendment-protected events.
- Flock does not publish a public map of all camera locations, but projects like DeFlock and local government records can help identify them.
- Privacy and civil-liberties groups argue that networked cameras collectively create detailed, searchable records of movements, despite Flock's claims about fixed, point-in-time observations.