From TechRadar · · 1m 20s
Flock cameras abused by cops with zero consequences
Police search millions of surveillance photos with joke justifications, while the system faces hacking and public backlash.
In brief
Police search millions of surveillance photos with joke justifications, while the system faces hacking and public backlash. Flock's minimal oversight allows officers to abuse the system with impunity, and the company's weak security has already exposed millions of images to hackers. Originally reported by TechRadar.
Flock cameras spread across US
The Flock automated license plate reader network now includes 82,413 cameras nationwide and requires no warrant to search, allowing police to track almost any vehicle.
Cops search with bogus justifications
An Electronic Frontier Foundation investigation found police searching over 19,000 cameras with justifications like "LMAO", "idiot", and "robbery I don't remember the case number leave me alone".
“"Police are routinely searching the Flock database without providing any legitimate justification, making a mockery of our civil liberties."”
Minimal oversight allows abuse
The reason box is one of the only oversights on the system, yet officers who provided spurious justifications were merely "counseled" rather than disciplined.
Hackers breached single camera
Hackers stole an encryption key from a Flock camera and extracted over 27,000 video clips and 1.6 million images captured over just 21 days from that one device.
Public opposition grows nationwide
Almost half of Americans oppose Flock installations, with Columbus, Ohio pausing its network and Florida and Texas cutting back on use.
Pentagon contractor refuses mass surveillance
AI company Anthropic had its Pentagon contracts dropped after refusing to allow unrestricted access to its models for mass domestic surveillance purposes.
The big picture
Flock's minimal oversight allows officers to abuse the system with impunity, and the company's weak security has already exposed millions of images to hackers.
