Flock tightens license plate reader rules amid surveillance backlash

Flock, the police-technology company behind a nationwide network of 120,000 automated license plate readers, is tightening access controls following a surge of criticism over surveillance abuse. Starting now, officers must input a criminal case number before conducting any search on the system, a safeguard that was optional last year. The company is also making its automatic auditing tool mandatory, which flags officers whose search patterns appear suspicious to administrators. These moves come after a Washington Post investigation found 46 cases of officers accused of using Flock cameras for unauthorized purposes, including stalking romantic partners. In addition, Flock is now recommending that agencies retain license plate data for seven days instead of 30, though departments can overrule the recommendation. It also lets agencies restrict searches of their camera data by other departments to specific authorized reasons, such as kidnapping inquiries rather than immigration enforcement.

The changes are an attempt to counter a growing backlash that has stretched from civil liberties groups like the ACLU to conservative commentators such as Tucker Carlson, who called the technology part of a 'slave state.' Per NPR, at least 30 cities have dropped Flock contracts in the past year, with the activist group DeFlock estimating a higher number, while some states have banned automatic license plate readers entirely. Critics point out that the new safeguards can be circumvented: the ACLU found officers entering generic reasons like 'investigation' or typing 'hehehe' 20 times. Flock CEO Garrett Langley attributes customer losses to misinformation about facial recognition and data selling, though the ACLU and others have accused the company of misleading city councils. As Chad Marlow of the ACLU puts it, the core tension is whether catching criminals justifies eviscerating Americans' privacy by letting officers investigate people without probable cause. Flock, meanwhile, says cancellations represent a small fraction of its 5,000 contracting agencies.