What does it take to become the most successful AI surveillance company in 2025? If you’re anything like Flock, the startup selling automatic license plate readers and facial recognition tech to cops, you don’t really need much AI at all — just an army of sweatshop workers in the global south.
Category: Security Failures
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Springfield Police to cover, remove Flock license plate cameras after security concerns – NBC16
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — The Springfield Police Department said Friday it will cover all Flock automatic license plate recognition cameras in the city in the coming days as it prepares to remove them.
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The Technical and Ethical Failure of Mass Surveillance in Lynnwood – Lynnwood Times
As someone who takes privacy and the 4th Amendment seriously, I have grave misgivings about the surveillance contract Lynnwood has with Flock. In what LPD claims was a misconfiguration, they exposed this surveillance database to outside agencies, which used it for immigration-related searches. This is contrary to explicit promises made to the Lynnwood City Council. As a Systems Engineer, I find this excuse highly concerning. A ‘checkbox error’ that violates state law and civil rights isn’t a glitch; it’s a failure of governance and architecture.
Read all about it here. -
Wyden, Krishnamoorthi Urge FTC to Investigate Surveillance Tech Company on Negligently Handling Americans’ Personal Data – Senator Ron Wyden
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., today called for a federal investigation into surveillance technology company Flock Safety, for failing to implement cybersecurity protections and needlessly exposing Americans’ personal data to theft by hackers, foreign spies, and criminals.
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US lawmakers call for FTC probe into Flock Safety over data security failures – Biometric Update
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi are urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Flock Safety, saying the fast-growing surveillance technology company has failed to implement basic cybersecurity protections and exposing sensitive data to hackers, foreign intelligence services, and criminal networks.