Flock Safety CEO Apologizes Over Misuse of Its Technology
The short version: RedLightNews reports Flock Safety's CEO apologized for misuse of its ALPR network, but an apology doesn't undo the surveillance infrastructure already blanketing our streets.
Our Take
Credit to RedLightNews for flagging this one: when the CEO of a surveillance company has to publicly apologize for how his own product is being used, that's not a minor PR hiccup — it's an admission that the guardrails everyone promised are thinner than advertised. Flock has spent years selling city councils on the idea that these cameras are just for finding stolen cars and hit-and-run suspects. "Misuse" stories are what happen when a nationwide license-plate database gets treated like the general-purpose tracking tool it actually is.
An apology is easy. It doesn't claw back the months or years of location data already logged, it doesn't un-train the officers or contractors who ran searches they shouldn't have, and it does nothing to change the fact that thousands of these cameras keep recording every plate that passes, regardless of who's watching the dashboard on any given day. Contrition after the fact isn't accountability — it's damage control, and it only surfaces because the misuse got caught, not because the system was designed to prevent it.
This is exactly why we keep building out the map — because the only real check on this technology is people knowing where it's watching them. If your town has Flock cameras and you want to push back before the next "misuse" story breaks, start with take action.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of RedLightNews, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.