The new problem with flock cameras

Our Take

WLOS News 13 is covering a story that should worry anyone who's been told Flock's ALPR network is locked down tight: hackers apparently pulled a camera off its perch, cracked it open, and handed what they found to journalists. We don't know yet exactly what data was exposed or how deep the breach went, but the mere fact that it's possible undercuts years of assurances from Flock and the police departments that lease these units that the system is secure, audited, and tightly controlled.

This matters because the entire case for blanket ALPR surveillance rests on trust — trust that the people scanning your plate thousands of times a year are the only ones with access to that record of your movements. When a camera bolted to a pole in a random town can be yanked down and reverse-engineered by outsiders, that trust evaporates. It also raises uncomfortable questions about vendor accountability: if hobbyists or hackers can expose vulnerabilities, what does that say about the protections against insider misuse, law enforcement overreach, or actual malicious actors who never go public?

Credit to WLOS News 13 for putting a spotlight on this. We'll be watching for more details as they surface. In the meantime, check our camera map to see what's watching you, and visit our take-action page if you want to push back on unchecked ALPR deployment in your community.