EFF: Cops Searched 19,000 Flock Cameras for 'LMAO' #Shorts
The short version: A GenZ Tech short flags EFF's finding that officers ran a nationwide Flock search on 19,000 cameras just to type 'LMAO,' exposing how loose these audit trails really are.
Our Take
Credit to GenZ Tech for surfacing this one, and to EFF for digging it up in the first place: a search query logged simply as "LMAO" that pinged 19,000 Flock cameras across the country. That's not a hunt for a stolen car or an Amber Alert. That's someone treating a mass-surveillance network like a search bar, because apparently nothing stops them from doing so.
This is the part Flock's marketing never mentions. The company sells local police departments on the idea of a neighborhood safety tool, but the backend lets any participating agency query a nationwide lattice of plate-reader data with a few keystrokes. When the required "reason for search" field can be filled with a joke and still return results, the audit log isn't oversight — it's theater. Multiply one "LMAO" by the thousands of queries running through this system every day, and you start to see how thin the guardrails really are.
If your town has signed onto this network, your plate is part of the dataset these searches touch, whether the officer typing has a real case or just a bad sense of humor. Check our camera map to see what's watching near you, and hit up our take-action page for ways to push your local council on accountability before the next "LMAO" query runs through your license plate.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of GENZ TECH, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.