They Don't Sell Your Data? - MYTH BUSTED
The short version: A Business Reform investigation finds Flock allegedly tried to sell a Wisconsin city its own ALPR data back, exposing the gap between 'we don't sell data' and what Flock's fine print actually permits.
Our Take
Flock Safety has built its brand on the promise that it doesn't sell customer data. Creator Business Reform digs into a case out of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where, per a FOX6 Milwaukee report, a Flock rep reportedly offered to sell the city five years of its own traffic-speed and vehicle-movement data — data the city says it never knew its own cameras were capturing. Sheboygan has since covered its 15 cameras and is moving to cancel its contract. That's not a hypothetical privacy concern; that's a municipality blindsided by its own surveillance vendor.
The real story here isn't just one bad sales pitch — it's the fine print. Business Reform walks through Flock's terms and conditions, which state that customer data belongs to the customer, immediately followed by language granting Flock broad, perpetual rights to use that same data. This is exactly the kind of contractual sleight of hand we've warned about: cities sign up for 'license plate reading' and end up hosting a company-wide data pipeline they never fully understood, let alone consented to in plain terms.
If a city as cautious as Sheboygan got caught flat-footed, it's worth asking what your own town council actually knows about its contract. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and head to take-action for tools to push your local officials to read the fine print before the next renewal.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Business Reform, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.