Flock cameras - ALL the data they collect
The short version: A coder's breakdown of Flock's data collection is a useful reminder: these cameras read far more than plates, and almost none of us consented to it.
Our Take
Credit to Matt Upham for digging into the technical guts of what Flock Safety cameras actually capture. When someone with a coding background sits down and walks through the data points — not the marketing copy, the actual inputs — it tends to cut through the "it's just for finding stolen cars" framing that Flock's sales team leans on in every city council meeting.
That framing matters because the gap between "license plate reader" and "rolling dossier on every vehicle that passes a fixed point" is exactly where public consent gets skipped. Vehicle make, color, bumper stickers, travel patterns, time stamps stitched together across a city or a region — none of that requires a warrant, and almost none of it was ever put to a public vote. Most residents have no idea how many of these poles are already up in their own neighborhood.
If this video makes you want to know what's actually deployed near you, check our camera map and see for yourself. And if you'd rather not wait for someone else to explain your data to you, our take-action page has concrete steps for pushing back at the local level.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Matt Upham | Tech + Coding, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.