‘Get it the ‘FLOCK’ out’: Students rise up against AI-powered license plate readers
The short version: MS NOW covers Cal Poly students who got 17 Flock ALPR cameras pulled off campus, showing grassroots pushback can actually win.
Our Take
Credit to MS NOW for putting a spotlight on something we see over and over: it's students and neighbors, not politicians, doing the heavy lifting to roll back this surveillance net. Tobias Halpern's line about a cop following you every time you drive is the plainest way to describe what Flock's network actually does — it's not a red-light camera, it's a rolling dossier of everywhere your car goes, indexed and searchable by any agency with access.
The Cal Poly story matters because it proves these deployments aren't permanent fixtures. DeFlock SLO got 17 cameras removed by organizing, asking hard questions, and refusing to accept vague answers about data sharing and immigration enforcement ties. That's the same playbook working in city councils and campuses nationwide, and it's the reason Flock and its police partners hate transparency requests — sunlight is the one thing this business model can't survive.
If you want to see how many of these cameras are already watching your own streets, check our camera map, and if you're ready to do what these students did, our take-action guide walks you through it step by step.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of MS NOW, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.