Flock kept a promise. So I read all of it.

Our Take

Credit where it's due: Magnetic Norse did the unglamorous work most of us skip — actually reading the fine print instead of taking a press release at face value. That's the only way to hold a surveillance vendor accountable, because Flock's business model depends on communities trusting glossy promises without checking what the contracts, policies, and data-sharing agreements actually say.

This kind of close reading matters because ALPR systems don't just watch traffic, they build a searchable history of where you've been, and the only real check on misuse is whether the company's stated policy survives contact with reality. A "promise kept" on paper means little if audit logs are weak, retention periods quietly expand, or law enforcement partners share data outside the stated terms. The gap between policy and practice is exactly where mass surveillance creeps in unnoticed.

If this video has you wondering what's actually watching your street, check our camera map to see documented Flock deployments near you, and visit our take-action page for ways to push back at the local level.