Investigating Flock: America's Mass Surveillance Company
The short version: YouTuber Tommy G teams up with Benn Jordan, Jason Hunyar, and researcher Isaac to expose how Flock's ALPR network quietly tracks ordinary drivers nationwide.
Our Take
Tommy G's dive into Flock Safety lands at a good time. When a creator with a big general audience starts asking why a private company has cameras logging every car that passes, the conversation escapes the usual privacy-nerd circles and reaches people who've never thought twice about that black box on a pole near their house. Pulling in voices like Benn Jordan, Jason Hunyar, and the KSU ALPR researcher known as Isaac gives the video some real technical grounding instead of just vibes, which matters when the subject is this easy to hand-wave away as "just cameras."
The bigger point worth underlining: Flock isn't one camera, it's a network. A single reader on your street is a nuisance. Thousands of them talking to each other, retaining plate data, and getting queried by agencies with little oversight is a nationwide tracking system that was never put to a public vote. That's the whole reason this outlet exists — mapping where these things are so people can actually see the scope of it instead of taking anyone's word for it.
If this video gets you curious about what's watching your own commute, check the map to see what's been documented near you, and if you want to do something about it beyond getting annoyed, our take-action page has concrete next steps for pushing back at the city council level, which is where these fights are actually being won or lost.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Tommy G, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.