Privacy vs. public safety? Debate over Flock cameras grows across Massachusetts

Our Take

Credit to Boston 25 News for putting the Flock debate in front of a mainstream audience, but notice the framing: "privacy vs. public safety" implies a tidy tradeoff, as if a few cameras on the highway equal a few solved burglaries and that's the whole ledger. It's not. Once a town says yes to Flock, it's usually saying yes to a statewide, often nationwide, data-sharing network that logs every plate that passes, whether or not anyone is suspected of anything.

Massachusetts communities weighing this decision should ask harder questions than "does it help solve crimes." Who else can query this data? How long is it kept? Can a department in another state, or ICE, pull records on a Massachusetts driver without anyone here ever knowing? Those are the questions that get glossed over in "balance to be struck" segments, and they're the questions that actually determine whether this technology becomes a targeted tool or a dragnet.

If you want to see how far this has already spread in your own town, check our camera map, and if you think your city council should be answering these questions before, not after, they sign a Flock contract, head over to take action for tools to push back.