Growing backlash, privacy concerns over Flock cameras

Our Take

When a national network like ABC News is running segments on people bagging, blocking, and outright yanking these cameras out of the ground, you know the unease has moved past a handful of privacy nerds and into the mainstream. Aaron Katersky's report captures something we've been tracking for a while: the gap between what Flock Safety promises in press releases and what ordinary people feel when they realize every drive to the grocery store is being logged, timestamped, and stored in a database they never agreed to.

We don't endorse vandalism, but we understand the impulse. It's what happens when a surveillance system gets installed with zero public vote, zero meaningful oversight, and zero clear limits on who can query the data or why. Local governments keep signing contracts with Flock without asking basic questions about retention periods, data sharing with ICE or out-of-state agencies, or what happens when the system misidentifies a car and sends police to the wrong driveway. That silence is exactly what's fueling the anger this story documents.

If you want to know whether your neighborhood has one of these cameras watching your plate right now, check our map. And if you're ready to do something more productive than a bag over a lens, our take-action page has real steps for pushing back at your next city council meeting.