Florida REVOKES All Flock Camera Permits on State Highways
The short version: Better American Media reports Florida's DOT yanked every permit for Flock and other ALPR cameras on state highways — a rare case of a state agency clawing back ground from the surveillance dragnet.
Our Take
Credit to Better American Media for flagging this one, because it's the kind of story that usually doesn't happen: a state agency actually pulling permits instead of rubber-stamping more cameras. If Florida's DOT really is revoking blanket authorization for Flock and other ALPR rigs bolted onto state highway infrastructure, that's a crack in the 'just trust us, it's for safety' armor that's let this industry grow unchecked in nearly every state in the country.
Permits matter more than people think. A lot of these camera networks exist in a legal gray zone — local police departments or private HOAs cutting deals with Flock, often without the public ever voting on it, and without the host agency (state DOT, in this case) doing real oversight of who's watching the data or how long it's kept. When a state transportation department says 'not on our right-of-way without proper authorization,' it's one of the few checks in a system built almost entirely on vendor trust and local rubber-stamping.
Don't assume this means the cameras are actually coming down tomorrow, or that it stops local police from running their own networks off public roads. Permit revocations get appealed, quietly re-issued, or routed around. Check our camera map to see what's actually deployed near you, and if you want to push your own city or state to follow Florida's lead, our take-action page has the tools to start that fight locally.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Better American Media, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.