A hacked Flock camera, read against page 32 of Michigan's contract
The short version: A hacked Flock camera and Michigan's own contract language raise fresh doubts about who really controls these networks and what they promise the public.
Our Take
Magnetic Norse's breakdown of a physically removed Flock camera — its guts copied and reportedly shared with 404 Media — is the kind of ground-truth reporting this beat needs more of. Corporate one-pagers and city council slideshows tell you what Flock wants you to believe about its own hardware. A teardown, paired with the actual contract language a government body signed, tells you something closer to the truth.
What makes this specific pairing interesting is the gap it exposes. Vendors sell these systems on promises of narrow, accountable use — stolen cars, Amber Alerts, tightly scoped retention. But procurement documents like the one referenced here often contain the fine print that quietly widens the aperture: data sharing terms, retention windows, who else gets access. When a hacked device and a signed contract start disagreeing with the sales pitch, that's not a technical curiosity, it's a governance failure playing out in public.
This is exactly why independent verification matters and why we keep pushing people to look past the marketing. Check whether a camera near you is already logged on our map, and if your city hasn't published the actual contract terms it agreed to, that's a fight worth picking — start with our take-action resources.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Magnetic Norse, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.