People-tracking Flock cams left exposed, live-streaming on the internet, with no login needed

Our Take

Credit to 9NEWS for catching this, because it's exactly the failure mode critics of Flock Safety have been warning about for years. These aren't traffic cameras pointed at empty intersections — they're networked, AI-assisted systems built to log your plate, your car, and your movements, then hand that data to police departments and, increasingly, to each other across state lines. When that same infrastructure can be pulled up live by a stranger with no password, the company's entire pitch about "responsible" surveillance falls apart. A system that can't keep its own video feed private has no business being trusted with a searchable history of everywhere you've driven.

This isn't a one-off glitch, either. It's a predictable outcome of blanketing towns with always-on cameras faster than anyone can audit how they're secured, who can access them, or what happens when the vendor drops the ball. Local governments keep signing these contracts on the promise of tight controls, and then a local news crew finds a live, unauthenticated stream sitting wide open. Douglas County residents didn't sign up to have their daily commute broadcast to whoever stumbles across the right URL.

If you want to know whether Flock or similar ALPR cameras are already watching your neighborhood, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait for the next leak to find out how exposed you are, our take-action guide has concrete steps for pushing back at the city council level.