Episode 263: AI Surveillance: Unmasking Flock Safety’s Insecurities

Our Take

Flock Safety has spent years selling police departments and homeowners' associations on the idea that its ALPR network is a rock-solid public safety tool. The Security Ledger podcast, hosted by Paul Roberts with independent musician and security researcher Benn Jordan, pokes some serious holes in that pitch. We're not going to pretend we have the technical chops to verify every claim in a security research deep-dive like this one, but the core message tracks with what we've been saying for a while: a nationwide network of always-on cameras logging your movements is a liability even before you get to the privacy questions.

Here's the thing that should bother people regardless of their politics on policing: mass surveillance infrastructure built on shaky security isn't just an abstract risk. If Flock's systems have exploitable weaknesses, that means the location histories of millions of ordinary drivers — where they go to church, who their doctor is, whose driveway they park in overnight — are potentially exposed to more than just the police departments who signed the contract. Every new vulnerability report is a reminder that "trust us, it's secure" has never been a good enough answer from a company whose entire business model depends on hoovering up your travel patterns.

Credit to Roberts and Jordan for putting in the research legwork here rather than just taking Flock's marketing at face value. If this kind of reporting makes you want to know what's actually watching your street, check our camera map to see nearby ALPR deployments, and head to our take-action page if you want to push back on a camera in your own community.