Town of Hartland Votes to Remove Flock Cameras Amid Privacy Concerns

Our Take

Credit to WKBW TV in Buffalo for covering this one, because local votes like Hartland's don't usually make it past the county line — and they should. This is how the fight against mass surveillance actually gets won: not in Congress, but in town halls where a handful of elected officials decide their community doesn't want a private company logging every car that drives through it.

What's notable here is the pattern. Hartland isn't the first in Niagara County to say no — North Tonawanda already pulled its Flock cameras, and now a second town is following suit. That's not a coincidence. It suggests residents are asking hard questions about who has access to this data, how long it's retained, and why a for-profit surveillance vendor should have a permanent record of their daily movements. Once officials start digging, the answers often don't hold up.

If you live somewhere with Flock cameras already installed, don't wait for a viral news story to find out. Check our camera map to see what's been deployed near you, and if you want to push back the way Hartland did, our take-action page has the tools to get started.