Flock CEO addresses security concerns
The short version: CBS New York presses Flock's CEO on misuse claims, and the company's response is 'new safety measures' — not fewer cameras or less data sharing.
Our Take
When a surveillance company's CEO has to go on camera to reassure the public, that's not a sign the system is working — it's a sign the backlash is working. CBS New York's Anna Schecter got Flock's chief to address reports of officers misusing license plate reader data, and the answer was the standard playbook: promise new 'safety measures' and move on. Notice what's missing — no acknowledgment that a network of 120,000+ cameras logging every plate that passes, shared across thousands of agencies, is inherently ripe for abuse no matter how many audit logs you bolt on afterward.
Audits and policy tweaks are reactive. They only catch misuse after someone's location history has already been queried by a curious cop, an ex looking for an address, or an agency running searches for ICE. The underlying architecture — mass, warrantless collection of everyone's movements, retained and searchable — doesn't change because the CEO does a sit-down interview. That's the real story CBS is circling but not quite naming.
Corporate reassurance tours are exactly why independent tracking matters. Check our camera map to see what's been logged near you, and hit take action if you want to push back on your local agency's contract before the next 'misuse' story breaks in your own town.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of CBS New York, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.