120,000 Surveillance Cameras Nationwide, But Flock CEO Declines to Testify
The short version: A Senate hearing on ALPR surveillance exposed the core hypocrisy: Flock hoovers up millions of plate scans a day, but its CEO won't show up to answer for it.
Our Take
Credit to the channel everythingincrisis for putting a spotlight on something we've been saying for a while: the people running the nation's largest license plate surveillance network don't want to answer for it in public. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on ALPRs is exactly the kind of oversight moment that should matter, and Flock's leadership apparently decided it mattered more to sit this one out than to defend a system now scanning plates in thousands of communities.
That refusal tells you everything about where the power imbalance sits. Flock's cameras are bolted to utility poles and street signs in your town, feeding a searchable database shared across agencies with little public input and even less accountability. When Congress wants answers about 120,000-plus cameras logging Americans' movements, the company's CEO gets to just... not show up. Try that as a citizen who gets flagged by one of these systems.
This is why local fights still matter more than any one hearing. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your neighborhood, and if you want to push back on a city council vote or a renewal contract, our take-action resources walk you through it.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of everythingincrisis, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.