Flock's Changes Don't Go Far Enough

Our Take

Warm Lens lays out something we've been saying since day one: Flock Safety loves to announce 'changes' whenever the heat turns up, but the core machine never actually shrinks. More audit logs, more checkboxes, another blog post about 'responsible use' — none of it touches the fundamental problem, which is that thousands of networked ALPR cameras are quietly building a nationwide movement database on everyone, regardless of suspicion. A new consent form doesn't un-ring that bell.

What the video gets right is the pattern recognition. Flock's business model depends on expansion first, apology later. Every time a scandal breaks — a wrongful stop, an agency sharing data across state lines for things it swore it wouldn't, an employee misusing lookup tools — the company rolls out a narrow fix aimed at that one headline, while the broader architecture of surveillance keeps scaling untouched. Critics calling this insufficient aren't being cynical; they're reading the track record.

Real accountability means transparency about where these cameras actually are, who's paying for them, and who can pull your plate history with a few keystrokes — not just promises from the vendor. Check our camera map to see what's been deployed near you, and if you want to push back on your city council or police department, our take-action page has concrete steps. Credit to Warm Lens for keeping the pressure on.