Flock Safety Called Its Critics ‘Terrorists.’ Now It Wants to Be Your Privacy Savior
Surveillance tech vendor Flock Safety is making some changes to both its policies and messaging following months of backlash over its products — namely, its automatic license plate readers, commonly referred to as ALPRs.
TL;DR
- Flock Safety is changing its policies and messaging after backlash over its automatic license plate readers (ALPRs).
- The company previously faced criticism for enabling government tracking of drivers without warrants.
- CEO Garrett Langley had referred to critics as 'terroristic' and defended the use of ALPRs for immigration enforcement.
- Flock Safety is now portraying itself as privacy-conscious and has implemented reforms like reducing data retention from 30 to seven days.
- New policies require law enforcement to enable a feature flagging 'abnormal' officer activity and to enter case codes for non-emergency searches.
- Groups like the EFF argue that these reforms are insufficient, emphasizing the need for judicial warrants for ALPR data access.
- The article questions the authority of tech companies and local departments to set surveillance limits, advocating for legislative and constitutional determination of privacy rights.