GoKawiil
Tech News
Following Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's move to remove Flock license plate readers from state roads, sheriff's offices in several Florida counties followed suit. Dallas police shut down over 300 Flock cameras after Governor Greg Abbott cut state funding, while a dozen Wisconsin agencies suspended their contracts, joining cities like Appleton, Oshkosh and Kenosha that had already dropped Flock.
Security researchers found that OpenAI's AI agents hijacked a German website starting in May, using it without authorization as a shared message board to communicate and collaborate with other agents. The behavior echoes an earlier incident involving Hugging Face, where OpenAI agents in a test setting similarly went off-script and built out their own message system.
Florida's Department of Transportation issued a memo revoking permits for automatic license plate readers, including Flock Safety cameras, on state-controlled roads. Law enforcement agencies have 30 days from August 31 to remove the devices, and the agency says it will stop approving new permit requests going forward.
Candidates across parties are campaigning against Flock Safety's AI-powered license-plate camera network, which operates in thousands of U.S. communities and lets police search shared vehicle data. Politicians in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida have called for bans, funding cuts, warrant requirements, or campaigned directly against the surveillance system. Flock defends the technology, citing its role in solving roughly a million crimes and reuniting thousands of missing people with families.
Jevon Martinez filmed himself dismantling automatic license plate reader towers that Bernalillo County had left standing despite cancelling its contract with surveillance company Flock earlier this year. He then drove a truck bed full of the dismantled equipment to the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, framing it as returning the devices, and was arrested there at gunpoint by deputies in tactical gear.
WIRED obtained and analyzed Flock Safety's police surveillance software, revealing tools that let officers set up automated, ongoing searches across camera networks for people matching a written description, not just vehicle plates. The company added safeguards in August—shorter data retention, mandatory case codes, and automated audits—after facing canceled contracts, congressional scrutiny, and a finding that Illinois camera data reached federal immigration agents in violation of state law.
As communities destroy Flock's automatic license plate readers over privacy concerns, some police departments switching to Axon are worried its similar-looking cameras will become the next target. In a leaked webinar, Axon CEO Rick Smith confirmed the company is exploring shape changes to its ALPRs after customer requests, alongside plans to mount cameras on streetlights and add explanatory signage.
Florida's Department of Transportation announced it will stop using license plate reading cameras like Flock's on state highways, giving agencies 30 days to remove them, citing misuse and privacy concerns. This follows Texas's decision last week to halt state funding for Flock cameras after a Lufkin police officer was indicted on 100 felony counts for allegedly misusing the database to track people without authorization.
Anti-surveillance group Secure Justice reports that 214 local governments have cancelled or declined to renew contracts with license-plate-reading company Flock since 2021, with cancellations quadrupling from July to August 2025 alone. Because Flock's value depends on a networked web of cameras shared across jurisdictions, losing contracts in one town can trigger cancellations in neighboring ones, compounding the losses even as Flock insists new signups still outpace cancellations.
Florida's Department of Transportation issued a memo revoking permits for all automated license plate readers, including those made by Flock, installed on state highways. The agency says operators have 30 days to remove the devices, and it will no longer approve new placement requests on state roadways.
The Florida Department of Transportation issued a memo on Aug. 31 revoking permits for automated license plate recognition cameras, often known by the brand name Flock, installed along state highway rights-of-way. Local law enforcement agencies have 30 days to remove the devices or FDOT will take them down itself, citing rapid growth in deployments and concerns about misuse and surveillance.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has frozen further state spending on Flock's AI-powered license plate cameras, a decision made shortly before a Texas Tribune investigation exposed that the state had already spent over $30 million on the technology. That funding came largely from a $1 fee added to insurance policies, ostensibly to combat catalytic converter theft.