Flock wanted to tap dashcams in rideshare vechicles to add to surveillance data

To augment its network of license plate readers, surveillance company Flock drew up plans to partner with dashcam company Nexar and use Uber and Lyft drivers to passively collect data. Joseph Cox for 404 Media reports:

Flock told 404 Media in an email it never executed the partnership with Nexar. But the presentation still shows Flock’s ambitious plan to conscript rideshare and delivery drivers to collect license plate data for its network. It is not clear whether Uber or Lyft, or drivers working for those apps, would have been aware of the data collection. “Hundreds of Commercial Business and HOA [home owners associations] in GA [Georgia] are part of the network,” the presentation, written by Flock to present to the Georgia Office of the Attorney General last August, reads. “Plus Nexar partnership which includes 350k Uber/Lyft and other delivery service devices.”

In case Flock sounds familiar, this is the same company that was going to partner with Ring and helped ICE tap into Lowe’s and Home Depot security footage. Where there’s an internet-connected camera there is a way.