GoKawiilBoston Police drop Flock license-plate readers after nationwide data-sharing breach
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu confirmed the city has ended its use of Flock Safety's automated license-plate reader cameras after a vendor error let outside law enforcement agencies access BPD-collected vehicle data nationwide, despite a contract requiring the sharing feature be disabled. The city's 2025 surveillance report says the breach occurred within days of launching a pilot with about 45 cameras and was corrected once discovered, but Boston has since moved on to trials with Motorola and Axon instead.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The incident shows how quickly vendor misconfigurations in surveillance tech can undercut contractual privacy safeguards, exposing sensitive location data to agencies far beyond the intended jurisdiction. It adds fuel to an ongoing national debate over the accountability and oversight of license-plate reader networks used by police departments across the country.
- Boston ended its Flock Safety ALPR pilot after a vendor error shared license-plate data nationwide.
- The breach happened within days of the pilot's April 2025 launch despite contract terms disabling data sharing.
- Boston has since started new ALPR trials with Motorola and Axon instead of Flock.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-09-15
Published there as: “Boston dumps Flock, says it shared data nationwide in violation of contract”
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