GoKawiil
Tech News
Flock Safety announced changes to its automated license-plate-reading system after facing scrutiny from lawmakers in Congress. The company shortened its default data-retention period from 30 days to seven, introduced standardized categories for why searches are conducted, and will now require officers to enter case numbers before running a search.
Springfield, Missouri's city council voted 5-3 on Monday to route a resolution reviewing police use of Flock Automatic License Plate Readers to a planning committee rather than allow public comment. Attendees who had gathered to speak reacted with shouting and protest as they left the meeting, and councilman Brandon Jenson criticized the process for denying residents a chance to be heard.
404 Media is asking residents nationwide to submit public records showing how local police departments use Axon's automatic license plate reader cameras, which many cities are adopting after backlash over Flock's role in ICE lookups and a Texas officer's search related to a self-managed abortion. The outlet has already gathered Axon 'activity reports' from six police agencies detailing which officers searched plate data, their badge numbers, and stated justifications, but wants more submissions to map usage nationwide.
Flock Safety, the maker of AI-powered license plate scanning cameras, has begun offering employees a voluntary severance package as public backlash against its surveillance technology intensifies. The program, which started taking applications Friday, includes months of health coverage and extended stock option windows, with decisions expected by October 9 and departures by October 29.
Flock Safety, a surveillance camera and license-plate reader company, is offering employees voluntary buyout packages instead of conducting layoffs as it faces a decline in customers. The move suggests the company is trying to cut costs while avoiding the reputational and morale hit of forced job cuts.
Flock Safety introduced a voluntary severance program on Friday, described internally as the most generous package it has offered, aiming to shrink its roughly 1,500-person workforce. Wired reports the company anticipates strong interest and plans to approve buyouts for most who apply, likely averting the need for outright layoffs.
Flock Safety launched a voluntary severance program on Friday, giving employees until October 2 to decide whether to leave with a package the company called generous. Insiders expect a large share of its roughly 1,500 workers to apply, as the surveillance firm faces mounting customer losses and public criticism over its network of license plate cameras.
Senator Josh Hawley is calling on Flock Safety's chief executive to testify before the Senate next week over the company's automated license plate reading network. Hawley argues that the surveillance technology, deployed widely across the country, threatens Americans' basic privacy expectations during everyday activities like commuting or attending church.
An Electronic Frontier Foundation investigation found numerous police officers logging nonsensical or joke reasons—like 'LMAO,' 'LOL,' or keyboard-mashed text—when justifying searches through Flock's nationwide license plate camera network. One Indiana officer wrote 'LMAO' before searching over 19,000 cameras across 1,500-plus cities, while an Oklahoma officer typed gibberish to access more than 83,000 cameras. When EFF followed up with departments about these entries, few offered meaningful accountability.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed an executive order requiring state agencies and state-funded police departments to limit how automated license plate readers, including Flock Safety systems, collect and store data. The order mandates deletion of most vehicle data within 30 days, bans selling or commercializing the data, restricts its use to criminal justice and lifesaving purposes, and forbids pairing the readers with facial recognition AI.
A hacker collective called stegan0gram physically removed a Flock Safety roadside camera, extracted its stored data, and recovered an on-device encryption key meant to protect it. They shared the material with 404 Media and Distributed Denial of Secrets, which passed it to WIRED for joint analysis showing the camera logged roughly 50,200 vehicles and 1.6 million images over about 21 days.
A group called stegan0gram removed a Flock roadside camera and dissected its Android storage, finding an encryption key inside the 'media' partition that unlocked another partition holding all recorded files. That data included about 1.6 million images and 27,321 short video clips gathered over 21 days, capturing roughly 50,200 vehicles and 11 people.