Richmond, Virginia police used vague Flock camera descriptions—make, model, color, approximate year—to identify Rosalyn Crump's 2012 Hyundai Elantra as connected to a shooting, despite lacking a license plate match. Officers impounded her car over her objections and despite body cam footage showing an officer doubting the match, and later identified a different vehicle as the actual suspect car. Crump wasn't told her car was released for four days, and only learned upon pickup that Seibert's Towing had torn off the front bumper during impoundment.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-11-02
St. Lucie County, Florida found 12 unpermitted Flock Safety license-plate cameras during a countywide removal effort; five were later claimed by the Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce police departments, while seven remain unclaimed and unexplained. County spokesperson Erick Gill said the county's priority was removal, not identifying owners, giving operators 30 days to take cameras down without facing questions.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-28
The American Economic Liberties Project says Kroger's proposed $1.65 billion acquisition of Giant Eagle, which would add over 200 stores to Kroger's existing 2,700, could do more than reshape grocery competition. The advocacy group warns the merger could also combine or expand surveillance infrastructure, including Flock cameras and Cooler Screens technology, across a larger customer base. Kroger has denied using facial recognition for pricing but acknowledges using it for security at some locations; neither company responded to requests for comment.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-28
Chicago residents have filed separate lawsuits against delivery robot companies Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics, alleging their sidewalk robots used onboard cameras and LIDAR sensors to capture biometric data—including images of hands, bodies, and faces—without consent. One plaintiff says a human operator remotely watched his delivery, while another claims his data could be retained for AI training or shared with third parties. Coco has called the suit against it frivolous, denying it collected biometric data in Chicago.
futurism.com
· 2026-10-25
MapQuest has introduced a new toggleable map layer that displays locations of outdoor surveillance cameras and license plate readers, including devices from Flock, Motorola Solutions, Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon and several other manufacturers. The feature sits alongside existing traffic and incident layers in the app.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-16
A new survey from data removal service Incogni, covering 1,517 U.S. adults, found that 45% say they aren't concerned about their online privacy. Despite this, among those who claimed to have 'nothing to hide,' 58% would refuse to let a stranger unlock their phone for any amount of money, 39% cover their device cameras, and nearly half wouldn't share text messages with the government or 'Big Tech' even for three months' income.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-10-16
Surveillance vendor VIDIZMO has told police departments it can integrate facial recognition technology into Flock's camera network. According to the company's own website, the system can sort individuals into seven racial categories and estimate age, and VIDIZMO markets this demographic breakdown as useful for both law enforcement and commercial marketing purposes.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-10-04
After St. Lucie County, Florida decided to stop using Flock surveillance cameras and began removing them, officials discovered 14 devices beyond the 52 they believed were installed. The Sheriff's Office later claimed three of those unpermitted cameras without explaining the lack of paperwork, leaving 11 cameras whose owners remain unidentified.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-01
After St. Lucie County, Florida ordered removal of Flock license-plate cameras from local roads, police discovered 14 cameras operating without required permits. Eleven of those cameras have no identified owner, while the Sheriff's Office claimed the remaining three but declined to explain why it never obtained permits or whether it accessed the data collected.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-01
A report using AI-assisted analysis found that opposition to artificial intelligence, data center construction and Flock surveillance cameras has emerged as a rare unifying issue among American voters. The findings indicate this backlash is becoming a notable factor heading into the midterm elections.
wsj.com
· 2026-10-01
Palm Beach resident Lindsey Isaacs, 23, was arrested and had her Dodge Durango towed after a Flock automated license plate reader camera recorded her car's plate near the site of a fatal three-person collision. Isaacs spent 13 days in jail, part of it in solitary confinement, before authorities determined she was not involved in the crash.
jezebel.com
· 2026-09-26
Apple's new Apple Watch features, Live Rewind and Siri Recap, continuously listen to and transcribe surrounding speech to generate summaries, prompting immediate criticism from privacy experts. Apple published technical details claiming Live Rewind keeps only a rolling 15-second buffer and Siri Recap produces only high-level, non-speaker-identified summaries, with an audible chime alerting bystanders. The feature launches amid a broader trend of listening devices, including Flock cameras, AI pendants like Friend, and Meta Ray-Ban glasses, that record people without their explicit consent.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-24
GoKawiil