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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.
MIT Technology Review reports that smart glasses are enabling covert recording, non-consensual image sharing and police surveillance in India, with experts warning such incidents will grow as the devices go mainstream. Separately, the outlet cites University of Pennsylvania finance professor Jessica Wachter's analysis showing hyperscalers are on track to spend nearly $1.1 trillion on AI data centers through 2027, requiring extraordinary earnings growth to break even by 2030.
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.
Researchers analyzed geolocated outbreak data for 32 environmentally linked emerging infectious diseases, combining these with global datasets on socio-environmental factors such as land use, climate and biodiversity. Using disease-specific driver hypotheses developed with experts across virology, ecology and public health, they built geospatial statistical models to identify common human-caused patterns behind where outbreaks occur.
An investigation by MIT Technology Review documents hundreds of migrant deaths in areas monitored by the government's decades-long, multibillion-dollar network of border surveillance towers, including newer AI-equipped installations meant to automatically detect people crossing. In many cases, the towers neither led to rescue nor apprehension of those who later died in the surrounding terrain. The findings were discussed in a roundtable featuring editor in chief Mat Honan with reporters James O'Donnell and Eileen Guo.
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.
Graciela Gómez Hernández, 30, crossed from Tijuana into Southern California on September 14, 2025, hoping to work and support her three children and parents in Mexico. She sent voice messages to family as she hiked through the rugged Otay Mountain Wilderness, but stopped responding by mid-afternoon, saying she could not continue. Her remains were not recovered until two weeks later, despite the area being heavily monitored by border surveillance cameras and technology.
An investigation involving over 45 interviews with officials, Border Patrol agents, medical examiners and tech workers found that Anduril's AI-powered surveillance towers along the US-Mexico border are both failing to detect migrants and, when detections do occur, agents are failing to respond in time. Anduril says CBP operates the towers post-delivery and that surveillance range depends on terrain and privacy-related boundaries CBP itself sets.
An investigation by MIT Technology Review and Times of San Diego found that people have died undetected near AI-enabled surveillance towers along the US-Mexico border, including sites using technology from defense contractor Anduril. The reporters documented broken equipment, detection algorithms that missed people, and agents who failed to act on alerts, even as CBP plans to spend $1 billion to triple the system's size by 2034.
A 15-month joint investigation by MIT Technology Review and Times of San Diego produced the first comprehensive map linking migrant deaths to US Customs and Border Protection's surveillance tower network along the US-Mexico border. Reporters reviewed thousands of pages of government records, conducted over 45 interviews, and analyzed cases dating back to 2015 to examine why fatalities cluster near towers built to detect and apprehend crossers.
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.