If you’ve ever seen the movie Minority Report, you remember the dire warning the Tom Cruise sci-fi movie gave about fighting crime using high tech surveillance. But it’s not sci-fi anymore! There’s a disturbing rise in real-life surveillance that everyone needs to know about.
WHAT IS FLOCK?
Flock is a surveillance technology company that operates a nationwide network of AI-powered, automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. These cameras don’t just capture license plates. They also record the make, model, and color of your car, plus unique features like scratches and bumper stickers. All of this information goes into a massive database that can be searched by law enforcement agencies to track our movement in real time.
Flock isn’t the only ALPR company, but it’s one of the largest. 100,000 of Flock’s cameras have been installed by police departments, private businesses, and HOAs in more than 6,000 U.S. cities and towns.
WHY SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT FLOCK?
Flock has been around since 2017, but ALPRs are getting more public attention now because of how the cameras are being used. Flock has repeatedly misrepresented its data-sharing practices, particularly underplaying how their data gets shared with ICE and Border Patrol and revealing a pattern of dishonesty and abuse of data.
Flock’s business model is based on creating their nationwide database of our personal information and sharing it with their entire network of clients. When local officials sign on to Flock contracts, they may think that they control their town’s information, but the standard Flock contract says Flock has the right to share our data with any government body or third party.
That’s exactly what is happening now.
- Local police departments are sharing Flock data with ICE, who are using it to search for immigrants and target activists like No Kings protestors.
- Authorities in Texas used the nationwide Flock network to track down a woman who had an abortion, bringing to reality a fear long-held by reproductive rights advocates that surveillance technology could be used against women traveling for or receiving abortion care.
- Police officers have been repeatedly caught using Flock cameras to stalk ex-girlfriends and ex-partners.
And the use of Flock data isn’t just limited to alleged crimes. Flock is also using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to look for potential criminal activity, meaning they are analyzing our movements for patterns it simply finds “suspicious” and deciding who to report to law enforcement. (Remember Minority Report? Life imitates art!)
Privacy and freedom-of-movement arguments aside, we know that AI algorithms can be biased or trained in a way that will end up targeting low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.
We all want to live in safe communities, but there is little evidence that Flock cameras, or any ALPRs, reduce crime or keep us safer. Worse, our tax dollars are supporting these Flock contracts, and nothing is safeguarding our privacy from this dangerous surveillance technology.
The good news is, we can protect our data and our communities ourselves.
LOCAL COMMUNITIES ARE FIGHTING BACK
Everyday citizens in communities across the U.S. – from Austin and Denver to Evanston, Illinois, and Cambridge, Massachusetts – have said “no” to Flock by pressuring authorities to either cancel their contracts or deactivate their cameras.
- Dayton, Ohio deactivated Flock cameras after finding that outside agencies searched their system more than 7,000 times.
- Sedona, Arizona’s City Council voted unanimously to cancel their Flock contract, saying they were lied to about data sharing.
- Hillsborough, North Carolina ended their Flock contract over privacy concerns.
- Flock contracts have also been cancelled in Charlottesville, VA, Eugene, OR, Oskosh, WI, and Coralville, IA, to name a few!
HOW TO FIGHT FLOCK IN YOUR COMMUNITY
If this is a concern for you and your neighbors, you have the power to make a difference.
You can start by asking your local decision makers to cancel your city or local agency’s Flock contract. Be sure to also share your concerns during public comment portions of your local city council meetings. Not sure if Flock cameras are even being used near you? Submit a records request to find out!
Lastly, educate your friends, family, and neighbors about the dangers of Flock and encourage them to use their voices, too. There’s strength in numbers! And stay tuned for more resources and easy ways to fight Flock from Red Wine & Blue!