What the Flock?! May 1, 2026
This week, Oshkosh City Council in WI unanimously reversed their decision to renew their Flock contract only 24 hours after voting to renew it. Why this sudden change of heart? The police chief was given information about the cameras that directly contradicted a statement made by a Flock representative the day before.
The Nation reported on the proliferation of AI-powered surveillance cameras and nationwide attempts to remove them. The author likened Flock’s network to a modern panopticon. This article provides a balanced view of our surveillance situation. It celebrates the incredible progress that has been made against Flock by seasoned activists and regular people alike. (The author makes a point to call out the “parents and teachers and scientists and retirees” who have spoken up in their communities.) It also details the many obstacles that have yet to be tackled. Combatting AI-powered surveillance tools in our communities might at times feel like playing a frustrating game of Whack-a-Mole; this article is a nice infusion of realistic optimism.
Have I Been Flocked reported on Flock’s oft self-touted transparency portal and what appears to be—from Flock emails to police departments—intentional limitations or introduction of hoops people must jump through in order to access data via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Flock’s transparency portal and FOIA requests in general can be difficult for a layperson to navigate successfully. Thankfully, crowd-sourced records of Flock information continue to pop up. Kansas Watch has created an ALPR Abuse Library, which is “a publicly maintained, editorially reviewed index of news articles documenting abuses, misuses, and civil liberties concerns related to Automated License Plate Readers—with a focus on Flock Safety deployments.”
A Colorado man has ended up with his license plate incorrectly attached to a warrant he has no connection with due to a “data entry issue involving Colorado license plates, which use both the letter O and the numeral zero.” Because of this “issue,” Flock cameras create an alert every time Kyle Dausman’s truck passes by. He has been pulled over twice, and, although he is innocent, the problem has still not been corrected. His local police department has silenced their alerts, but other agencies could still act on the alert, leaving Dausman feeling unsafe driving his truck for fear of getting pulled over. He ominously stated,
"All I know is I'm in the system now. And there's really no easy way to get out of the system once you're in it."
Other examples of Flock cameras making people less safe are not hard to find. The Institute for Justice reviewed media reports and found that police officers have misused license plate reader data in order to stalk romantic interests. There have been at least 14 cases since 2021 (with most being more recent), but the article notes that this is likely an underrepresentation because not all police misconduct gets widely reported (or even detected). Horrifyingly, the review showed that most of the known incidents “came to light only after victims reported the officers’ behavior to the police,” which underscores the conclusion that others have come to before: Flock Safety’s purported safeguards are insufficient to truly protect us and our data.
The Surveillance Accountability Act (HR 8470) was introduced to the House of Representatives on April 23rd. The bill “would require government entities to obtain a warrant from a magistrate upon probable cause before conducting any search that significantly impinges on a person's privacy or security.” The bill specifically references “license plate images, vehicle metadata, or vehicle movement patterns obtained through automated license plate readers or similar systems” as needing a warrant “if the person associated with the collected identifiers did not express informed and voluntary consent.” This bill could eventually lead to regulation at the federal level, though—as many of us learned in grade school— it may take a while.
Mass 50501 continues our work at the municipal and state levels to remove Flock cameras from our communities and people are paying attention! If you are here, you’ve likely already learned a little bit about the dangers of these AI-powered mass surveillance tools. Things are changing fast and it can be tough to keep up with all the news. We’ll continue to post blogs about Flock (check our articles here). In this space, you’ll find quick info from recent Flock news nationwide. This information could be helpful in removing cameras from your city or town! As always, if you’re interested in getting more involved, email us at flockoff@mass50501.org and join us in Discord!
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