90,000 Flock cameras have quietly gone up in the US: What they track and how to check your city

Editor's take

Flock Group's ALPR cameras, numbering over 90,000 nationwide, are actively collecting license plate data and vehicle imagery, often without explicit public consent for their deployment.

This proliferation raises significant privacy concerns, as the collected data is shared with law enforcement agencies and potentially other third parties, creating a de facto national surveillance network. The technology's widespread adoption, bypassing traditional public discourse on surveillance, highlights a growing gap between technological deployment and civic oversight.

Future scrutiny will likely focus on the data retention policies and the extent of third-party access to Flock's databases, particularly in light of recent discussions around AI's role in public safety and the inherent risks of mass data collection. The lack of clear opt-out mechanisms for affected citizens also warrants further investigation.