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Flock Accused of Reactivating Its Cameras Without Notifying a Town (msn.com)

(Sunday August 09, 2026 @09:59PM (EditorDavid) from the what-the-Flock dept.)


A Massachusetts newspaper reports that officials from the town of Littleton (population: 10,141) "claim that five of Littletonâ(TM)s Flock Safety cameras [1]were switched back on by the company without informing the town ..."

Littleton had temporarily disabled the cameras earlier this year, according to the article, but upon discovering the cameras were still active, city officials say they directed the Town Counsel "to initiate cancellation of the contract with Flock Safety and directed the Town Administrator to coordinate the removal of the six cameras on public ways" with the Department of Public Works.

Ironically, it's the same Massachusetts town that last year was [2]breached by a Chinese-state-sponsored hacking group for over 300 days .

Flock has also considered dashcams installed in hundreds of thousands Uber, Lyft, and delivery drivers' vehicles "to scan license plates those drivers travelled passed," [3]reports 404 Media , "essentially turning Uber and Lyft drivers into roaming surveillance vehicles, according to a Flock presentation shared with 404 Media... [4] 404 Media first revealed the intended partnership last August when multiple sources provided information on the plan."



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/littleton-claims-flock-reactivated-its-cameras-without-notifying-the-town/ar-AA29aw5a

[2] https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/03/13/229240/chinese-hackers-sat-undetected-in-small-massachusetts-power-utility-for-months

[3] https://www.404media.co/flock-pitched-a-plan-to-turn-uber-and-lyft-drivers-into-roaming-surveillance-vehicles/

[4] https://www.404media.co/flock-wants-to-partner-with-consumer-dashcam-company-that-takes-trillions-of-images-a-month/



Put a locked bag over them. (Score:5, Funny)

by hwstar ( 35834 )

The city should duffel bag and padlock all the cameras with something similar to what you used to find on parking meters out of service.

Re: (Score:2)

by RitchCraft ( 6454710 )

A sawzall would be better.

Re: (Score:2)

by hwstar ( 35834 )

Yes it would, but might open the city to legal liability.

Re: (Score:2)

by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

Are the cameras not paid for by the city?

Re: (Score:3)

by PPH ( 736903 )

Good question. Does the city pay for exclusive use of the data? Or can Flock contract with other entities and provide a feed?

AFAIK, the cameras belong to Flock.

Re: (Score:3)

by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )

> Does the city pay for exclusive use of the data? Or can Flock contract with other entities and provide a feed?

We've seen enough stories about national government misuse of these camera feeds to assume there's no "exclusive access" provision in these contracts.

Re: (Score:2)

by allo ( 1728082 )

That would also better communicate "That thing is off".

Do they have microphones?

Re: (Score:1)

by Johnberg ( 1642323 )

Something Something don't point strong laser pointers at the lens, something.

Only response (Score:3)

by sjames ( 1099 )

This is a job for...SAWZALL MAN!

cue heroic music

Lets think about that (Score:5, Informative)

by PPH ( 736903 )

Town contracts with Flock to provide ALPR functions. Flock gets the appropriate pole rental contracts and installs cameras. City has a change of heart and asks that the cameras be shut off. Flock does so, but then is contacted by another customer interested in the data feed. Flock says, "The cameras are already up. Just turn them on and serve the new contract."

A couple of things come to mind:

Pole rentals might be with a utility not city owned. The city has nothing to say about such contracts.

The second data contract might be with an organization not subject to city regulation. DoJ and CBP/INS come to mind.

The city, of course, gets nothing if they cancel or suspend the data contract.

Re: (Score:1)

by Johnberg ( 1642323 )

Pole is on public property. Unless there is a valid "lease" on said property, the use of the pole is not valid. If the lease is still valid, then yes, they can do what they want.

We need "HIPAA for location data" (Score:2)

by alispguru ( 72689 )

Right now, it is legal for third parties like Flock to collect surveillance data and offer it for sale to anyone.

The third party doctrine makes it presumed OK for third parties to give or sell their data to the Government.

This is rapidly eroding Fourth Amendment guarantees in the US.

One possible way out would be to specify in federal law that data that can enable mass surveillance must be protected - leaking it gets you fined, government doesn't get it without a warrant.

The HIPAA laws are a potential model

QOTD:
"He's on the same bus, but he's sure as hell got a different
ticket."