Flock Announces Changes Amid Backlash Over Its License Plate Reader Network
- Reference: 0184976421
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/08/14/2044246/flock-announces-changes-amid-backlash-over-its-license-plate-reader-network
- Source link:
> In an interview, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said many of the product changes will make what were once optional guardrails mandatory for its users to implement by Jan. 1. Among them: All law enforcement customers will have to implement an audit tool that's intended to flag abnormal search behavior. When the system detects abnormal behavior, the user would be locked out pending an internal review, the company said in a description of the changes provided ahead of Thursday's announcement.
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> Flock, which says its customers own the data that the cameras record, is also shortening the standard data retention window from 30 days to seven. It said it will allow data to be preserved for longer when it is evidence tied to a case number. Law enforcement users will now also be required to enter a code from their records management system tying each search to a specific case before it is run, something Langley said civil liberties advocates have long been calling for. Overrides for emergencies would be automatically flagged for review, the company said.
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> Customers will also be allowed to decide which offense types -- such as homicide or arson -- outside agencies can search their data for, which would allow a customer to block outside searches related to immigration enforcement, the company said. Langley said that change will give individual cities and departments control to use the system in a manner "consistent with community values."
Critics say Flock's changes don't address the core problem: police can still decide for themselves when and whom to search without judicial oversight. The ACLU called the shorter data-retention period "a step in the right direction," but dismissed the other safeguards as "retreads" of inadequate protections, while Institute for Justice attorney Robert Frommer called the reforms "window dressing" from a company in "panic mode."
He argued that searches should instead be approved "by judges with real warrants."
[1] https://apnews.com/article/flock-license-plate-cameras-surveillance-deflock-2a93bc075e2f7ffcca9e04a35d75a3fe
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/08/08/059204/flock-camera-vandalism-continues-around-america-while-100-communities-reject-alprs
[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/08/08/0453229/more-police-officers-fired-investigated-or-arrested-for-misusing-flock-camera-systems
Nah (Score:1)
Continue cutting them down.
Re:Free people won't accept Flock cameras. Slaves (Score:5, Insightful)
lol, you really think the MAGA crowd are the ones cutting them down?
Re: (Score:1)
Where did you pull that conclusion out of?
Sorry Flock... (Score:1)
Its a hard no from US. ;-)
flock's graces (Score:5, Insightful)
since it is "flock" forcing these guardrails and not legislation, the police will just roll their contract to a company that doesn't force them. which will likely be some subsidiary of flock. that or departments can buy a premium subscription after talking to a sales rep to get past them again.
Re: (Score:3)
Axon (the predominant cop body cam maker) has equivalent stuff. Maybe not quite as sophisticated but that's where a lot of the business that Flock has lost is going.
"law enfocement customers" (Score:1)
Interesting that it specifically identifies "law enforcement customers". What kind of loophole within a loophole does this bake in? Private "safety" organizations that get "grants" from local municipalities if they provide access? And what about Home Depot? or Lowes? or the local grocery chains? or the most Karen level HOAs?
Don't stand down (Score:3)
This isn't enough, keep going at flock full force until they change. But also people are stupid they should be going after the cell phone companies that are selling all of our locations to advertisers
I'm so tired of being lied to (Score:5, Informative)
And in such obvious ways. As a reminder flock has a training manual that teaches cops how to lie about using flock cameras in there investigations.
It's like how we all just found out that data centers use 10 times as much water as they report.
We already knew that and we know we're being lied to and we keep letting them do it.
A long-winded... (Score:1)
A long-winded statement by the CEO, saying "Flock you." or "Go Flock yourself."
I'm waiting for the derivative video of "Whip It Good" [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] where the song is "Flock it good" with actors dressed as Flock cameras like: [2]https://www.theurbanist.org/se... [theurbanist.org]
JoshK.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIEVqFB4WUo
[2] https://www.theurbanist.org/seattle-council-greenlights-police-surveillance-expansion/
From the ACLU (Score:2, Informative)
Full ACLU statement.
Despite 'New' Updates, Flock's Creepy Cameras Remain Major Civil Liberties Threat
[1]https://www.aclu.org/news/priv... [aclu.org]
In response to Flock's announcement of operational changes, the ACLU breaks down why many fall short.
Surveillance company Flock Safety announced several operational changes in response to a torrent of criticism and overwhelming public opposition to its mass government surveillance product.
Flock's threat to privacy stems from its operation of more than 120,000 automatic licens
[1] https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/despite-new-updates-flocks-creepy-cameras-remain-major-civil-liberties-threat
Warrants Maybe? (Score:1)
Simple solution is to require a court issued warrant for any such information to be presented to any government agency, local or federal. Not an administrative warrant, but one signed by a judge and not from the FISA court.
Second, is to ban this kind of surveillance practice. Any data or evidence collection like this, sold or freely give to anyone or anything should be illegal.
The found fathers would have rejected this surveillance practice and outlawed it, if they could have imagined such a thing. Lucki
Fuck Flock (Score:2)
Fuck Flock
"Judges with Warrants" (Score:2)
"Judges with Warrants" ... so last century.
They'll clamp down briefly... (Score:2)
and then the noise blows over and they'll allow the free-for-all to continue again. Nothing good is going to come from having pervasive surveillance of people just going about their daily lives in their car. They've taken an inch, then a foot....the mile isn't far off. Y'all metric using folks can convert to your favourite units.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly my thoughts. Entropy and inertia and greed are too strong of forces here for this new technology to ever be anything but deeply abused. That's obviously true for AI in general.
Just do better, if you like (Score:1)
Fluck will fix things by encouraging those who specifically ignore and don't care about any "guardrails" to get better at guardrailship and followship of suggestibles. Good fluck with dat.
Lies (Score:2)
They might claim they'll delete raw video in X days, but they'll keep the flawed metadata forever.
dragnets (Score:1)
What is a dragnet? Why are dragnets illegal?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Dragnets are illegal? Jack Webb's gonna be very disappointed.