Florida Bans Flock Cameras From State Highways (www.wctv.tv)
- Reference: 0185337858
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/09/01/032256/florida-bans-flock-cameras-from-state-highways
- Source link: https://www.wctv.tv/2026/08/31/gov-desantis-set-remove-flock-cameras-state-roadways/
> Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he's [2]removing Flock camera from state roadways . The [3]announcement comes amid a growing concern over the misuse of automated license plate readers. On Monday, DeSantis ordered all Flock cameras removed from what he calls the 'state highway system' within the next 30 days, which would include interstates like I-10 and I-75. That order led to several sheriff's departments like in Franklin, Liberty and Putnam Counties to announce they're ending their own license plate reader programs. According to the Florida Department of Transportation memo, if the cameras aren't removed from the state right-of-ways within 30 days, then the state government will take them down on their own. The memo also says FDOT will deny any other permits for cameras in the future.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~schwit1
[2] https://www.wctv.tv/2026/08/31/gov-desantis-set-remove-flock-cameras-state-roadways/
[3] https://x.com/TheChiefNerd/status/2094578905663295821
Wow! (Score:3)
I've been very dismissive about all the noise about individual Flock camera take downs. But this, a state level and from a state as large as Florida, seems quite significant.
Hooray for Florida. Fuck Flock and everyone that thinks they're a good idea.
It's because they can't prevent them (Score:2)
From tracking Rich people. Everyone uses the highway system including the wealthy. Ordinarily the solution for things like surveillance cameras and red light cameras and speeding cameras is to put them in poor neighborhoods so that they become a defacto tax on anyone living there.
This is necessary and important because if you put them in wealthy neighborhoods people there have time out of their day they can take to organize petitions to get them banned and removed. Poor people can't do that because they
Good on the governor! (Score:2)
I was kind of surprised that DeSantis, of all people, was ditching Flock. Then my wife mentioned that perhaps he's concerned about his own comings and goings being tracked...
Brevard County has followed suit. (Score:1)
My county of Brevard Florida has decided to put their relationship with Flock on ice and to remove all cameras now because of data use and privacy concerns. The sheriff went further to request that data any data generated from the Brevard County cameras be removed from Flock's database and has instituted policies to deny his officers access to Flock data. Flock has really screwed up its marketing. It feels like they are a bunch of Techbros that don't understand peoples fear of privacy violations.
Re: (Score:2)
They brought the "growth at all costs" tech mindset to something that required far more consideration.
No private entity is a good actor here but pretty plain to see the difference in how Flock does things versus the other gorilla sized private contractor in the space, Axon who already has experience in handling this type of data. [1]They are actually starting to poach out Flock's business [yahoo.com] and I imagine they will be far more discrete about doing the same things.
[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/cities-ditching-flock-safety-cameras-172924943.html
Re: (Score:2)
Do you think discrete means "good"?
Open the schools!