Texas City Demands $2 Million For Public Records On Flock Usage (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0186033346
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/10/06/0010236/texas-city-demands-2-million-for-public-records-on-flock-usage
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/texas-city-demands-2m-for-public-records-on-flock-usage/
> As [1]bipartisan backlash against Flock grows, some cities are asking anti-surveillance advocates and media outlets to pay eye-popping fees -- including charging tens of thousands or even millions -- to get information about how police departments are using and potentially abusing AI-enabled camera systems that track every vehicle that passes them. On Monday, the Texas Tribune [2]reported that city officials in a Fort Worth suburb, North Richland Hills, [3]asked one group to pay $2.3 million before it would fulfill a public records request for Flock data . To reach that high fee, officials claimed that searching "about a terabyte worth of communications about errors, misuse, and effectiveness of the Flock system" would take approximately 14 years of labor at a rate of $15 per hour.
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> Phil Mynona, who filed the request using a pseudonym on behalf of his group, the Texas Privacy Coalition, told the Tribune that the fee seemed "ludicrous" and designed to stifle his public records searches. Mynona has sought similar records from more than 200 law enforcement agencies across the US, and he said it was impossible to predict how cities assessed fees for Flock records. Some cities provided more than 400,000 pages of documents for free, while others charged $5,000. Other groups, including a Houston news station called KPRC, have seen officials quote up to $121,000 for Flock records, the Tribune reported. The high price tags may be hiding data that anti-surveillance groups note have triggered audits, arrests, and changes in how law enforcement uses cameras, including decisions to get rid of cameras.
Further reading: [4]Flock Blamed for Wrongful 13-Day Imprisonment and a Police Stalking Incident in Florida
[1] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/09/05/0637208/hundreds-more-flock-cameras-removed-in-the-us-this-week-flock-caught-repackaging-traffic-data
[2] https://www.texastribune.org/2026/10/05/texas-flock-cameras-two-million-public-records-information/
[3] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/texas-city-demands-2m-for-public-records-on-flock-usage/
[4] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/10/03/0612209/flock-blamed-for-wrongful-13-day-imprisonment-and-a-police-stalking-incident-in-florida
I have placed cameras in your house (Score:2)
The cameras are for your protection, what if a burglar breaks in? Also I used your money for the cameras. No you can't know where the cameras are or what they're looking at. No I don't need permission for that, what are you some pro burglar freak?
Re: (Score:2)
You've made it very clear.
malicious (Score:2)
There is a name for this: malicious compliance. The law says they must provide information to the taxpayers, they do it in a way that makes it impossible.
Here's my CV (Score:2)
Please hire me at those rates to manage a mere 1 TB database. It'll be the easiest (albeit the scummiest) analytics scam...er, public-sector job I've ever had.
If finding abuse is hard... (Score:2)
searching "about a terabyte worth of communications about errors, misuse, and effectiveness of the Flock system" would take approximately 14 years of labor at a rate of $15 per hour.
Then it shouldn't exist.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly this, if there was a threat against property or person of the city, and it would take 14 years to look through it, then the system is broken.
One measurable aspect of information quality is its timeliness. (Others are accuracy, relevancy and understandability). 14 years is NOT proportionate to what is being requested. It should be a week at the most. I know it says "14 years of labor" but that is also loaded to the max and not proportionate.
lol (Score:2)
america wtf
Re: lol (Score:2)
My thoughts exactly