Despite 'New' Updates, Flock's Creepy Cameras Remain Major Civil Liberties Threat | American Civil Liberties Union

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Despite 'New' Updates, Flock's Creepy Cameras Remain Major Civil Liberties Threat

In response to Flock’s announcement of operational changes, the ACLU breaks down why many fall short.

Chad Marlow,<br>ACLU

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August 13, 2026

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 license plate readers (ALPRs) nationwide, which includes broad location data collection and sharing. While one proposed change to Flock’s operations might constitute a positive development, most of the other changes seem to be following Flock’s playbook of treating legitimate privacy concerns as mere public relations problems. Several of the proposed changes Flock is touting are merely retreads of previous inadequate safety measures.

ALPR companies like Flock violate our privacy across the country by taking photos of every vehicle passing their cameras, logging detailed information about them into a massive nationwide database, and making it possible to track those vehicles and apply AI to uncover their occupants’ private patterns of life. The ACLU is fighting alongside communities to cancel local ALPR contracts and push lawmakers to protect our rights from this surveillance nightmare. Below, the ACLU details and responds to Flock’s announced changes.

Flock reduces default data retention time period, but the devil may be in the details.

Flock announced it is reducing its...