Florida and Texas Move Away from Flock Cameras Over Citizen Surveillance

Authorities in Florida and Texas have begun severing ties with Flock — a major provider of video surveillance systems that read vehicle license plates. The move comes in response to mounting complaints about privacy violations and abuses of the surveillance technology.

The Florida Department of Transportation announced on Monday that it is discontinuing the use of license-plate readers on the state's highways, including Flock cameras, citing “troubling reports of abuse, data protection issues, and surveillance schemes.” It has allowed 30 days for the equipment to be removed. The decision followed remarks by Governor Ron DeSantis, who called plate-recognition technology “out of control.”

Florida followed the lead of Texas, where last week state agencies were ordered to stop funding Flock cameras. The office of Governor Greg Abbott pointed to abuses of the system: a police officer from the city of Lufkin was recently charged on a hundred counts related to allegedly searching for people in the Flock database without authorization. Exactly which agencies the decision will affect has not been specified, but local media report that it could sweep broadly across Dallas, where officials say hundreds of the company's cameras are in operation.

Complaints from both sides of the political spectrum

The retreat from Flock is unfolding against a backdrop of growing concern over privacy and civil liberties shared by members of both parties. Reports have highlighted cybersecurity problems, cases in which police officers used their access to the database to stalk former partners, and recognition errors that led to unwarranted detentions and arrests. According to the latest data, Flock cameras are moving beyond simply reading plates and learning to recognize and track people themselves.

The company currently has roughly 130,000 plate readers across the United States. Flock is facing pushback from residents who do not want to see its cameras in their neighborhoods. In several cities — Evanston (Illinois), Cambridge (Massachusetts), and Eugene (Oregon) — the company was reported to have reinstalled or reactivated cameras even after local authorities had terminated their contracts with it.

TechCrunch asked Flock whether the company would allow Florida and Texas to remove the equipment or would reactivate it. A Flock spokesperson did not respond to the request.

Source: TechCrunch