Brian Merchant, who writes for Blood on the machinereports that people across the United States are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras amid growing public outrage that plate readers are helping US immigration and deportation authorities.
Flock is the Atlanta-based surveillance startup valued at $7.5 billion a year ago and maker of license plate readers. He has been criticized for allowing federal authorities to access his vast network of license plate readers and nationwide databases at a time when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is increasingly relying on data to raid communities as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Flock cameras allow authorities to track where people go and when by taking photos of their license plates from thousands of cameras located across the United States. Flock claims it does not share data directly with ICE, but reports indicate that local police have shared their own access to Flock’s cameras and databases with federal authorities.
While some communities call their cities to terminate their contracts with Flockothers take matters into their own hands.
Marketer reports cases of cracked and broken Flock cameras in La Mesa, California, just weeks after the city council approved continuing to deploy Flock cameras in the city, despite a clear majority in attendance favoring their shutdown. A local reference reported strong opposition to the surveillance technology, with residents raising privacy concerns.
Other cases of vandalism range from California and Connecticut to Illinois and Virginia. In Oregonsix license plate scanning cameras on poles were cut and at least one was spray painted. A note left at the base of the cut poles read: “Hahaha you’re a wreck watching shit” says the Merchant.
According to DeFlocka project aimed at mapping license plate readers, there are nearly 80,000 cameras across the United States. Dozens of cities have so far rejected the use of Flock’s cameras, and some police departments have after it was blocked federal authorities from using their resources.
A Flock spokesperson would not say, when reached by TechCrunch, whether the company keeps track of how many cameras have been damaged since they were released.
