Couverture de Flock Safety: The Surveillance State Has a Logo

Flock Safety: The Surveillance State Has a Logo

Flock Safety: The Surveillance State Has a Logo

Écouter gratuitement

Voir les détails

Offres de saison | 0,99 € par mois pendant les 3 premiers mois

5,99 €/mois par la suite. Des conditions s’appliquent. Annulation mensuelle possible.
À propos de ce contenu audio
 Read transcriptA camera that helps recover a stolen car can also help someone follow a person who hasn’t committed a crime. What happens when those cameras become a network—and the people searching its records are nowhere near your town? I found my way into that question through a job posting. The responsibilities lined up remarkably well with the work I wanted to do next. There was only one problem: the company was Flock Safety. In this episode of R: On Everything, I examine how automated license plate readers turn ordinary driving into searchable observations, why “I’m not doing anything wrong” offers so little reassurance, and what happens when information collected locally becomes accessible elsewhere. Drawing on Wisconsin reporting, a warrantless-search lawsuit, camera removals, and competing proposals in Congress, I consider the investigative benefits alongside the power these systems create. I also explore why replacing Flock with another vendor leaves some of the most important questions unanswered. Who can search the records? What authority do they need? And can a community meaningfully reject surveillance before it becomes something everyone is expected to live around? Read the companion essay: The Surveillance State Has a Logo Sources and further reading • Flock Safety — license plate reader capabilities: Product information. The company’s description of vehicle characteristics, Vehicle Signature searches, network connections, and its LPR product’s exclusion of facial recognition. • Flock Safety — announced safeguards: Privacy, accountability, security, and transparency updates, August 13, 2026. Includes the seven-day retention recommendation, conditions for existing customers, and planned auditing requirements. Announced changes do not establish that every customer has implemented them. • Wisconsin Public Radio — Beatrice Lawrence: Green Bay police audit Flock data, suspend sharing in response to privacy concern, August 20, 2026. Covers investigative benefits, Green Bay’s audit and sharing restrictions, and the Menasha officer sentenced for tracking his ex-girlfriend. • Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty: NOCAMS MUSKEGO v. Waukesha County and the filed complaint. Sources for the warrantless-search challenge and alleged database-search totals. The complaint presents plaintiffs’ allegations, not court findings; search totals are not counts of targeted residents. • Wisconsin Examiner — Isiah Holmes: Milwaukee County votes to remove Flock cameras from parks, October 2, 2026. Also reports the sheriff’s attribution of a decline in certain park-area crimes to the cameras. That attribution does not establish how much of the decline the cameras caused. • WXPR / WAOW Television — Kaoyeng Lee: Oneida County ends use of Flock cameras, October 7, 2026. Source for the county’s departure, camera removals, and Captain Tyler Young’s comments about privacy and access. • Urban Milwaukee — Graham Kilmer: County Covers Flock Cameras, October 12, 2026. Covers the signing of Milwaukee County’s parks measure. Its scope is county parkland, and it leaves room for replacement surveillance equipment. • Institute for Justice: Database tracking cancellations of license plate reader contracts. The episode uses the October 16, 2026 update. Contract cancellations do not necessarily mean camera removals are complete; the database excludes jurisdictions that only paused operations or changed vendors. • Ban Flock Act: Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and Merkley’s announcement and introduced House text, H.R. 10691. Sources for the proposed restrictions, funding conditions, and exceptions. Discussed as proposed legislation. • Flock-Off Act: Massie and Burlison’s announcement of H.R. 10221, September 2, 2026. A separate proposal restricting federal funding for license plate readers and biometric surveillance cameras. • UW–Madison Police Department: Announcement that its Flock contract would not be renewed, July 3, 2026. The department also expressed continued support for license plate reader technology and interest in other vendors. • CT Insider — Eric Bedner: Fairfield replaces Flock with 54 Axon license plate readers, October 16, 2026. Covers the vendor replacement and the police chief’s description of additional controls. • DeFlock: Community-maintained camera map. A practical resource for locating mapped license plate readers from multiple vendors. A mapped location does not establish that a camera is currently operating. Research cutoff: October 19, 2026. More essays and episodes: R: On Everything Support R: On Everything by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/r-on-everything
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
Aucun commentaire pour le moment