Difference between revisions of "Flock Safety"
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| − | Flock Group Inc., doing business as '''Flock Safety''', is a [[mass surveillance]] corporation, which was founded in 2017 by Garrett Langley, Matt Feury, and Paige Todd. They utilize [[Artificial Intelligence]]/machine learning, computer vision, and other modern technologies to identify and locate/track people and vehicles. They also offer gunshot locator (listening) devices, which in 2025, also began analyzing human voice.<ref name="eff microphones">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/flocks-gunshot-detection-microphones-will-start-listening-human-voices</ref><ref name="sos listening">https://stateofsurveillance.org/news/flock-listening-city/</ref> | + | Flock Group Inc., doing business as '''Flock Safety''', is a [[mass surveillance]] corporation, which was founded in 2017 by Garrett Langley, Matt Feury, and Paige Todd. They utilize [[Artificial Intelligence]]/machine learning, computer vision, and other modern technologies to identify and locate/track people and vehicles. They also offer autonomous drones, gunshot locator (listening) devices, which in 2025, also began analyzing human voice.<ref name="eff microphones">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/flocks-gunshot-detection-microphones-will-start-listening-human-voices</ref><ref name="sos listening">https://stateofsurveillance.org/news/flock-listening-city/</ref> |
==Systems== | ==Systems== | ||
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===Autonomous Drones=== | ===Autonomous Drones=== | ||
| − | Flock also leases drones, which can be automatically deployed by Flock's AI, to go provide surveillance over an area, or follow a person of interest. With an advertised speed of 60mph, and the ability to scan license plates from 2000 | + | Flock also leases drones, which can be automatically deployed by Flock's AI, to go provide surveillance over an area, or follow a person of interest. With an advertised speed of 60mph, and the ability to scan license plates from 2000 feet away, these enable the customer to identify and track anyone within range, where other surveillance equipment is not already installed. <ref>https://www.flocksafety.com/products/flock-dfr</ref><ref>https://www.cnet.com/home/security/when-flock-comes-to-town-why-cities-are-axing-the-controversial-surveillance-technology/</ref> |
| − | "The Flock Safety drone, specifically, are flying LPR cameras as | + | "The Flock Safety drone, specifically, are flying LPR cameras as well" -Rahul Sidhu, Vice President of Aviation at Flock Safety<ref>https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/drone-sky-could-be-tracking-your-car</ref> |
==Legal and Privacy issues== | ==Legal and Privacy issues== | ||
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One defense of Flock's usage, is that each customer can purportedly only access the data their own leased Flock equipment collects. However, each customer has the option to share their data with other customers, which quickly spreads the access to each customer's data, across the country. As of 2026, we also now have federal agencies such as the FBI, attempting to access nationwide tracing data from Flock and/or competitors.<ref>https://govtribe.com/file/government-file/attachment-1-lpr-idiq-statement-of-work-dot-pdf</ref><ref>https://san.com/cc/ice-illegally-gains-informal-access-to-nationwide-license-plate-camera-network/</ref> | One defense of Flock's usage, is that each customer can purportedly only access the data their own leased Flock equipment collects. However, each customer has the option to share their data with other customers, which quickly spreads the access to each customer's data, across the country. As of 2026, we also now have federal agencies such as the FBI, attempting to access nationwide tracing data from Flock and/or competitors.<ref>https://govtribe.com/file/government-file/attachment-1-lpr-idiq-statement-of-work-dot-pdf</ref><ref>https://san.com/cc/ice-illegally-gains-informal-access-to-nationwide-license-plate-camera-network/</ref> | ||
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| + | Surveillance systems also have a societal effect. It has been proven that law-abiding people, will still change their behaviors when they know they are being surveilled. This is not crime prevention, but rather a so-called "chilling affect." When people know their voice is beingf recorded and analyzed (by things like Flock Raven), they will avoid talking about certain things. When they know their movements are being tracked, they will avoid going certain places. There are other examples of this as well, but this overall influence is known as the "Hawthorne effect."<ref>https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/hawthorne-effect</ref><ref>https://www.simplypsychology.org/hawthorne-effect.html</ref> | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 20:34, May 24, 2026
Flock Group Inc., doing business as Flock Safety, is a mass surveillance corporation, which was founded in 2017 by Garrett Langley, Matt Feury, and Paige Todd. They utilize Artificial Intelligence/machine learning, computer vision, and other modern technologies to identify and locate/track people and vehicles. They also offer autonomous drones, gunshot locator (listening) devices, which in 2025, also began analyzing human voice.[1][2]
Systems
Automated License Plate Readers
Traditional Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) read license plates, and create a log of every license plate entering or leaving a location, with its time/date stamp.[3] Flock's ALPRs do this as well, but they also collect dozens of other data points about every vehicle, including, make, model, color, modifications (custom rims, trailer hitches, etc), visible damage, and photos of bumper stickers.[4][5] Flock uses all of these data points to create what they call a "Vehicle Fingerprint"[6] which can be used to track that vehicle even if the license plate is obscured or removed.[7] Every vehicle passing by is scanned and indexed, with its location and time included. This data, including photos, are uploaded using a cellular connection to Flock Nova, their analytics and search platform.[8] As that vehicle continues to drive, it will continue passing numerous ALPRs along its journey, enabling near-realtime location tracking of the vehicle, as well as the personal identification of the driver.
The Flock ALPR product line, is named, "falcon." The standard model runs on an Android OS, with a Snapdragon 625 processor, 2GB RAM, 29GB storage, Wi-Fi, GPS, and onboard AI (YOLO + OpenCV)[9] There are several variants, including a long range, short range, and "flex" option (for temporary installation).
Facial Recognition Cameras
Flock also offers surveillance cameras which can scan faces in order to identify everyone in the surveillance area. These typically have the additional ability to scan license places, but they are intended primarily to identify and track individuals in public spaces using face scans.[10] These were found in early 2026 to contain major cybersecurity issues (ignoring the privacy and legal issues), but Flock chose to deny the existence of those problems, while threatening to file lawsuits against the security researchers who discovered the problems.[11]
Flock offers both PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) Condor cameras, designed to be remotely controlled (by a human or the Flock AI), and "Condor Bullet" cameras, intended for fixed installation.
Sound analysis
Flock offers AI-powered internet-connected listening ("Raven") devices, for public spaces. These attempt to identify the sound of gunshots, car crashes, and human voice suggesting distress,[1][2] "instantly linking them with LPR and video."[12] Any suspected illegal behavior or distress is reported automatically to the customer along with other surveillance data from the area.
Autonomous Drones
Flock also leases drones, which can be automatically deployed by Flock's AI, to go provide surveillance over an area, or follow a person of interest. With an advertised speed of 60mph, and the ability to scan license plates from 2000 feet away, these enable the customer to identify and track anyone within range, where other surveillance equipment is not already installed. [13][14]
"The Flock Safety drone, specifically, are flying LPR cameras as well" -Rahul Sidhu, Vice President of Aviation at Flock Safety[15]
Legal and Privacy issues
Although the AI-powered mass surveillance which Flock offers can be useful, it comes with some significant legal and ethical problems. The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution provides strong protections against "unreasonable searches and seizures," without a legal warrant, which clearly defines who is being subjected to a search, what place will be searched, and the duration of the search. It also needs to be signed by a judge. Based on legal precedent, tracking the movements of a person over time, is a form of a search, which therefore requires a specific and limited search warrant.[16][17]
Unfortunately, these systems are also prone to abuse. There have been many cases of those with access to Flock's tracing data, using it to stalk former romantic partners,[18] and others.[19][20][21]
One defense of Flock's usage, is that each customer can purportedly only access the data their own leased Flock equipment collects. However, each customer has the option to share their data with other customers, which quickly spreads the access to each customer's data, across the country. As of 2026, we also now have federal agencies such as the FBI, attempting to access nationwide tracing data from Flock and/or competitors.[22][23]
Surveillance systems also have a societal effect. It has been proven that law-abiding people, will still change their behaviors when they know they are being surveilled. This is not crime prevention, but rather a so-called "chilling affect." When people know their voice is beingf recorded and analyzed (by things like Flock Raven), they will avoid talking about certain things. When they know their movements are being tracked, they will avoid going certain places. There are other examples of this as well, but this overall influence is known as the "Hawthorne effect."[24][25]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/flocks-gunshot-detection-microphones-will-start-listening-human-voices
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://stateofsurveillance.org/news/flock-listening-city/
- ↑ https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/saver/automatic-license-plate-readers
- ↑ https://www.flocksafety.com/not-all-lprs-are-created-equal
- ↑ https://www.flocksafety.com/products/license-plate-readers
- ↑ https://www.myvendorlink.com/external/vfile?d=vrf&s=137266&v=76605&sv=0&i=4&ft=b
- ↑ https://www.stopflock.com/
- ↑ https://www.flocksafety.com/products/flock-nova
- ↑ https://eyesoffcr.org/blog/blog-8.html
- ↑ https://www.flocksafety.com/webinar/introducing-condor-live-and-recorded-video
- ↑ https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/14/flock-condor-camera-spy-public/
- ↑ https://www.flocksafety.com/products/gunshot-detection
- ↑ https://www.flocksafety.com/products/flock-dfr
- ↑ https://www.cnet.com/home/security/when-flock-comes-to-town-why-cities-are-axing-the-controversial-surveillance-technology/
- ↑ https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/drone-sky-could-be-tracking-your-car
- ↑ https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/585/16-402/
- ↑ https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/565/400/
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/02/flock-police-surveillance-tech-birds-iran-press-freedom
- ↑ https://ij.org/police-have-reportedly-used-license-plate-readers-to-stalk-romantic-interests-at-least-14-times-in-recent-years/
- ↑ https://lookout.co/georgia-police-chief-arrested-for-using-flock-cameras-for-stalking-and-harassment-searched-capitola-data-earlier-this-year/story
- ↑ https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/police-ai-surveillance-stalking
- ↑ https://govtribe.com/file/government-file/attachment-1-lpr-idiq-statement-of-work-dot-pdf
- ↑ https://san.com/cc/ice-illegally-gains-informal-access-to-nationwide-license-plate-camera-network/
- ↑ https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/hawthorne-effect
- ↑ https://www.simplypsychology.org/hawthorne-effect.html