Flock says its new tool will help identify police abuse, but hasn’t explained how it works

Flock, a surveillance technology startup, has unveiled a series of new policies and tools aimed at addressing abuse of its automated license plate reader systems. The company recommends that police departments retain data for seven days instead of 30, introduces an "Evidence Mode," and allows customers to set data-sharing limits based on the type of offense. Additionally, Flock has launched a tool called "Audit Assistance," which is designed to detect abnormal activity and flag it for administrator review.

Audit Assistance, which Flock began rolling out in April, has been adopted by more than one-third of its customers, who are now required to enable it by the end of the year. The tool claims to help customers identify abuse by flagging unusual patterns early, such as repeated searches for the same license plate over an extended period.

However, Flock has not provided detailed information on how Audit Assistance works, what data it is trained on, or how it was developed. Furthermore, the effectiveness and accuracy of the tool remain unclear, with privacy experts raising concerns about its ability to consistently address abuse.

Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and security researchers, argue that Audit Assistance may not be an effective security measure, as law enforcement could potentially find ways to circumvent it. They also question whether Flock has any statistics or data demonstrating the tool's effectiveness, its false positive and false negative rates, or if it has been audited by a third party.

Privacy experts and Flock critics emphasize the need for independent evaluation of Audit Assistance to determine its actual effectiveness and ensure accountability. Making Audit Assistance mandatory is seen as a positive step, but there is a demand for further audits to understand how the tool functions in practice.