Flock Safety has been a venture darling. Will data privacy controversies halt its rise?

Cat Gioino reports on the rise and fall of Flock Safety, a venture-backed startup that has been heralded for its safety-focused technology. The Georgia Tech graduate, CEO Garrett Langley, launched the company in 2017 after experiencing break-ins in Atlanta. Flock's initial offering was a license-plate camera, but it has since expanded to include video, gunshot detection, drones, and AI-powered search software.

The company operates in over 5,000 communities across 49 states, boasting $8.3 billion in valuation and $500 million in annual recurring revenue as of the first half of 2023.

Flock has raised a total of $775 million from various investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, a16z, Tiger Global, and others. However, the company's growth has been marred by controversy surrounding privacy and data ownership. Privacy experts and civil liberties groups have raised concerns about Flock's data collection practices, alleging that it could be used for stalking and that departments may share data with unauthorized entities like ICE.

These allegations have led to vandalism of Flock cameras across the country and several cities, including Boston, Flagstaff, and Santa Clara, dropping the service following a high-profile ad campaign by Amazon's Ring.

Flock maintains that it is not retaining the data but rather offering it to customers for a set period. However, privacy experts dispute this, citing LAPD's inspector general report as evidence of Flock's ability to retain data for its own purposes. The company has responded by introducing new guardrails, including a seven-day data retention policy, but critics argue that these measures do not fully address the concerns.

As Flock grapples with these issues, the question remains: are the company's safety promises worth the potential infringement on privacy and civil liberties?