Flock Wants a Closely Surveilled World with No Exit

Langley, a thirty-nine-year-old tech entrepreneur, recounts how Flock surveillance cameras came to be. In 2017, his Atlanta neighborhood fell victim to numerous thefts, prompting him to seek help from the local police. The officer informed him that without eyewitnesses or surveillance footage, the thieves were virtually undetectable.

This moment of realization inspired Langley to collaborate with two former classmates, Matt Feury and Paige Todd, who developed affordable license-plate-reading cameras using Android phones and solar panels. These cameras were initially sold to homeowners' associations and private communities but soon caught the attention of law enforcement agencies.

By 2020, Flock cameras were installed across the country, working in tandem with local police departments. The company's valuation reached over eight billion dollars, with prominent venture-capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz as major investors. Currently, around forty percent of the United States' law enforcement agencies have contracts with Flock, monitoring roads in nearly every state except Alaska.

Flock cameras have expanded beyond merely reading license plates, now recording vehicle make, model, and color. This data is accessible to law enforcement agencies without the need for a warrant, enabling arrests and use as evidence in court proceedings. Such capabilities, Langley and his allies argue, showcase Flock's potential to catch and prosecute criminals.

A notable example includes the tracking of a mass shooter at Brown University using data from Flock cameras. The International Association of Chiefs of Police has praised automated license-plate readers (A.L.P.R.s) like Flock's as a "crime-fighting star." Notably, politicians across the political spectrum have expressed support for the technology, despite concerns over increased lobbying and political donations from the company.

However, Flock and the broader A.L.P.R. industry have encountered growing opposition. Roughly half of Americans oppose the use of A.L.P.R.s, with some taking drastic measures such as damaging, stealing, or defacing the cameras. Some individuals have even offered rewards for information related to the destruction of Flock cameras, which some view as heroic acts.

In response, a crowdsourced-data app called DeFlock tracks Flock cameras and provides legal and community resources for those opposing the surveillance. Langley dismissed the movement as "terroristic," but the public sentiment appears to have shifted against his perspective on safety and privacy. Leaders in red states are also distancing themselves from Flock as constituents demand a more private society.