Flock’s controversial cameras were removed from this Californian city over privacy concerns — but Flock reinstalled them anyway
Grass Valley authorities removed Flock cameras from their city, but later found that Flock had reinstalled them.
In Grass Valley, California, the police force recently opted to terminate its agreement with Flock, the controversial camera manufacturer, and remove all of the company's surveillance devices. This decision came about due to concerns over data privacy, with the police department revealing that "Hundreds of thousands of California agency queries were being performed against our data."
However, just weeks later, it was discovered that Flock had not only reinstated the cameras but also serviced them without the city or police department's consent. Flock claimed that the cameras were removed before the cancellation process could be finalized, triggering their automated maintenance system to send repair crews. The decision to replace Flock with alternative surveillance technology has been made by several cities, with Axon being one of the favored options.
Reports suggest that cities from California to New York State have opted for Axon devices over Flock's, with some citing Axon's ability to meet public safety requirements while also protecting user privacy. However, this shift in allegiance might not necessarily alleviate the concerns surrounding ALPR technology as a whole, as the American Civil Liberties Union has pointed out that "Simply replacing Flock surveillance with another company's surveillance won't necessarily solve any of the privacy and other civil liberties problems posed by this mass surveillance technology."
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