Federal judge calls Flock ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’

In a recent ruling, a federal judge has declared that a sheriff’s deputy in Tulsa, Oklahoma violated a woman's Fourth Amendment rights when utilizing Flock Safety to scan her license plate without a warrant. According to 404 Media, this decision does not set a legally binding precedent, yet it marks one of the initial instances where a federal judge has deemed a Flock search unlawful.

Judge Sara Hill determined that the deputy should have procured a warrant prior to querying the Flock database for the woman's license plate, as he presented "no apparent reason" for the search "other than the fact that [the woman's vehicle] had a California license plate." The officer subsequently employed the woman's travel history from Flock as part of the rationale for entering her vehicle, where he allegedly uncovered 91 pounds of meth.

Judge Hill, however, emphasized that all evidence gathered subsequent to the Flock search must be dismissed, as it constitutes "the fruit of a poisonous tree." Furthermore, Judge Hill addressed the broader issue of warrantless searches of the Flock database, asserting that tracking individuals' locations— even in public spaces— becomes "constitutionally problematic" when law enforcement can "indiscriminately and passively catalog your whereabouts over an extended period of time and then use that information for any purpose whenever convenient."

She characterized this as a form of "indiscriminate mass surveillance," contrasting it with the targeted surveillance seen in the Supreme Court case Carpenter v. United States. Judge Hill's decision aligns with the growing dissent from various political factions. Several local and state governments, including Florida and Texas, have pledged to discontinue the use of Flock technology.

Recently, Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democrat from Vermont, introduced the Block Flock Act, seeking to prevent federal agencies from employing automated license plate readers like Flock. Flock CEO Garretty Langley, who will be interviewed at TechCrunch Disrupt, has advocated for a "compromise" between privacy and safety, and issued an apology to women who have been harassed by law enforcement utilizing the Flock system.

In response to these setbacks, Flock has reportedly offered voluntary employee buyouts to reduce its workforce.