Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Editor, Times-Union:
On September 10, the County Council will hold a public hearing about Flock cameras. The public deserves a clear answer to the basic question: What are we paying for?
Flock would like us to think about its system one camera at a time. But Flock is not just a camera. It is a nationwide network. A Flock camera records a vehicle’s plate, location, date, and time. It also records the vehicle’s make, color, body type, vehicle damage, roof rack, bumper sticker, and more. That information is controlled by a private company not subject to public records requests. That same company then places the data into a database and sells access to whoever the company decides.
One camera creates one dot on a map. Many cameras create many dots. That distinction matters because Flock and its supporters increasingly dismiss concerns about tracking as "misinformation." But when selling it, Flock advertises real-time alerts when wanted or missing-person vehicles pass cameras. It promotes its ability to help police find fleeing suspects and recover missing children.
Those are valuable capabilities. But you cannot advertise the ability to follow the trail of a missing child on one page and dismiss concerns about tracking as misinformation on another. The technology does not change depending on if you approve of the person being searched.
A master key does not stop being a master key because its owner promises to open only one door. Flock says local agencies control sharing and can turn outside access off. But public records from Cleveland communities revealed outside access in what was described as a “temporary Flock error.” Multiple communities across the country have bagged Flock cameras themselves after ending their contracts, because the cameras had not been removed. Trust alone is not sufficient.
And, our local law enforcement are not the only ones with access. There is another participant that receives far too little attention. Flock.
Technology companies have taught us that data has value. As Finnick Odair observed in The Hunger Games, "Secrets are worth more than silver or sapphires." Our locations, purchases, and searches have become commodities to companies hungry for more and more data. The Federal Trade Commission has repeatedly taken action against data brokers for selling sensitive location information. Flock says it does not sell customer ALPR data. Promises matter. But terms of service change. The ACLU found that Flock’s standard terms changed four times in seven months this year.
This database also changes the order of a police investigation. Our Constitution generally expects the government to have suspicion before searching, absent narrow exceptions. The basic order is simple:
Suspicion first. A warrant second. A search third.
A system like Flock turns that order backward:
Record everyone first. Search the records later. Decide whom to suspect last.
That is the exact same danger our founders designed our 4th Amendment to prevent.
Calling each observation a single photograph avoids the actual issue of the network and what it can do.
Travis McConnell
Warsaw, via email
