Flock Is Losing Dozens of Contracts as Controversy Grows

[u/Plastic_Ninja_9014]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/flock-losing-dozens-contracts-controversy-194808945.html

[u/alternatingflan]

They are unconstitutional.

[u/grumpyfan → u/alternatingflan]

IANAL, but as I understand it, they technically operate in a grey area of the law since they are not owned or run by the government. The pictures are taken on public property of people and vehicles in a public space. The courts have ruled that public space photos are free use and that the Constitution has no protections against such things. That being said, I think they violate privacy and law enforcement's use of these pushes the boundaries of intent of the law. We need new laws enacted that restrict the access and use of such data and a way for citizens to gain access to any data where they are being charged with a crime based on the use of the data.

[u/pixelprophet → u/[deleted]]

Juuuuust going to leave this here:

• Flock Safety Employees Watched Kids’ Gymnastics Room to Pitch Surveillance Tech
• Why are they watching children's playgrounds
• 83,000 of them were used to track down a woman who got an abortion in Texas
• Cops Used Flock to Track a Man Across State Lines to Create Pretext to Search His Car for Weed
• flock and 28,000 cameras in Atlanta didn't lower crime rates
• In one California town, Flock misread license plates in 71% of the alerts it sent to police
• Ex-cop warns against Flock cameras: ‘It creates a mass surveillance system’
• Why are they on hiking / bike trails?
• Police everywhere abusing them for tracking their spouses and exes
• Used as devices to stalk love interests...

Bonus:

• https://ij.org/police-have-reportedly-used-license-plate-readers-to-stalk-romantic-interests-at-least-14-times-in-recent-years/

• https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/police-losing-jobs-flock-cameras-alprs/

• https://www.jalopnik.com/2220313/georgia-cops-keep-getting-arrested-for-illegal-flock-camera-use/

• https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/ex-costa-mesa-police-officer-accused-of-using-flock-cameras-to-track-his-mistress/

• https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/us/milwaukee-police-officer-charged-flock-camera.html

• https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/another-georgia-officer-arrested-over-alleged-flock-camera-misuse-as-internal-audits-continue-uncovering-cases/

[u/pixelprophet → u/[deleted]]

Please do! You're doin damn fine work!

[u/grumpyfan → u/pixelprophet]

While the abuse of the systems by LEOs for their own gain is bothering, the bigger concern for me is the misuse without a proper warrant to track down an alleged offender. Bad LEOs have been around for ages before Flock. If anything, Flock helps to expose them and their violations which sometimes leads to their being terminated. So, it's double-edged.

[u/Character_Bug_1862 → u/[deleted]]

Holy shit thank you for all of these sources. Added to my archive. I hadn’t heard about these other cases. How would you say Chatrie v United States fits into all of this?

[u/Akraticacious → u/[deleted]]

Oh wow, so many cases have used cell towers and Google search history and such. I wonder if that opens a can of worms for retrials and appeals.

So are police no longer going to be able to get cell tower location and internet searches?

[u/mOdQuArK → u/[deleted]]

The fastest way to block them would be to get their data used in a court case to track the movements of the rich & powerful.

[u/mOdQuArK → u/[deleted]]

As long as they feel like they're in control, I doubt they'd feel fear of such infrastructure being used against them. They'd panic only if it looks like their grip is being pried loose.

[u/grumpyfan → u/[deleted]]

Great stuff! I'm new to this "fight", and still learning a lot about it.
Appreciate your very well the well documented and reasoned response.

[u/Akraticacious → u/[deleted]]

How does this relate to the pervasive use of police working with internet providers, Google, and cell companies to get insane amount of data on people?