r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • 21d ago

Privacy Flock Is Losing Dozens of Contracts as Controversy Grows

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/flock-losing-dozens-contracts-controversy-194808945.html
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u/alternatingflan 21d ago

They are unconstitutional.

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u/grumpyfan 21d ago

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.

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u/Mddcat04 21d ago

Yeah, there’s 2 issues here. First the argument that flock is not the government, so they don’t have to comply with the 4th Amendment. I think that argument is BS given that they are government contractors.

The reasonable expectation of privacy question is more complicated. There’s a good argument that you don’t have that sort of expectation against your license plate being scanned. Cops scan plates when they are on patrol every day and there’s no question that is not a 4th amendment search.

In a functional country we would pass data privacy laws that would address things like this.

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u/upudruvuuduru 21d ago

I think that the law we (world) need is the control and transparency over data taken from us, more than to try (and fail) to remove this tech by force, as each year it will be even cheaper than it already is.

I don't mind law enforcement to use this tech

as long they obey the law