CONNECT WITH US
Tech

Tech

At least 10 local governments have moved to drop Flock’s surveillance cameras since summer

TechCrunch - Government logo

Published on

Add as a preferred source on Google
At least 10 local governments have moved to drop Flock’s surveillance cameras since summer

At least 10 local governments and police departments have moved since this summer to curb, restrict, or end their use of Flock Safety technology as concerns about mass surveillance and data privacy continue to grow. The backlash is part of a broader pushback against the rapid adoption of advanced AI technology, including the data center buildout, facial recognition, and other uses of AI.

Flock, founded in 2017, sells surveillance software — like license plate readers, drones, and microphone-based edge-computing devices to pick up gunshots and other sounds — that can help solve crimes, such as finding missing people or stolen cars. More than 100,000 Flock cameras are in use nationwide.

But in the past three months, Monroe, Ohio; Newburgh, New York; Richmond, Virginia; Hopkinton, Massachusetts; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Lansing, Michigan, have all moved to end their contracts with Flock. Meanwhile, police in East Bridgewater and Grafton, Massachusetts, also announced plans to stop using Flock cameras. Just this week, residents of League City, Texas, voted against their police department’s continued use of Flock’s license plate readers, and the cameras are now set to be removed.

The concerns range from privacy to how data is shared (and with whom) to procurement concerns.

In Asheville, North Carolina, police lost access to Flock after the city voted to terminate its contract in August, and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado announced in September that it would stop using Flock cameras. When asked for comment, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office redirected TechCrunch to its press release, where Sheriff Joseph Roybal said that discontinuing the use of Flock was the right decision for the county.


Source link
Related Topics:Tech

Disclaimer

We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We TheMorningPulse.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It's possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.