Amid growing backlash across the United States, at least 54 cities have ended or refused Flock Safety's license plate-reading cameras.
Now, Flock CEO Garrett Langley has argued in a recent interview with Bloomberg that opponents are getting the company wrong.
Here's what to know
At the center of the fight is whether a fast-growing surveillance system should be able to log the movements of ordinary drivers, riders, and passersby who never agreed to be monitored.
In the recent interview, Langley tried to redirect the focus on the company's mission of "protecting people." He asserted, "We're not Big Brother."
Flock operates approximately 120,000 cameras across 49 states and works with 6,000 law enforcement agencies and around 1,000 private customers, according to Futurism. Flock has also considered introducing drones, trailers, gunshot-detection hardware, and, as 404 Media reported, a proposal involving rideshare drivers' dash cams.
More background
According to Futurism, Flock's license plate readers have "glaring technological issues" that have allegedly led to false arrests or wrongful traffic stops. In Roseville, California, police found the cameras mixed up one plate with another 71% of the time from 2023 to 2024.
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There have also been reports of police using the surveillance technology to stalk women.
Big Brother or not, these issues have raised alarm among civil rights organizations, including the Institute for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union.
What's being done?
In response to the criticism, Flock says it is making adjustments. According to Bloomberg, Langley said law enforcement customers will have to use an audit tool to identify abnormal behavior and that data retention is being cut from 30 days to seven.
Civil liberties groups, however, are not convinced the changes go far enough.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the moves a "step in the right direction" but said other changes were "merely retreads of previous inadequate safety measures," per Futurism.
For critics, the central issue has not changed: who gets to search people's movements in the first place.
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