By Michael Angelo Hernandez
What the Flock is Going On?
Mass-surveillance tech company Flock Safety made the news again here in San Diego recently. This time, due to an appearance before the San Diego City Council from the infamous villain of the widely popular Star Wars franchise, the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Or at least someone dressed like him, to mockingly defend the city’s use of Flock surveillance cameras.
It was during a Public Safety and Liveable Neighborhoods committee meeting on Wednesday Aug. 19, that “Vader” took the podium and proclaimed “The emperor is a fan of flock”. In his comments throughout the meeting, the Vader impersonator called for a stronger police force in San Diego and the continued use of Flock Surveillance technology “so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium, because we all know that the Flock Cameras are not only following the license plate readers, they are following children, they are following children in parks, and gymnasiums, and we need this, I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend.”
While a tad comical, this act of protest comes in reaction to the debate currently taking place all over the nation over the use of surveillance technology like Flock and the balance between public safety and personal privacy. Here’s the latest on the fight against Flock in the U.S.
Florida Police Use Decoy Flock Camera to Catch Alleged Vandal
Amid the wave of people taking matters into their own hands to get Flock out of their communities, police in Oviedo, Florida arrested a 24-year -old man suspected of vandalizing flock cameras in a sting operation which centered around the use of decoy cameras. After a total of three cameras were vandalized in July, the Oviedo cops decided to open an investigation into the matter.
Using decoy cameras that were reportedly donated to the department by an officer with a 3D-printer at home, OPD is said to have placed them exactly where the vandalized cameras previously stood and stationed an officer to watch over each one at night. 24-year-old Evan Meyer was arrested on August 20th for allegedly trying to cut down one of the fake cameras with pruning sheers. The incident took place just days before the Oviedo City Council was set to consider ending the city’s use of Flock cameras. Of the incident, Oviedo mayor Megan Sladek put out a statement clarifying she had no idea the sting operation was taking place.
More Cities Terminate Contracts With Flock
According to data gathered by DeFlock, an open-source project designed to track ALPRs and “shine a light on the widespread use of ALPR technology, raise awareness about the threats it poses to personal privacy and civil liberties, and empower the public to take action”, at least 56 communities have canceled, rejected, or let their contracts with Flock expire this year alone.
Just this Wednesday, August 26, two suburbs in Phoenix, Arizona became the latest to join that group. The city of Tempe announced it was ending its $80,000 contract with Flock, and turning off the cameras in response to the reports of misuse coming in from other areas. Hours later, the town of Cave Creek announced that it too had terminated its contract “in the best interest of the community”
Flock CEO Calls for “Compromise”
As backlash against the surveillance company continues to grow, Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley wants the country to find a “compromise”. During a recent interview with Fox News, Langley argued how important this technology is when it comes to safety and called for the country to find a compromise saying “When people talk about just one of these, privacy or safety, they’re prioritizing the wrong thing, and what we have to prioritize as a country is compromise”.
Langley’s appearance on Fox appears to be just the latest in a string of interviews he’s done amid the pushback to the misuse and abuse of flock camera systems. In a different interview with CBS earlier this month, Langley even apologized after hearing about a case in which Flock technology was used to stalk a woman, saying “I apologize. It kills me that she went through that.”
In response to criticism, Flock announced it would be making some changes which include cutting down the default data retention from 30 days down to a week, and every search of Flock data will now require a “case code’ to be entered before being able to access it. While the data retention period may have been shortened, a setting called “evidence mode” can preserve the data for longer if it is being used in an investigation that requires more time.
In response to these changes, the ACLU said “While Flock has not shortened the default retention period to the ACLU’s recommended 48 hours, its proposal may be a step in the right direction. Whether this is a real change or just another Flock PR move, however, will depend on how its “Evidence Mode” operates.”
