Flock Safety Cameras Can Track People, Not Just Vehicles

A joint investigation by 404 Media and WIRED found that Flock Safety’s automated number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras are designed to detect people as well as vehicles, bicycles and number plates. Researchers reportedly obtained software and data from a camera removed from a roadside, recovering an encryption key stored on the device and unlocking videos containing thousands of vehicle detections. Flock said it could not assess the claims without more information. The recovered files reportedly included models for detecting people, although the researchers found no evidence that facial recognition was being used.

The findings raise concerns that a system intended to track vehicles can be used to identify people’s movements, particularly when an individual is associated with a vehicle. Potentially sensitive patterns could reveal visits to homes, workplaces, healthcare providers, places of worship, protests or other locations. WIRED also reported that data from Alpharetta, Georgia, was accessible to more than 2,000 organisations, including police departments, colleges, airports and a US federal inspector general’s office.

Separately, Washington DC’s police union said in July that the Metropolitan Police Department had used Flock data to track officers under Internal Affairs investigation without their knowledge. The union filed a complaint, while MPD said it considered the use appropriate and that the dispute would go to arbitration.

The reports have prompted calls for tighter limits on data collection, retention, searches and sharing; documented justification and approval for searches; independently reviewable audit logs; security assessments; and bans on searches involving protected activities or personal purposes.