It builds a map of your life without you knowing. Thousands of cameras snapping your plate over months means someone can piece together that you go to a certain church, a certain doctor, a certain bar, or a certain person's house. You never agreed to that, and you can't see it happening.
There's no warrant and often no real oversight. Normally police need a judge's permission (a warrant) to track someone. Flock can let them search where your car has been without that step, which is why people call it "warrantless surveillance." And it's been misused: several towns like Oshkosh and Appleton canceled their Flock contracts over privacy concerns and several incidents of misuse by law enforcement.
You don't control the data, and the rules can change. This is a big one. When Brookings agreed to install the cameras, the city was promised it would own the data, that retention would be temporary, and that Flock would not sell the information, with the contract stating Flock does not own and shall not sell customer data. Then in February 2026 Flock rewrote its terms, granting itself a perpetual, irrevocable license to use and disclose all customer data, and deleted the promise not to sell that data. So data collected about you can outlive the promises that were made when the camera went up.
And another thing to note is that it goes way beyond just reading license plates. It's building a profile and lets them search based on it. It captures things like bumper stickers and what the people in the car look like.
There's no warrant and often no real oversight. Normally police need a judge's permission (a warrant) to track someone. Flock can let them search where your car has been without that step, which is why people call it "warrantless surveillance." And it's been misused: several towns like Oshkosh and Appleton canceled their Flock contracts over privacy concerns and several incidents of misuse by law enforcement.
You don't control the data, and the rules can change. This is a big one. When Brookings agreed to install the cameras, the city was promised it would own the data, that retention would be temporary, and that Flock would not sell the information, with the contract stating Flock does not own and shall not sell customer data. Then in February 2026 Flock rewrote its terms, granting itself a perpetual, irrevocable license to use and disclose all customer data, and deleted the promise not to sell that data. So data collected about you can outlive the promises that were made when the camera went up.
https://www.wbay.com/2026/05/12/local-communities-cancel-flo... https://www.brookingsregister.com/2026/05/22/letter-to-the-e...