When it comes to surveillance cameras, maintaining ‘public safety’ seems to have a pretty loose definition.
Driving the news: Surveillance technology company Flock is implementing new guardrails for its car-tracking software following reports that police officers used the system to stalk women with no connection to their investigations in at least 50 cases.
A police chief in Georgia searched his ex-girlfriend’s licence plate more than 500 times through Flock’s system, while another officer allegedly used it to stalk and harass his ex, looking up the licence plates of a man she dated.
As a remedy (or at least an attempt at one), Flock will now automatically flag any licence plate search that isn’t connected to a case and will automatically delete its data after seven days instead of 30.
Catch-up: Flock, which has a network of 120,000 AI-powered cameras across the U.S., has also come under scrutiny for helping ICE detain and deport kids at schools, tracking Americans based on a loose suspicion of buying marijuana, and being used by law enforcement to track a woman in Texas who had an abortion.
Another investigation found Flock made more than a dozen errors reading vehicle licence plates in the U.S., leading to innocent people being stopped at gunpoint, attacked by a police dog, and thrown in jail.
Why it matters: Flock has so far stayed out of Canada, but that might not be the case for long. Homeowners in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood have recently considered using Flock cameras to create Canada’s first “virtual gated community.” One of those residents, Craig Campbell, purchased the licensing rights for Flock’s tech in Canada.—LA
