Just five months after launch, the City of Lynnwood paused its Flock license plate reader cameras altogether after a University of Washington study found that two out-of-state law enforcement agencies accessed the City’s database for immigration-related searches, breaking promises made by the Lynnwood Police Department when the City Council approved the cameras in January.
Category: Privacy Concerns
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Wyden, Krishnamoorthi Urge FTC to Investigate Surveillance Tech Company on Negligently Handling Americans’ Personal Data – Senator Ron Wyden
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., today called for a federal investigation into surveillance technology company Flock Safety, for failing to implement cybersecurity protections and needlessly exposing Americans’ personal data to theft by hackers, foreign spies, and criminals.
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Flock’s Surveillance Storm: Error-Ridden Cameras Ignite Bipartisan Backlash – Web Pro News
Flock Safety’s AI cameras, scanning billions of license plates monthly, face mounting bipartisan backlash over errors, privacy breaches, and security flaws. Incidents of wrongful accusations and unauthorized data access have united critics, prompting contract cancellations and calls for federal probes. This surveillance storm challenges the future of tech-driven policing.
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Lawmakers say stolen police logins are exposing Flock surveillance cameras to hackers – Tech Crunch
Lawmakers have called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Flock Safety, a company that operates license plate-scanning cameras, for allegedly failing to implement cybersecurity protections that expose its camera network to hackers and spies.
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Lynnwood’s Flock Cameras Under Fire: Boosting Public Safety or Eroding Privacy in the Fight Against Crime? – Lynnwood Times
The Lynnwood Police Department on Friday, October 24, issued a statement to “address potential misconceptions” of its use of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology in response to a recent report by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights.
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Out-of-state agencies used Lynnwood license plate cameras for immigration searches, UW study finds – MLT News
Two external law enforcement agencies accessed Lynnwood’s Flock license plate reader (ALPR) database for immigration-related searches, contradicting state law and promises from the Lynnwood Police Department (LPD) prior to the City Council approving the cameras. Police point to a lack of communication from Flock, stating the breach came by surprise.
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Records: Feds accessed Flock camera info thousands of times in Snohomish County – Herald Net
The rapid spread of Flock Safety cameras throughout Snohomish County has raised questions about who has access to the license plate data and whether police departments have unknowingly violated state law.
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Cities reverse course on automated license plate reader cameras amid privacy concerns – The Record
Cambridge is one of several cities where the Flock Safety cameras — which are now present in thousands of cities across the country — have recently been taken offline.