Flock Safety, maker of license plate camera readers, is adding new security measures to its technology after receiving backlash over concerns about privacy and police overreach. These software changes are intended to prevent misuse of the system. The Atlanta-based company says its cameras are designed to help police locate missing people, identify stolen vehicles and track suspects in criminal investigations. The company said in a video statement Thursday that the cameras helped solve cases involving 1,000 missing people and 20,000 stolen cars in the month of July. Still, critics worry about how widely the data can be searched and whether agents have enough oversight when accessing it. Flock CEO Garrett Langley announced Thursday that several security measures that were previously optional will become mandatory for law enforcement clients starting Jan. 1. Under the changes, each law enforcement client will be required to use an auditing system designed to detect unusual searches. If activity is flagged, a user can be blocked while the search is reviewed. Officers will also be required to connect searches to a specific criminal case. Flock is also shortening its standard data retention period from 30 to seven days. Information may be retained longer if it is retained as evidence related to an active case. Within weeks, two North Carolina officers were accused of using cameras to stalk people. “If we are going to build such powerful tools, we have an obligation to help protect the public from the small number of officers who misuse them,” Langley said. The company says the cameras do not provide live video, cannot record conversations or transcribe spoken words, and instead capture short recordings and still images. Flock also says it won’t sell your data to third parties, add facial recognition to the system, or use its drones as weapons. Langley characterized those limits as necessary safeguards for a technology with significant research power. “If you sell an energy, you owe it to the public for safety barriers,” Langley said. Some people in downtown Raleigh told WRAL they didn’t know cameras like Flock’s were operating around them, such as one on Hillsborough Street. “It really surprised me,” said a student who lives near a camera. “I live not far away.” Another person walking downtown, Matt Garrett, said the vehicle’s data collection made him uncomfortable. “It scares me a little bit the fact that I’m collecting data and you haven’t done anything wrong…hopefully,” Garrett said. Langley is also asking state lawmakers to go beyond company policy and require law enforcement agencies to audit their use of the technology and impose tougher penalties on officers who misuse it.
