Regulations
By Sydney TheCMO
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Axon, Motorola, and the Race for Mobile Plate Data. Axon already sells similar technology for police vehicles.
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Courts, Congress, and Community Protests Push Back Hard. EPIC, the non-profit Electronic Privacy Information Center, has called outright for a ban on…
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Flock Safety wanted to turn rideshare and delivery vehicles into rolling surveillance machines.
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The partner in that plan was Nexar, a company that already has cameras installed across a large number of vehicles.
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Axon already sells similar technology for police vehicles. Motorola's DRN and Vigilant units run comparable systems through repossession agents — repo drivers scanning plates all…
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But the timing was rough. The Los Angeles Police Department let its Flock contract expire in July, citing "serious concerns" over privacy and civil liberties.
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The backlash isn't just coming from police departments walking away.
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And then there's Norfolk. A federal judge allowed a lawsuit there to proceed, ruling that it raises legitimate Fourth Amendment questions about warrantless tracking.
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There's also a proposed bill that would withhold federal funding from municipalities using these surveillance systems.
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Community opposition has gone beyond petitions and public comment periods. People have been physically dismantling or obscuring Flock's stationary cameras.
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The installation of Flock cameras on federal buildings has drawn its own wave of criticism. Opponents argue it crosses a line, and they're probably right that it raises questions…
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Flock's situation right now is a company with serious market penetration — 5,000-plus communities, an $8.
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Whether the Norfolk lawsuit survives further legal scrutiny, whether Washington's model spreads to a dozen more states, whether the federal warrant bill actually moves — unclear.
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