Flock Safety is one of the most important companies in the United States and they are practically the goat of license plate reading cameras, and now they have just cut ties with federal agencies after a data use scandal.
There are growing suspicions (and anger) about how the data they collect is being used, especially in Illinois. The decision comes right after it was revealed that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office had consulted data coming from Illinois, apparently bypassing a state law that prohibits this kind of use, especially in investigations related to immigration or abortions.
What does Illinois have to do with all this?
A lot. In Illinois they have had a law since 2023 that expressly prohibits license plate data collected by this type of camera from being used to investigate issues such as abortion or immigration. But it turns out that, according to Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, the CBP accessed that data.
Although it has not been proven that they were investigating exactly something like that, the mere fact that a federal agency entered that data system is already considered a violation of that regulation.
What does the company say?
Garrett Langley, who is the founder and CEO of Flock Safety, admitted there were flaws, both in communication and in the design of the system, which did not properly distinguish between what a local police department could do and what a federal agency could do.
He defends that the agreements with agencies such as Homeland Security Investigations were to stop human trafficking or hard drug smuggling like fentanyl, and not to go after women or immigrants. But given what has happened, they have changed things.
From now on, according to them, every time a federal agency wants to consult something, it will have to do so through a local police department, and it will be properly recorded. No more unsupervised access.
And what does abortion have to do with all this?
Here is where things get even more delicate. In June it came to light that the Mount Prospect police, in Illinois, had shared data with a sheriff in Texas. For what? To search for a woman who had disappeared after having an abortion. The sheriff said he only wanted to help the family… but it was already too late: the scandal broke out.
From that moment, Flock Safety decided to put automatic filters that directly block the use of keywords such as “abortion”, “immigration” or “ICE” within their system. In case someone tried to make related searches, the system blocks them from the start.
And now what?
This whole mess has opened another one of those debates that never really close: how far you can go in the name of security, and what happens with people’s privacy. It is true that these cameras have helped solve robberies or locate missing cars. But it is also true that, if not properly controlled, they can become a brutal surveillance tool against people who have done nothing wrong, or end up in the wrong hands and turn out worse. Especially women or immigrants in very vulnerable situations.
Flock Safety has decided to cut relations with federal agencies, at least for now, and we have to be aware (and careful) about the fact that we live in a time where cameras, data, and technology are everywhere, and for that very reason there must be clear limits that cannot be crossed.
So this story is not about license plates, it is about rights, privacy, and how we do not want to be treated in an increasingly surveilled country.