In the month or so since the media turned to putting the stationary camera’s all over the country that noiselessly record plate numbers and what else?
Things HAVE turned negative against the company’s units….
Criticism of Flock Cameras continues to fuel debate across the country as communities weigh whether automated license plate readers are valuable public safety tools or an invasion of privacy.
Just this week, Flock’s Chief Legal Officer Dan Haley said blog post Tuesday the company is updating its terms and conditions “to strengthen customer protections, clarify how Customer Data is handled and protected, set clearer expectations for responsible use, and make applicable product, service, and jurisdiction-specific terms easier to find.”
Despite those changes, cities and jurisdictions across the country continue to cancel contracts or allow agreements with the surveillance technology company to expire. More than 90 cities have taken steps to reject or remove Flock license plate reader systems, according to anti-surveillance groupDeFlock.
A Washington Post investigation published earlier this month found that more than 50 law enforcement officers have been accused, charged or convicted of misusing automatic license plate reader systems for unauthorized purposes, including tracking former romantic partners. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has also launched an investigation into Flock Safety’s national surveillance network.
A panel of law enforcement officials and an attorney discussed whether communities should continue using the technology…..
….
Attorney Jacqueline Goodman argued that insufficient oversight by law enforcement agencies and local governments remains the biggest concern surrounding the technology.
“Officials here today are the best of the best, right?” Goodman said. “But what about everybody else? The thing is that when police officers are doing these kinds of searches, there is a data field. They just put in that information, and there’s no audit control. There’s no way to know whether what they’re putting in is true or false.”
Goodman said the lack of oversight raises concerns about Americans’ Fourth Amendment protections.
“These are really major concerns,” she said…..
image…WSJ
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