re: Its just a License Plate Reader

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Right. So can you point me to any reliable evidence or documentation that they are selling info gathered from the cameras?

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Not all LPRs are flock. Some companies definitely sell the data, it’s purchased by insurance companies for investigations.

DRN Data

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Looks like they sell equipment directly to companies so it is not data that is coming from government sources. Kinda creepy, but still you have zero expectation of privacy in a public setting.

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Their business is selling data. The users are govt, insurance, banks, and various investigators. It’s creepy and I didnt say people have an expectation of privacy. I don’t think most people know about such companies and the amount of data about them that is available to LEO and non LEO agencies.

Pornhub stores, markets, and made money off videos uploaded to their servers.

They were found guilty of sex trafficking because if videos they claimed they didn't own.

They can't.

You make too much sense. You'll be mocked

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This is mostly the reason the public is able to participate in conversations about the balance of utilization and privacy. They valued privacy and public discussion of the boundaries.

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I mean I can think of three instances off the top of my head that they flat out lie to their consumers. 1)"you own the data" except their Terms and Conditions explicitly say they have an irrevocable license to use said data, indefinitely on collection. 2)"we have never been hacked" there's a hilarious video online of a flock rep under oath in the Virginia legislature trying to claim this, while then (under questioning) admitting multiple people have gained access illicitly to their video feeds, live, with audible laughs of hilarity in the background. 3)"We just take pictures of license plates" except the image stores a searchable database of every person in the car, searchable by clothing, skin color, symbols, bumper stickers, marks, scratches etc.

In fact you don't need need a car or license plate to search it- for anyone curious, Google "Flock Freeform", it's even on their website.

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Search With Natural Language

Type what you’re looking for, such as “man in blue shirt and cowboy hat” or “dark SUV with rear bumper damage.” Then review relevant visual matches across enabled video feeds, with vehicle results also available from LPR systems.

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Video and LPR, All in One Place

Review person-related video search results from enabled video feeds alongside vehicle results from video and LPR systems in one interface.

Search Beyond Your Own Cameras

When authorized and where sharing is enabled, search shared camera footage from participating agencies, campuses, businesses, or neighboring properties to help identify leads across approved partner networks.

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Flocks website- Flock Freeform

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In this case, there isnt individualized surveillance. Every car passing by a point is subject to the LPR. Much like you have to stop every car coming through a roadblock.

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Except flock creates a heat map of every vehicle in the system, tracking where every car goes. This has been admitted by flock. How can you say it's not individualized when Flock admits they do it?

LINK

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OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The Oshkosh Common Council rescinded its contract with Flock Safety after learning the company's automated license plate readers can create "heatmaps" to track daily driving patterns.

Oshkosh Police Chief Dean Smith notified council members on Wednesday that statements from Flock were inconsistent regarding the capabilities of their automated license plate readers, or ALPRs.

"The trust was shaken," Joseph Stephenson said.

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Stephenson, an Oshkosh Common Council member, initially approved an extension for Flock but changed his position on Wednesday.

"Many of us were under the impression that the system's capabilities were more limited in scope and functionality," Stephenson said.

The inconsistency centers on Flock's ability to create heatmaps, which can average out where a vehicle travels most on a day-to-day basis.

"Yes, so you would be able to see on a map kind of which camera someone's going by most frequently," Stephenson said.

Josh Thomas, chief communications officer at Flock Safety, confirmed the system's mapping capabilities.

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Don't believe me, believe what flock is telling you.

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"Many of us were under the impression that the system's capabilities were more limited in scope and functionality," Stephenson said.

The inconsistency centers on Flock's ability to create heatmaps, which can average out where a vehicle travels most on a day-to-day basis.

"Yes, so you would be able to see on a map kind of which camera someone's going by most frequently," Stephenson said.

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There seems to be little control around who can access what amounts to a database that tracks everyone’s movement, why they access it, and what they use the data for…

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Some companies definitely sell the data, it’s purchased by insurance companies for investigations

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My son got side swiped by an 18 wheeler 2 years ago.

When the insurance sent the report over they showed every ding and imperfection on the rest of his truck from cameras with dates for the year before claiming they weren’t covering that. Dozens of pictures from all over town.

I’m fine with them not covering, but it also told me how much data they had the ability to collect without our permission or knowledge.

It also showed me what could be used against me in something less innocuous.