U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called for local officials to remove surveillance cameras operated by Flock from their communities, accusing the company of failing to protect Oregonians from out-of-state law enforcement searches related to immigration and abortion and of deceiving customers about data sharing with federal agencies.
In a letter to Flock Chief Executive Officer Garrett Langley, Wyden stated that the company's software filters designed to prevent out-of-state police from accessing data on Oregon residents are easily circumvented. The filters were meant to mirror protections offered in Illinois, California, Colorado and Washington.
Wyden's investigation found that Flock misled state and local law enforcement customers about sharing their collected data. U.S. Customs Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Secret Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service all had access to Flock cameras, according to the senator's inquiry.
"Abuse of Flock cameras is inevitable, and Flock has made it clear it takes no responsibility to prevent or detect that," Wyden said. "I now believe that abuses of your product are not only likely but inevitable, and that Flock is unable and uninterested in preventing them."
Flock does not proactively audit how its cameras are used or how data is searched within its network, Wyden found. The company does not verify whether agencies comply with requirements to provide valid reasons for searching its database.
The city of Eugene, Oregon, recently voted to deactivate its Flock cameras following the revelations. Wyden explicitly recommended that local elected officials "can best protect their constituents from the inevitable abuses of Flock cameras by removing Flock from their communities."
Flock operates the largest surveillance camera network in the United States, with connections to more than 5,000 police departments. The company's database stores billions of vehicle scans each month, enabling law enforcement to search by license plate number, vehicle make, model or bumper sticker. The network totals over 120,000 cameras in 49 states.
The concerns are drawing bipartisan scrutiny. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) joined Wyden in urging Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson to investigate Flock's "cavalier attitude towards cybersecurity." Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) requested documents regarding the company's law enforcement access policies and camera locations, noting that Congress never authorized the national surveillance network and that Flock's internal policies serve as the sole privacy safeguards.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also opposed the technology, saying at a news conference that license plate readers are "out of control." His statement underscores growing bipartisan concern over private surveillance networks and their reach.
