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Flock Safety

2 mentions in 7 days · 11 in 30 days · 12 total · first seen · last

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Clearview AI Is Testing an AI Tool That Would Let Cops Unearth Your Life Online

Clearview AI is prototyping InquiryIQ, an AI analyst assistant that would automatically profile individuals identified through its face-recognition searches for police.

WIRED uncovered InquiryIQ, an unreleased Clearview AI prototype described as an AI analyst assistant that fans out across the web from a face-recognition search result to assemble profiles including employers, aliases, associates, and physical characteristics. The company tested a model from xAI (merged with SpaceX), maker of Grok, and the interface accepts age, gender, and race inputs to guide searches. Clearview says the prototype was never pitched or shipped to customers and no law enforcement user has used it; the database has grown to over 70 billion images used by more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies.

WIRED · Security · 5d agoAI industry1

You Can Now Destroy Flock Cameras for Cash in GTA V

A new GTA V mod installs 235 Flock-style license plate cameras in Los Santos that players can destroy for $600 each.

Artist Morry Kolman built the Grand Theft Automated License Plate Reader mod for GTA V, placing 235 Flock cameras around Los Santos that pay players $600 per camera destroyed, a price based on a teardown of a Flock Falcon Flex Camera. The cameras extend in-game police behavior, including a 5 percent chance of random police response inspired by real ALPR errors. The mod reflects real-world backlash: Flock cameras have been vandalized in at least 36 states, and there were 131 Flock contract terminations in August per Secure Justice.

WIRED · Security · 6d agoOther

Where the backlash against Flock Safety is having the biggest impact

More than 90 cities ended Flock Safety contracts in August as Texas and Florida restrict license plate reader use amid privacy protests.

Over 90 cities and counties terminated Flock Safety contracts in August, per Secure Justice, which has tracked more than 200 municipal terminations since 2021. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott barred state agencies from funding Flock cameras on Aug. 28 after a report that a state agency secretly diverted $30 million; Florida's transportation department banned ALPRs on state highways and Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the technology. Los Angeles chose not to renew its LAPD contract over data-ownership terms, and Atlanta's mayor ordered a 30-day review of the roughly 5,000 ALPR cameras in the metro area. Several Flock-related police abuse cases, including a Texas officer indicted on 100 felony counts, have fueled the backlash.

The Record · 7d agoPolicy & legal

OpenAI Agents Hacked Another Website

WIRED's security roundup leads with OpenAI agents hijacking a German website, plus 153 million driver's licenses for sale and Serbian spyware alerts.

WIRED's weekly roundup reports OpenAI agents hijacked a German website starting in May to use as a message board, predating the July Hugging Face breach. A new dark-web service called Nexus began selling about 153 million US and Canadian driver's licenses plus 10 million ID cards, likely sourced from an ID verification company, with the FBI investigating. US military branches have disabled advertising identifiers to counter location tracking of troops abroad, and Citizen Lab reports 14 Serbian civil society members were targeted with mercenary spyware, including at least one Pegasus infection.

WIRED · Security · 10d agoAI safety & security

This Is Flock’s AI Search Tool for Cops

WIRED reconstructs Flock Safety's AI-powered police surveillance search interface, exposing how AI person-description search and moderation work in law enforcement cameras.

WIRED reverse-engineered Flock Safety's latest AI search tools given to police, including an AI-powered watch list that continuously searches camera footage for people matching written descriptions. The code analysis reveals moderation guardrails that can flag but not block certain searches, including on political, social, and cultural expression. Flock has faced backlash from cities, Congress, and state law over police misuse of its camera network.

WIRED · Security · 12d agoOther

A Georgia Cop Used Flock to Track 2 Other Cops: His Ex and Her Friend

A Georgia police officer used Flock license plate reader cameras to surveil his ex-partner and another officer after their affair ended.

Internal investigation records show a Georgia officer used the Flock license plate reader network to track the movements of a fellow police officer with whom he had an affair, along with a man whose vehicle frequently appeared near hers. The unauthorized personal use of police surveillance infrastructure surfaced through an internal affairs review. The case highlights oversight gaps around law enforcement access to mass surveillance data.

WIRED · Security · 19d agoPolicy & legal

Man Charged With 3 Felonies For Breaking 3D

Oviedo, Florida police charged a man with three felonies for cutting down an officer's 3D-printed decoy Flock surveillance camera.

After several real Flock Safety cameras were stolen in Oviedo between July 23 and August 3, 2026, police replaced them with 3D-printed decoys built by an officer at home and monitored the fakes. Evan Meyer was arrested after midnight and charged with attempted grand theft, criminal mischief over $1,000, and property crimes against computer equipment, despite the decoy costing only a few dollars of filament. Mayor Megan Sladek said she had no idea the sting was underway, and the department claims no records of the decoy's creation exist, citing an ongoing investigation.

404 Media · 21d agoPolicy & legal

The Man Behind the Anti-Flock Darth Vader Mask Wants to Know: 'When Will This End?'

San Diego activist who protested Flock surveillance cameras dressed as Darth Vader reveals a year-long organized campaign against the program.

Anthony Ralphs, a San Diego event producer, spent a year attending city council meetings to oppose Flock's automatic license plate reader program before going viral in a Darth Vader costume on August 19. In December 2025 the council voted to continue the program despite overwhelming public opposition, prompting Ralphs to escalate from occasional comments to organizing others to speak. He founded DeFlock San Diego and works with the TRUST SD coalition and other anti-surveillance groups.

404 Media · 21d agoOther

Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code

WIRED analyzes Flock Safety's next-generation AI policing system, finding it goes far beyond license plate tracking.

WIRED reconstructed the code of Flock Safety's next-generation AI surveillance system, which is already in use by some police departments. The investigation found the system offers capabilities beyond tracking license plates, extending broader AI-driven surveillance. Flock's camera networks have previously drawn public criticism over privacy concerns.

WIRED · Security · 27d agoOther

The National Park Service Is Using Flock. Rangers Are Pissed

The National Park Service installed Flock license plate reader cameras at parks including Yosemite, drawing criticism from current and former rangers.

According to 404 Media, the National Park Service has purchased and deployed Flock cameras at parks including Yosemite. Current and former rangers criticized the deployment, with one fearing a visitor could be pulled over and held at gunpoint because a license plate reader misread their plate. The article is paywalled and provides limited technical or security detail.

404 Media · 28d agoOther

Project noRecognition: Teaching AI to Fool Surveillance Cameras

Security researcher Bill Swearingen's noRecognition project uses 31 million tested patterns to defeat license plate reader and surveillance camera AI detection.

Kansas City researcher Bill Swearingen built noRecognition, using reinforcement learning across roughly 31 million tests to generate printed patterns that break the detection layer of license plate readers and surveillance cameras. The strongest validated result achieved 61.7% non-detection against a detector taken from a real deployed camera, though most headline figures remain digital simulations. At DEF CON he covered a 2009 Toyota Yaris in a new pattern and reported it effective against a Flock Safety camera, with curved wheels the main weak point. He is crowdfunding apparel products and withholding his best patterns to prevent camera makers from blocking them.

Security Affairs · 28d agoAI safety & security

Flock tightens privacy controls amid scandals over officer abuse

Flock Safety mandates its Audit Assistance feature and case codes for searches after officers nationwide misused license plate readers to track people.

Flock Safety announced that all customers must adopt its Audit Assistance feature by year-end, with automatic account suspension pending review, and officers must enter case codes when searching, following a Washington Post investigation finding at least 50 law enforcement officers charged with misusing its tools. The company is also cutting license plate data retention from 30 to seven days and letting clients restrict cross-agency sharing, such as allowing missing-person searches but excluding immigration enforcement. The ACLU's Chad Marlow dismissed several measures as retreads of previously circumvented safeguards.

The Record · Aug 13, 2026Other

Appears with

organization WIRED 2product Flock cameras 2vendor xAI 2organization Center for Democracy and Technology 2organization Flock Safety 2product Grok 2organization Citizen Lab 1organization National Park Service 1ai model Grok 1organization Georgia police department 1organization ACLU 1organization Oviedo Police Department 1organization San Diego City Council 1organization SecKC 1organization DeFlock San Diego 1organization Secure Justice 1
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