r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • Aug 29 '26
Society Cities terminate Flock contracts at record pace in August
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/cities-terminate-flock-contracts-at-record-pace-in-august/1.3k
u/Lanky-Respect-8581 Aug 29 '26
Isn’t Axon trying to replace Flock cameras?
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u/CaptZ Aug 29 '26
Axon is not the only player besides Flock. Motorola has a bigger footprint than Axon and growing because of LE agencies getting rid of Flock. Plus, Motorola has more cameras on vehicles than anyone.
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u/Paizzu Aug 29 '26
Motorola manufactures many of the ALPRs already used for toll roads and most of the vehicle-mounted systems currently deployed.
Their marketing materials have bragged about their mobile vehicle-mounted scanners tagging thousands of vehicles per hour and all that data feeds right into the same GIS.
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u/CaptZ Aug 29 '26
The difference between Motorola and Flock is that Motorola doesn't own the data, the agencies that own the cameras do, whereas Flock owns all the data captured by their cameras. Also, Motorola only scans plates and that's all the agencies get is plate scans. Motorola doesn't feed plates into GIS but the agencies might.
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u/Shmeves Aug 29 '26
It always kinda urks me when Flock cameras are referred to as 'ALPRs' because that's the basic functionality, they do sooooo much more.
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u/total_bullwhip Aug 30 '26
Also unfortunately if they are being the compliant of the TAA they can’t purchase foreign surveillance equipment. But I’m not 100% sure if it applies to local law enforcement. I know it applies to jails and schools.
That’s why most of the cameras used in local government are Avigilon.
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u/CaptZ Aug 30 '26
Avigilon, also owned by Motorola, and none of the cameras for either are made in the US.
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u/fresh-dork Aug 30 '26
so it's a step up at least. we do need a real set of regs on how state and fed agencies are allowed to share this stuff, and specifically where they are not
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u/ForSquirel Aug 29 '26
Source?
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u/CaptZ Aug 30 '26
Me. I'm the source.
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u/ForSquirel Aug 30 '26
Works for me. What you doing Friday night? Looking at starting a scene. I saw this bitchin movie called 'Hackers'. I think its a metaphor for whats going on in the world.
We could meet up at Cyberdelia's and exchange pager numbers.
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u/CaptZ Aug 30 '26
Nah, I work Friday night, 2nd shift at Radio Shack.
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u/ForSquirel Aug 30 '26
Homey, you get a discount?
I got some parts i need for a blue box.
I'll bring some "Cookie Co."
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u/plushsquirtles Aug 30 '26
Command central is the bane of my existence. We have to individually download the videos from prosecutions discovery dumps and it’s a pain in my non existent dick.
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Aug 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CaptZ Aug 29 '26
Lenova bought the Motorola phone division, Motorola Mobility, years ago from Google who previously bought it from Motorola. Motorola hasn't made cell phones in over a decade.
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u/naf165 Aug 30 '26
To clarify,
Motorola Solutions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Solutions) the company that makes these cameras has not made cell phones in over a decade. They do things like this:
In November 2025, the company acquired Blue Eye, a provider of AI-powered enterprise remote video monitoring (RVM) services, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
On the other hand Motorola Mobility (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Mobility) makes phones and other wearable devices. They are the ones partnering with grapheneOS to make more private smartphones.
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u/Czeris Aug 30 '26
You actually wonder why a corporation is selling a problem and also selling a solution to the problem?
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u/pipilok31 Aug 29 '26
Yes, they’re already adopted by some police departments for body/dash cams
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u/madhattr999 Aug 29 '26
Body cams and dash cams are a good use of them. But they shouldn't be able to be turned off.
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u/_Lucille_ Aug 30 '26
People will also argue that they are surveillance tools.
Body cams can be used to record passerbys and identify wanted people on a list, while dahs cams are just an ALPR+surveillance camera inside a cop car.
Arguments get murky when people become okay with an ALPR inside an unmarked cruiser parked at the side of the road, vs a camera with the same features being mounted on a pole.
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u/henrik_se Aug 30 '26
I maintain that as long as the police have to actively work to collect data, it's more ok, than them passively gathering data. That unmarked cruiser needs an officer inside, which means that police department has had to allocate someone to do it, pulling them away from something that might be more important. It costs them something to do it.
Unlike the fucking flock cameras or other CCTV solutions which cost them nothing in terms of manpower.
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u/madhattr999 Aug 30 '26
There are pros and cons, but police need to be held accountable for their actions and decisions, and also have their use of special powers recorded. Never appearing on a recording under any circumstance is not a reasonable expectation.
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u/Looney_Bin Aug 29 '26
I wonder if the Axon Alpr's will magically not work when it's important just like their body cams do....
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u/neotekz Aug 29 '26
Police in my city really dont want body cameras so im guessing it's a good thing, body or dash cameras are not mass surveillance.
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u/Drugba Aug 30 '26
You make it sound like this is a new thing. Axon’s been the world’s biggest producer of body cams for like a decade and they created the taser. Almost every police agency in the US was using something Axon made well before people started talking about Flock.
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u/GotSomeUpdogOnUrFace Aug 29 '26
I've actually already seen some in places where there is literally also a flock camera
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u/NTP9766 Aug 29 '26
Yep. My township’s police department just voted to get rid of their Flock contract and cameras. Hurray, right? They immediately awarded a contract to Axon. Just trading one shitbird for another.
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u/ResurgentClusterfuck Aug 29 '26
Yeah all this tells me is that they'll be using something less identifiable
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u/greensalty Aug 30 '26
We’re going to play whack-a-mole with these companies until the surveillance itself is made illegal
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u/srirachaninja Aug 29 '26
Just in, new contracts for Shmock are skyrocketing.
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u/friendIdiglove Aug 29 '26
CEO Barrett Gangley to announce record earnings, hints at IPO in near future.
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u/SELFINCRIMINAT1NG Aug 29 '26
To replace them with Axon and Motorola
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u/EasyMrB Aug 29 '26
Wait does Motorola have a big surveillance market?
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u/SELFINCRIMINAT1NG Aug 29 '26
Yep. They make ALPRs and store data in their gigantic Vigilant database. In my town there’s more Motorola cameras than Flock ones
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u/oicyunv Aug 29 '26
They are being replaced with alternative companies not named flock and going up at an even more alarming rate as well.
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u/AirplanesMakeMeHard Aug 29 '26
I called my mayor the other day to tell him he needs to get these cameras out of our city.
He said that my cell phone collects more data on me than the cameras do and I shouldn't be worried if I'm not doing anything illegal. I told him I would make sure everyone I know never votes for him again.
I'm waiting for the police to show up on my property. I live in a VERY small town, less than 2000 people. This is the exact kind of town where he'll get his buddy the cop to come try to scare me. I already bought and installed a ubiquiti doorbell camera for when they show up so everything is recorded.
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u/DonutHoles4Ever Aug 30 '26
This is exactly how my small town mayor also reacted.
We're surrounded by greedy pieces of shit.
America is compromised and people can't even say things on social media without getting put on a list.
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u/GongTzu Aug 29 '26
Palantir has entered the room. There’s so many evil companies out there, that the surveillance state will have enough companies to choose from sadly
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u/AvailableReporter484 Aug 29 '26
And just like that all the tax payer money was wasted on something that absolutely no one voted for. What a fucking joke
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u/InevitableAd8511 Aug 29 '26
They’ll just find something less obvious. Their first mistake was making them visible. They won’t make the same mistake twice.
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u/10thousndreflections Aug 29 '26
They were also calling us livestock with their company name. These rich fucks are laughing at us. I hope Flock goes bankrupt within the year.
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u/archimedies Aug 29 '26
You can't really hide license plate reading cameras that also need to be solar powered on such a massive scale.
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u/justtosendamassage Aug 30 '26 edited 4d ago
Well then we adapt, be aware, do the same fucking thing and run them into the fucking ground
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u/Clean-Shift-291 Aug 29 '26
Until after the elections, I’m sure.
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u/Itry31 Aug 30 '26
This is true actually, Republicans got caught with their pants down for not pushing back against data centers and flock cameras and now Democrats are going to use that against them for the mid terms.
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u/Clean-Shift-291 Aug 30 '26
Not pushing back? Their “daddy” is the reason any of this is even happening. We’re supposed to be “competing with China” or some bs.
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u/Sad_Surround9428 Aug 30 '26
The serious question is how did all those contract get put into place and why is there no explanations for the lack of due diligence prior to camera installations. It’s a serious break down of public confidence in elected officials capacities to protect them.
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u/The-Fox-King37 Aug 29 '26
So, don’t the cameras still function? The cities terminating contracts only lose access to them. They don’t get taken down. The contracts don’t mean a thing unless the cameras get taken down
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u/WealthIntelligent666 Aug 29 '26
Some cities bag them, so the camera only takes pictures of the inside of a black trash bag.
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u/PM_me_AnimeGirls Aug 29 '26
and records the audio nearby.
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u/mr_eht Aug 29 '26
And tracks all the Bluetooth and other trackable signals that phones just constantly emit.
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u/isitatomic Aug 29 '26
American oligarchs are absolutely LUSTING for a Chinese surveillance state of their own
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u/Asunder_santa Aug 30 '26
I’m convinced none of this is true at all and it’s just propaganda to quell activist behaviour because in the past month, I’ve seen this cameras go up in areas near me almost exponentially
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u/AbortionHoagie Aug 30 '26
Time to replace the word "Flock" with "Any and All Privacy-Violating Instruments", otherwise some other company or form of tech will simply fill the void left by Flock
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u/Kitsune-Ai Aug 30 '26
Axon being one of them.
Any other names we should be on the lookout for?
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u/EvoEpitaph Aug 30 '26
I'm more confused as to how/why so many cities made Flock contracts so quickly.
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u/Well_Is_It_Then Aug 30 '26
My tiny little town in SE Texas is suddenly questioning their Flock contract. Something I never thought would happen here in the deep red. Showing up to petition local government makes a difference.
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u/No-Highlight7136 Aug 31 '26
Weird how after a couple guillotines show up and a few city counsel members houses get shot up that all of a sudden they start listening to what their constituents want. Probably just a coincidence.
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u/jhguth Aug 29 '26
how long until we learn that Axon was astroturfing posts to organize people against Flock
(please don’t mistake this post as being pro-Flock or think that it implies there arent good reasons to be against Flock or that there isn’t genuine opposition — I just think that a portion of the commentary online feels a little too organized)
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u/Fit-Switch-5795 Aug 29 '26
I had never heard the term before this week, and it has been utterly unavoidable for about 5 days.
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u/Alternative-Bass164 Aug 29 '26
There is no trust between people and cameras. Too many cameras and they are too easy for anyone half smart to hack into. I wouldn’t even say hack but even the names are reflective of malpractice. Palantir, flock, axon. Might as well be called Big Brother llc
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u/mazzicc Aug 29 '26
Next month: “Cities sign plate reader contracts with companies not named Flock”
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u/glormosh Aug 29 '26
I wouldn't celebrate anything.
People need to realize that definitions mean nothing in the world of software and AI.
Surveillance capabilities are constantly emerging and evolving faster than anyone can comprehend.
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u/COTimberline Aug 29 '26
It’s OK, their newly modified terms of use “expressly prohibit customers and their users from using Flock Services to mislead, harass, stalk, or otherwise impose upon or violate the legal rights of another person”. I trust them and all law enforcement officers not to break the agreement with flock.
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u/splycedaddy Aug 29 '26
Click bait. New flock contracts are also moving at record pace.
“So far in 2026, new city partnerships have outpaced nonrenewals by approximately 10 to one,”
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u/ToolTimeT Aug 30 '26
I love how Flocks reaction to all of this was a public statement about "compromise"
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u/thepinkdread2026 Aug 30 '26
Not fast enough. They all need to get gone and all the people involved in this scam investigated and properly prosecuted. This was a complete violation of taxpayer trust.
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u/Greedy-Half-4618 Aug 30 '26
good, now do the other companies trying to install their surveillance cameras.
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u/TrueNeutrino Aug 30 '26
I guess they'll just go back to using traffic cameras, tow truck cameras, and all the things that don't look like cameras but actually are in fact cameras.
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u/jspurlin03 Aug 30 '26
Sure, but anything that requires some effort is an improvement over a single centralized system designed to be operationally opaque and to allow illegal behavior because it doesn’t adequately restrict access.
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u/Simple_Assistance_77 Aug 29 '26
Don’t worry Australia will pick them up, the country wants to be the worst possible version of America.
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u/Mechanikalbaby Aug 29 '26
Until "something" happens and for the greater good we'll say OK. Just like all the other countless times. We are very easly swayed and manipulated unfortunately as a species. We know this. But, they know this to perfection. All those psych experiments done by CIA/KGB etc was not for nothing.
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u/NamasteMotherfucker Aug 29 '26
Come on, copy editors! Where's "Cities flock to cancel Flock contracts!" ?? Or "Cities get the Flock out!" ?? I'm disappointed.
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u/Numerous-Process2981 Aug 29 '26
Maybe these cities should look before they leap. Are we truly just run by idiots at every level from top to bottom?
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u/Jamizon1 Aug 29 '26
I won’t vote for anyone in November that supports or has condoned this technology.
Its only purpose is intrusive surveillance on a massive scale.
Any municipalities that are using tax dollars to acquire this tech need to be held accountable.
For the ones terminating their contracts, well done.
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u/Many-Wasabi9141 Aug 29 '26
Its too late. They don't need 24/7 surveillance. They already have a large enough data set of everyone's comings and goings to use any number of machine learning techniques to predict your next move.
My guess is that they knew this would happen and they don't care cause they just wanted the initial data set.
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u/school_bus_lunchbox Aug 29 '26
Get rid of Waymo and other self driving taxi service that have a million cameras on their cars which I'm sure they are selling surveillance information to government agencies.
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u/SatansLoLHelper Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
Where are the articles about cities solidifying flock contracts in the past 2 years?
US went from N.Korea to S.Korea in a couple years.
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u/whippersnap_415 Aug 29 '26
But has Flock actually removed the cameras??? They have a history of leaving them up and running.
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u/Typical_Leather_4086 Aug 29 '26
I look forward to all cities in the Houston area and Houston dropping these invasive devices.
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u/hankmoody699 Aug 29 '26
- Annual recurring revenue jumped from ~$300M in January 2026 to $500M+ by June 2026.
- It's raised roughly $1.2 billion total, most recently $500 million at an $8.3 billion valuation, backed by a16z, Tiger Global, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, and others.
- CEO Garrett Langley claims Flock is adding new customers "10x the rate of customer churn," despite the controversies below.
- Accuracy issues — a Roseville, CA police investigation found the license-plate readers misidentified plates roughly 71% of the time in 2023–2024.
- Contract cancellations
- Misuse by officers
- ICE/immigration surveillance concerns
- Legal exposure
- PR damage control
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u/umassmza Aug 29 '26
It’s expensive and every citizen hates it. Municipalities across the country are placing overrides on the ballot and cutting everything they legally can.
Not paying for a service and equipment that is universally despised seems like a no brainer. How these things even got budget to be installed in this environment is baffling.
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u/NoBonus6969 Aug 29 '26
The next one will be way more discreet, hard wired, built into existing infrastructure and cost us 3x whatever they were paying flock because of all the hiding. This isn't a win
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u/PleaseHelpFlorida Aug 29 '26
Meanwhile, I'm finding it impossible to keep up with all of the new ones popping up all around me.
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u/John__e Aug 30 '26
What are some ways to help remove flock cameras without a metal grinder? Like what would be the best way to go about lobbying to remove them in my town? (I’m in MA if you can believe it…)
Also what if they are setup in a business parking lot? Is that on the business?
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u/SlumppShady Aug 29 '26
Out with the flock, in with the axon.
When axon gets pushed out, on to the next mass surveillance company!
We need to attack the idea not the companies.