How Flock cameras track your car: What to know

One license plate scan doesn't say much, but thousands of connected cameras can tell a different story. With 120,000 plus flock cameras now spread across the U.S., everyday drivers can leave behind a trail searchable by law enforcement. So, how do you know if you've been quote-unquote flocked? What could really reveal just that? And can you un-flock yourself? Joining us now to discuss this and so much more is none other than, well, a man that quite honestly needs no introduction. He goes by the name of Mr. Moggins, and of course, he is a TV experience, data privacy, cybersecurity, and digital surveillance expert. Harry Moggins back here on The Live Zone. It's good to see you, Harry. Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me back. Yeah, but of course, can you unpack what being flocked actually means? Because there are so many folks right now saying, I'm about to pick up the phone and call the FCC. Guy is saying a word that he should not be saying. It's quite an unfortunate name for their company. The cameras, you mentioned 120,000 of them popping up all around the country. It's the innocuous black hole that shows up with a camera with no label, no signage, just it seems just like a normal neighborhood device. But they're everywhere now. And the risk is not the fact that they're just tracking license plates, helping police officers solve cases, because they do. They're actually good for solving crime. The risk is with all these cameras interconnected, streaming real-time vehicle information to the cloud, people are asking, wait, hang on, this is a private company. There are no guardrails or transparency. How do you know they're doing what they say they're doing with the data? How do you know it's being deleted? And who's controlling where the data is going from the department? There's a lot of questions that people are starting to ask, and that's creating some privacy conversations. Yeah, valid questions at that. Earlier today on Good Day D.C., we discussed the story surrounding, I believe, a police officer who used the flock system more than 700 times in one year to really surveil and spy on their former spouse, to which they have now been relieved of their position. And so to your point, sir, it appears as though that some law enforcement, well, they're not using it correctly, and they are misbehaving when it comes to the flock cameras. What say you about that? Oh, it's like any new tool a department gets, right? When tasers were brand new, there was training that officers had to go through. There were guidelines and guardrails. There was accountability and audits. Flock's a private company, so you can't submit a Freedom of Information Act request or a FOIA request to flock. The only way to get any information out is if you subpoena them in a lawsuit, which is limited. So transparency is a big question. And I think right now, with so much pressure on flock to expose more about the departments, they're starting to make changes. I think of what's ahead of legislation that's inevitable. I know in Philadelphia, there was a recent thing a lawmaker said that when the House resumed session in November, they're going to the first legislation in the country specifically targeting flock, trying to open up those transparency doors a little bit further. And when you have police officers now without that level of accountability, they can use it for personal reasons. And they're getting arrested. They're getting fired. It's happening. One of the changes the CEO of flock made last week is now they're going to start requiring officers to enter the case or what's related, like what the reason is for the search. But through these Freedom of Information Act requests to the police departments, we're seeing some of those initial reasons being entered by officers. And oftentimes, it's very generic, like the word investigation, which doesn't help or tell anything. So we have to work on our guardrails for sure. So a viewer that's watching right now, let's say they have been blocked, if you will, should they just allow that to happen? Or should they say block it and not allow that to happen and fight it? Definitely flock it. The challenge is in the U.S., all 50 states, your license plate in your car is public. So you cannot block them from taking pictures of your car. The scarier part, I think, is when all these photos of your license plate in your car go up to Flock's cloud, they have a new piece of technology called Flock Nova, which was recently renamed to Flock OS Investigate. And with this technology, Flock's actually purchasing data from data brokers, from private companies that sell, track and sell everything about you as a person, your hobbies, your interests, your family, your modeled credit score, how much money you make, all kinds of personal information. That's all being sold and bought by Flock and appended to the information they know about you and your car as you drive down the road. And I think that's where it gets from a public license plate to a violation of privacy, where they look into the car and into your life just by driving by. Well, one thing's for sure, the Flock cameras are here to say whether you like it or not. Yet again, we have been speaking with Mr. Harry Morgans, kind enough to join us right here on the live zone. I truly appreciate your time. Thank you so much.