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Roman S Shapoval's avatar

Thank you for posting this. I live in Prescott and am part of a group that is fighting this. I will be going live on Substack today at 2pm MST with a local colleague of mine - you are welcome to join us! https://romanshapoval.substack.com/p/ssliveflock

Prescott Pulse's avatar

Thank you for the information, we have sent it out to several people. Jen’s Two Cents restacked you already. FYI, today is the AZGOP mandatory meeting and there’s lot’s of our contact that won’t be able to join.

Cmama's avatar
Patrick's avatar

Sent in these comments to Council just now. More coming, too long to fit in this box.

Security and Ease of Hackability

Benn Jordan (from the 9 min video in my Email to Council members) and 404 Media got in to Flock's system network within 3-4 minutes using only an internet search engine to locate it. The Flock Safety security username was "Flock Admin".

Although many municipalities' Flock contracts state that the data is theirs, Flock was found to have collected downloads of the data and offered for sale to private marketing data centers and Federal use.

Is the city actually paying the Flock contracts, just to actually have Flock sell off the data that has been collected? This has been found to be true in other States.

Consulting with the City's IT professional experts may provide candid analysis to City Council.

Patrick's avatar

Bang for the Buck

How many pics does Flock Systems take in Prescott, in one month of operation? How many of those are duplicate automobiles?

What is the price tag in Dollars for every valid hit that the Flock system actually generates that end up in someone actually being charged? How many bogus hits and wasted time has it generated?

Why did Prescott Valley get a $267,000 grant from AZ Dept of Homeland Security for their Flock Cameras and 2 Drones, but the City of Prescott taxpayers are paying the full cost? My information request on this drew a blank on assistance from any State or Federal grants.

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Unauthorized Installations Elsewhere

ODOT (Oklahoma) ordered Flock cameras removed from highways.

Texas DPS issued cease and desist orders to Flock Safety for lack of licensing on installations 1 yr ago.

Patrick's avatar

Is your data being sold by Flock?

Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based tech firm, provides AI-enabled number plate recognition cameras to over 5,000 communities across 49 US states, promoting its technology as a crime-fighting tool.

Numerous cities are cancelling or suspending their contracts with Flock Safety after revelations that its data was repeatedly accessed by federal authorities.

Investigations uncovered that federal agencies, gained access to Flock's national lookup network for searches, despite the company initially denying federal contracts.

Privacy advocates and critics, including Senator Ron Wyden, argue that Flock's system creates a massive nationwide surveillance network, logging the movements of all citizens and enabling potential abuses, such as investigating individuals for abortions or protests.

Although Flock Safety has introduced new rules, including pausing federal pilot programs and allowing customers to block certain searches, many cities and critics remain unconvinced, citing a lack of trust and transparency.

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Jan 25
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Prescott Pulse's avatar

Thanks NF, we agree!