All posts tagged: surveillance

Flock CEO defends surveillance technology amid national backlash: ‘We shouldn’t pause progress’

Flock CEO defends surveillance technology amid national backlash: ‘We shouldn’t pause progress’

Published by skeptic

Flock’s founder and CEO Garrett Langley doesn’t think the risks of introducing surveillance technology at scale outweigh the rewards. “If we want to live in a society where, if you commit a crime, you have a higher probability of being held accountable, we shouldn’t pause progress,” Langley said, speaking on stage during a panel at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco on Wednesday. During the interview, the controversial founder of the surveillance maker of license plate cameras and other recording devices deflected hard questions about the criticism Flock now faces — which has since led to cancelled contracts and even layoffs. Instead, Langley tended to respond to questions with anecdotes from conversations with police chiefs and city leaders across the United States, and tales of the supposed numerous crimes Flock has solved, rather than offer tangible solutions to people’s concerns. In doing so, Langley positioned Flock as an advance in technology that was somewhat inevitable. He stressed that if people wanted to live in a better society — that is, one with reduced crime — …

FBI Arrests OpenAI Employee Suspected of Planting a Surveillance Bug

FBI Arrests OpenAI Employee Suspected of Planting a Surveillance Bug

Published by skeptic

The FBI arrested an OpenAI employee and charged him with planting a surveillance device in an executive conference room to record the company’s plans for its artificial intelligence, the company and FBI confirmed on Tuesday. The US Department of Justice identified the employee as 35-year-old Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi Arabian citizen and legal permanent resident of the US, who joined OpenAI’s product team in July 2025. He was fired and arrested on Oct. 9 on suspicion of violating US law by using “an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications.” The charge comes with a possible five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. In a statement, Jay Clayton, director of national intelligence, said that the incident underscores the importance of US success in AI development as “a national security prerogative.”  The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, says Alfozan allegedly placed a “thumb-sized development board with a detachable camera sensor, digital microphone and microSD storage.” It was wrapped in toilet paper and stuck into a TV port. A second recording device …

What Flock Actually Costs Cities Across the Country

What Flock Actually Costs Cities Across the Country

Published by skeptic

In 2020, the police department of picturesque Covington, Georgia, paid Flock Safety, the surveillance technology company, $40,000 to maintain 20 cameras around the city. The next year, it paid the same amount. In 2022, that cost went up to $81,250. Fifteen new “Falcon” cameras, which Flock says have more sophisticated technology for reading license plates, accounted for $37,500. Another $3,750 went toward installing the new cameras, and the rest was spent maintaining the initial fleet. Then, in 2024, the department paid Flock $113,225. Of that, $87,500 was to maintain its existing 35 cameras, a rate it agreed to pay for the next five years, and the remainder went toward eight new Falcon cameras. The next year, Covington paid Flock $159,000 for a combination of camera maintenance and enrollment in its Drone as First Responder program, which uses drones to fly to emergency scenes and stream footage back to the police station. It’s unclear how much Covington will wind up paying Flock in 2026, but through August, it has paid $201,000—$100,000 to maintain its existing cameras, …

Feds Got Warrants to Use Fake Cell Towers to Hunt Down Don Lemon’s Producer

Feds Got Warrants to Use Fake Cell Towers to Hunt Down Don Lemon’s Producer

Published by skeptic

US law enforcement agents obtained authorization to use a controversial surveillance device capable of intercepting cell phone signals to find and arrest a 21-year-old college student who helped produce journalist Don Lemon’s coverage of an anti-ICE protest, court filings show. The former student, Jerome Richardson, who has since graduated from Temple University, is among 39 people charged with conspiring to violate worshippers’ civil rights and interfering with religious worship at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, in January. Protesters said they targeted the church’s January 18 service because one of its pastors, David Easterwood, also led ICE’s St. Paul field office. Those charged include journalists Georgia Fort and Lemon, a former CNN host, who say they were there to cover the demonstration. Twelve days after the protest, judges in two states began signing warrants authorizing agents to use so-called cell-site simulators, commonly known as Stingrays or IMSI catchers, to target Richardson’s phone: one in Minnesota on January 30 and another in Pennsylvania the next day. The purpose, his lawyers wrote in a motion seeking to …

Federal judge calls Flock ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’

Federal judge calls Flock ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’

Published by skeptic

A federal judge ruled this week that a Tulsa, Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy violated a woman’s Fourth Amendment rights when using Flock Safety to search for her license plate without a warrant.  As reported by 404 Media, this ruling does not create a binding precedent, but it is one of the first times that a federal judge has ruled that a Flock search is unconstitutional. In this case, Judge Sara Hill said the deputy should have obtained a warrant before searching the Flock database for the woman’s license plate, as he had “no apparent reason” for the search “other than the fact that [the woman’s vehicle] had a California license plate.” The deputy then used the woman’s travel history in Flock as part of the justification for searching her car, where he allegedly discovered 91 pounds of meth. But Judge Hill wrote that all evidence obtained after the Flock search “must be suppressed as the fruit of a poisonous tree.” Judge Hill also took broader aim at warrantless searches of the Flock database, writing that tracking …

Judge rules use of Flock cameras to track citizens amounts to mass surveillance

Judge rules use of Flock cameras to track citizens amounts to mass surveillance

Published by skeptic

A federal judge has sided with growing public sentiment that Flock cameras pose an unconstitutional surveillance risk, as the nation continues its campaign to get the tech out of its cities. In a decision issued Oct. 1, federal judge Sara E. Hill ruled that a Tulsa County Deputy Sheriff violated constitutional protections by using a cross-state network of Flock cameras to track a vehicle heading toward the California border. SEE ALSO: Bernie Sanders proposes The Ban Flock Act The case involved a woman named Melisa Kyle, who was arrested by Oklahoma officials for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Kyle was apprehended by the Deputy, who worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration, while driving through Tulsa. The officer originally stated she was pulled over for suspicious driving, initiating a search that uncovered illegal substances, the Washington Post reported. It was later revealed that the officer had run her license plate number through the county’s Flock database and used that information as sufficient cause to stop and detain Kyle. Flock provided the officer with Kyle’s …

Your Driverless Cab Is Spying on You

Your Driverless Cab Is Spying on You

Published by skeptic

One afternoon this past summer, a self-driving Waymo pulled into a parking lot in San Mateo County, California, and stayed there until the police arrived. Local cops had gotten a 911 call from Waymo staffers—humans, it should be said—who were viewing the car’s passengers through cameras installed inside the vehicle. It looked like two teens were shooting a black handgun out the window of the vehicle, playing with it and drinking between shots, a police report said. The story has a happy(ish) ending: The gun was shooting water-filled Orbeez, not bullets. But the incident drew attention to Waymo’s surveillance system. The cars are equipped with automated tech that can flag the presence of a firearm inside, the company said. The outsides of self-driving cars are studded with cameras, which help them “see” the world around them. (Most also use other sensors, including radar and lidar.) Less appreciated are the cameras inside the vehicles, which companies say are essential to keeping riders safe and enforcing their rules. Earlier this year, Waymo said it used its cabin …

McDonald’s and Walmart Are Part of the Widening Fray Over Surveillance Pricing

McDonald’s and Walmart Are Part of the Widening Fray Over Surveillance Pricing

Published by skeptic

The debate over whether companies can set prices based on information they have about individual customers continues to grow. So-called surveillance pricing is in the news again on reports that Walmart patented technology for dynamic AI pricing about six months after filing for patents related to digital shelf labels. Walmart, faced with a backlash, has been trying to assure the public that different customers will see the same digital shelf label prices and that its backend AI systems won’t engage in discriminatory pricing. “Your income, shopping history, urgency or what we think you could pay won’t change the price,” Walmart’s CEO John Furner wrote in a Sept. 25 letter to customers. “And whether you’re buying groceries or electronics on a hot afternoon or in a sudden rush for an item, it’s never a reason to charge you more.” Reached for comment, a representative for Walmart pointed CNET to the web page and letter to customers regarding pricing. But the backlash may continue if customers aren’t convinced. One consumer advocate, Jeff Rossen, went as far as …

Madison Square Garden’s James Dolan Is Spending Big on New York’s Governor Race

Madison Square Garden’s James Dolan Is Spending Big on New York’s Governor Race

Published by skeptic

Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for New York governor, promised last November to erect a wall of spy gear, license plate readers, and biometric surveillance between the city and the suburbs. He has since received millions of dollars in donations from the family and businesses of James Dolan, the owner of Madison Square Garden, where a network of cameras capture the faces of (nearly) every patron who walks in the arena and corporate security forces hunt for critics of the boss. Dolan’s support of Blakeman, the executive of suburban Nassau County, could be seen as something of a counterintuitive move in a state long run by Democrats, and in a year when political surveys are picking up indications of a blue wave. He’s down by nine points or more in most polls. Blakeman, however, backs data centers, AI deepfakes, Flock surveillance, ICE, private militias, and president Donald Trump. All of which makes him at least somewhat simpatico with Dolan, the Trump-allied magnate operating the sports world’s best-known surveillance state. Dolan has long been a mercurial …

How to Beat Surveillance Pricing Before It Bleeds You Dry

How to Beat Surveillance Pricing Before It Bleeds You Dry

Published by skeptic

I always feel like I’m overpaying whenever I buy something these days. I never seem to have access to the best coupons, and apps with algorithmically adjusted prices don’t exactly lower the cost of what’s in my cart. It feels like prices are constantly creeping up and my budget is being stretched thin. These core frustrations were what drew me to Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet. Author Lindsay Owens knows what it’s like to advocate for consumers’ economic interests. She’s the CEO of Groundwork Collaborative, a DC think tank and corporate watchdog, and previously worked as an economic policy adviser in Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office. Before the launch of her book, available now, we spoke about how software has been instrumental in changing how goods are priced, and how generative AI could make existing issues worse. Owens also shared a couple of tips for readers who want to claw back a fair price. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. WIRED: The era …