May 18, 2026

The Dangers of Flock and Other ALPR Cameras

Mass Surveillance

Flock and other Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras take and analyze pictures of all passing vehicles, identifying information such as a location, date, and time, and details such as a car’s make, model, color, dents and other imperfections, stickers, etc., creating “searchable data points”. This means Flock documents millions of cars under the guise of fighting crime, without a warrant. Does this sound dangerous? Yes? That’s because it is.

ICE Can Access Flock Data

Many police agencies share data from ALPR cameras with ICE. This gives an agency famous for violating the rule of law and the Constitution access to mass surveillance, and greatly increases their ability and reach. This creates a threat to the livelihoods of undocumented people, immigrants, and entire communities.

Flock Has Sh*tty Security

Seriously. 404 Media has reported that “a security researcher found Flock accounts for sale on a Russian cybercrime forum”. “Using a commercial search engine” someone “very easily found the administration interfaces for dozens of Flock Safety cameras… None of the data or video footage was encrypted. There was no username or password required.” This is not a secure way for police to track crime. It’s a mass surveillance system that has been and will be accessed by the wrong people.

Flock and Palantir are Controlled by Billionaires

Billionaire Peter Thiel co-founded Palantir, and a venture capital firm he founded has also invested in Flock. According to the Colorado Sun, “Palantir has contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement worth nearly $140 million, and police departments across the U.S. accessed Denver’s Flock data for ICE- and immigration-related searches nearly 1,400 times between 2024 and 2025.” Both are assisting ICE, and both are backed by billionaires.

Learn more about Flock here.