--- title: Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company... description: Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley is calling for a national 'compromise' between privacy and safety as his company faces mounting backlash over misuse of its... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/flock-ceo-calls-for-compromise-as-surveillance-company-faces-growing-backlash-lgvwy1upp twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash | daily.dev og:description: Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley is calling for a national 'compromise' between privacy and safety as his company faces mounting backlash over misuse of its... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/flock-ceo-calls-for-compromise-as-surveillance-company-faces-growing-backlash-lgvwy1upp og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/lGvwy1uPP.png og:image:alt: Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley is calling for a national 'compromise' between privacy and safety as his company faces mounting backlash over misuse of its surveillance cameras, drones, and license plate readers. A Washington Post investigation found 46 cases of police officers allegedly using Flock technology to stalk exes or partners. Politicians on both the left (Sanders, El-Sayed) and right (House Republicans introducing a bill to ban federal purchase of such systems) are targeting the company. Flock has responded by shortening default data retention from 30 to 7 days and requiring case codes, though both safeguards can be bypassed via an 'Evidence Mode' setting, drawing skepticism from the ACLU about whether the changes are substantive. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What changes has Flock Safety made to its surveillance camera data policies after the backlash? Flock Safety reduced its default data retention period from 30 days to seven days and now requires a case code before officers can access stored data. However, both safeguards can be overridden through a setting called Evidence Mode, which lets police retain data longer, leading the ACLU to question whether the change is substantive or just a public relations move. _Track how surveillance vendors like Flock adjust data policies under public pressure with daily.dev._ ### How many cases of police misusing Flock license plate camera data have been documented? A Washington Post investigation identified 46 cases where police officers were accused of misusing Flock's automated license plate recognition technology for unauthorized personal purposes, including stalking wives, girlfriends, or exes. Flock's CEO acknowledged the abuse but argued the company was the first to build tools capable of detecting such misuse. _Follow accountability debates around AI surveillance tools like Flock on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Flock's CEO Faced Me After Its Cameras Led to My Wrongful Stop](https://daily.dev/posts/flock-s-ceo-faced-me-after-its-cameras-led-to-my-wrongful-stop-rafow6a6k) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [Watch Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley discuss the future of surveillance at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/watch-flock-safety-ceo-garrett-langley-discuss-the-future-of-surveillance-at-techcrunch-disrupt-2026-2ugn41fek) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [Flock surveillance cameras are spreading across the US](https://daily.dev/posts/flock-surveillance-cameras-are-spreading-across-the-us-9dx0pt2ac) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Fixing Flock: The controls needed now that misuse patterns are clear](https://daily.dev/posts/fixing-flock-the-controls-needed-now-that-misuse-patterns-are-clear-xue0uepwu) · CSO Online · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy), [#facial-recognition](https://daily.dev/tags/facial-recognition) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/flock-ceo-calls-for-compromise-as-surveillance-company-faces-growing-backlash-lgvwy1upp) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/flock-ceo-calls-for-compromise-as-surveillance-company-faces-growing-backlash-lgvwy1upp","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/flock-ceo-calls-for-compromise-as-surveillance-company-faces-growing-backlash-lgvwy1upp"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T15:32:24.001Z","dateModified":"2026-08-24T17:40:47.554Z","description":"Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley is calling for a national 'compromise' between privacy and safety as his company faces mounting backlash over misuse of its...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/937fc0cfd00dcd4e71f722db9c14069b?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/937fc0cfd00dcd4e71f722db9c14069b?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCrunch","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCrunch","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/flock-ceo-calls-for-compromise-as-surveillance-company-faces-growing-backlash-lgvwy1upp","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"privacy,facial-recognition","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCrunch","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/flock-ceo-calls-for-compromise-as-surveillance-company-faces-growing-backlash-lgvwy1upp#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What changes has Flock Safety made to its surveillance camera data policies after the backlash?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Flock Safety reduced its default data retention period from 30 days to seven days and now requires a case code before officers can access stored data. However, both safeguards can be overridden through a setting called Evidence Mode, which lets police retain data longer, leading the ACLU to question whether the change is substantive or just a public relations move. Track how surveillance vendors like Flock adjust data policies under public pressure with daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How many cases of police misusing Flock license plate camera data have been documented?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A Washington Post investigation identified 46 cases where police officers were accused of misusing Flock's automated license plate recognition technology for unauthorized personal purposes, including stalking wives, girlfriends, or exes. Flock's CEO acknowledged the abuse but argued the company was the first to build tools capable of detecting such misuse. Follow accountability debates around AI surveillance tools like Flock on daily.dev."}}]} ```