--- title: Flock Updates Privacy, Accountability, Security, and... description: Flock Safety announced a set of policy and product changes to its automated license plate reader (ALPR) system: cutting default data retention from 30 to 7... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/flock-updates-privacy-accountability-security-and-transparency-safeguards-8oxn8nv0u twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Flock Updates Privacy, Accountability, Security, and Transparency Safeguards | daily.dev og:description: Flock Safety announced a set of policy and product changes to its automated license plate reader (ALPR) system: cutting default data retention from 30 to 7... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/flock-updates-privacy-accountability-security-and-transparency-safeguards-8oxn8nv0u og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8oXN8nV0u.png og:image:alt: Flock Updates Privacy, Accountability, Security, and Transparency Safeguards 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 Updates Privacy, Accountability, Security, and Transparency Safeguards **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Flock Safety announced a set of policy and product changes to its automated license plate reader (ALPR) system: cutting default data retention from 30 to 7 days with a new opt-in cold-storage 'Evidence Mode', adding offense-based filtering for cross-agency data sharing, mandating its abuse-detection 'Audit Assistance' feature and case codes for all law enforcement customers by year end, introducing automatic 'proactive lockout' for flagged abnormal user activity, publishing a plain-English contract explanation, commissioning a third-party security audit from Bishop Fox (findings due in September), launching a coordinated vulnerability disclosure program, and making MFA mandatory company-wide. The post also addresses a recent wrongful traffic stop incident, explaining that plate reads carry confidence scores and are meant to be leads requiring officer verification, citing fewer than 9 human-reported errors per million alerts. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is Flock's new default data retention period for license plate reader data? Flock Safety changed its default automated license plate reader (ALPR) data retention recommendation from 30 days to 7 days. The company's analysis found that over 90% of searches without a full plate match are completed within a week. A new 'Evidence Mode' feature lets detectives preserve specific ALPR data in cold storage for active investigations beyond that window, and customers adopting the 7-day default get Evidence Mode at no extra cost. _Teams tracking vendor policy shifts like this one can follow ALPR retention changes on daily.dev._ ### Will Flock require multi-factor authentication and case codes for law enforcement searches? Yes, Flock made multi-factor authentication mandatory for all users logging into its platform starting this month, and it will require case codes for all law enforcement searches by the end of the year, with emergency exceptions flagged for administrator review. Abuse-detection software called Audit Assistance will also become mandatory for all law enforcement customers by year end. _Engineers evaluating vendor security and compliance requirements can track changes like these on daily.dev._ ### How accurate are Flock's license plate reader alerts? Flock reports fewer than 9 human-reported errors for every 1 million alerts generated by its automated license plate reader system. The company uses machine learning models trained on plate designs from all 50 states, retrained weekly, with every read assigned a confidence score; low-confidence reads are filtered out before an alert reaches an officer, who must visually confirm the plate before acting. _Anyone assessing AI-driven detection accuracy claims can follow vendor transparency reports on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Flock Cameras and the New Era of Vehicle Surveillance — Joseph Sides](https://daily.dev/posts/flock-cameras-and-the-new-era-of-vehicle-surveillance-joseph-sides-v7fqfo90r) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [When Flock Comes to Town: Why Cities Are Axing the Controversial Surveillance Technology](https://daily.dev/posts/when-flock-comes-to-town-why-cities-are-axing-the-controversial-surveillance-technology-ddbqrvjjr) · Hacker News · 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 - [Flock You\! Pushback on License Plate Readers](https://daily.dev/posts/flock-you-pushback-on-license-plate-readers-armmrvxha) · Security Boulevard · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#authentication](https://daily.dev/tags/authentication), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/flock-updates-privacy-accountability-security-and-transparency-safeguards-8oxn8nv0u) ```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 Updates Privacy, Accountability, Security, and Transparency Safeguards","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/flock-updates-privacy-accountability-security-and-transparency-safeguards-8oxn8nv0u","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/flock-updates-privacy-accountability-security-and-transparency-safeguards-8oxn8nv0u"},"datePublished":"2026-08-13T16:27:06.925Z","dateModified":"2026-08-17T19:26:21.759Z","description":"Flock Safety announced a set of policy and product changes to its automated license plate reader (ALPR) system: cutting default data retention from 30 to 7...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/184d8b8c79cb37878b1eac98622f3dfc?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/184d8b8c79cb37878b1eac98622f3dfc?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","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":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/flock-updates-privacy-accountability-security-and-transparency-safeguards-8oxn8nv0u","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"authentication,privacy","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Flock Updates Privacy, Accountability, Security, and Transparency Safeguards"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/flock-updates-privacy-accountability-security-and-transparency-safeguards-8oxn8nv0u#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is Flock's new default data retention period for license plate reader data?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Flock Safety changed its default automated license plate reader (ALPR) data retention recommendation from 30 days to 7 days. 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