--- title: What Flock’s defenders are missing | daily.dev description: Flock Safety, the company behind roughly 120,000 automatic license plate readers across the US, recently updated its platform to curb misuse after reports of... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/what-flock-s-defenders-are-missing-ican6rqo6 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: What Flock’s defenders are missing | daily.dev og:description: Flock Safety, the company behind roughly 120,000 automatic license plate readers across the US, recently updated its platform to curb misuse after reports of... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/what-flock-s-defenders-are-missing-ican6rqo6 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ICAN6rqo6.png og:image:alt: What Flock’s defenders are missing 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. # What Flock’s defenders are missing **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Flock Safety, the company behind roughly 120,000 automatic license plate readers across the US, recently updated its platform to curb misuse after reports of officers stalking women using the system. The piece argues these fixes have major loopholes—officers can still enter fake case numbers, and data retention and nationwide sharing remain largely unrestricted despite Flock recommending a seven-day retention window. It contends Flock's design choices, not just policy tweaks, determine the trade-off between crime-solving and mass surveillance, and that narrower technical designs (like verified case numbers or emergency-only broad searches) could preserve utility while limiting overreach, though doing so would undercut Flock's business model and $8 billion valuation. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Does Flock Safety verify the case numbers officers enter before running a license plate search? No, Flock confirmed it does not verify case numbers entered by officers before a search, meaning an officer can enter a bogus case number to bypass the safeguard meant to ensure searches have a legitimate purpose. This loophole exists despite Flock's recent policy changes requiring a case number be entered for every search. _Track how surveillance vendors patch security gaps by following policy and product changes on daily.dev._ ### How long does Flock Safety recommend police departments retain license plate reader data? Flock recently changed its recommended retention period to seven days, even though the company reports that 90% of searches happen within a week of an incident. In practice, however, individual police agencies can still hold onto the collected data for months or years, since Flock's recommendation is not enforced. _Developers weighing data retention and privacy trade-offs can follow surveillance policy shifts on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [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 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 - [Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash](https://daily.dev/posts/flock-ceo-calls-for-compromise-as-surveillance-company-faces-growing-backlash-lgvwy1upp) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/what-flock-s-defenders-are-missing-ican6rqo6) ```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":"What Flock’s defenders are missing","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-flock-s-defenders-are-missing-ican6rqo6","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-flock-s-defenders-are-missing-ican6rqo6"},"datePublished":"2026-08-17T19:25:29.723Z","dateModified":"2026-08-17T19:26:24.159Z","description":"Flock Safety, the company behind roughly 120,000 automatic license plate readers across the US, recently updated its platform to curb misuse after reports of...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/17e7443dd6e7ab49d8f20be32574e561?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/17e7443dd6e7ab49d8f20be32574e561?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT Technology Review","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":"MIT Technology Review","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/a8d03889722f4f22b3986e0b395ff076","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-flock-s-defenders-are-missing-ican6rqo6","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"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":"MIT Technology Review","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What Flock’s defenders are missing"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-flock-s-defenders-are-missing-ican6rqo6#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Does Flock Safety verify the case numbers officers enter before running a license plate search?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No, Flock confirmed it does not verify case numbers entered by officers before a search, meaning an officer can enter a bogus case number to bypass the safeguard meant to ensure searches have a legitimate purpose. This loophole exists despite Flock's recent policy changes requiring a case number be entered for every search. Track how surveillance vendors patch security gaps by following policy and product changes on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How long does Flock Safety recommend police departments retain license plate reader data?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Flock recently changed its recommended retention period to seven days, even though the company reports that 90% of searches happen within a week of an incident. In practice, however, individual police agencies can still hold onto the collected data for months or years, since Flock's recommendation is not enforced. Developers weighing data retention and privacy trade-offs can follow surveillance policy shifts on daily.dev."}}]} ```