Hackers found Flock cameras can track more than just cars and Boston officials found camera data was shared despite being told it wouldnt be

Date:
Wed, 16 Sep 2026 20:00:00 +0000

Hackers just extracted a scary amount of data from a downed flock camera, as Boston reveals it wont use Flock anymore -- The Flock backlash might
have taken a backseat to more recent tech news namely, whether AI
development needs to slow down before superintelligence wipes us out, or, on
a lighter note, Apples first foldable iPhone but the anti-surveillance crusade is continuing, with Boston officials and its police department announcing the city will not be relying on the service any longer.

This follows the publishing of a 2025 report which included details on a
Flock pilot the city ran in 2025. According to the report, the city
discovered Flock was sharing data with external law enforcement agencies despite Flocks agreement with Boston saying data sharing was to be turned
off, and the company confirming this was the case.

In response, city officials and Boston's police department have committed to no longer using Flock cameras going forward. However, its worth noting this
is not an absolute win for privacy advocates. Boston police department has already begun pilots with two of Flock's rivals: a Motorola trial began back in February, while an Axon pilot began in June, suggesting it might merely move to a different Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) service.

This also comes as hackers have discovered precisely what Flock cameras track, and its not just license plates. Analyzing encrypted data, hackers found
the cameras also detect people and bicycles and they can also pick up and isolate specific bumper stickers. The fact that the cameras are able to pick up and monitor so much more than some may have realized is worrying enough, but whats extra concerning is that this data was recovered from a physical camera.

Hopefully Flock will solve this soon, but currently it means anyone with the right hacking skills could tear down a camera and access a chunk of the data stored inside the device meaning you might not just need to worry about what officials can do with your data.

For many, the answer to the question of if theres a right
way to use Flock or similar cameras is an emphatic no, but for advocates of the tech, there are sensible measures police departments could be using to minimize abuse.

Limiting automatic sharing of data to other agencies and restricting the police officers with access are a good starting point. They also argue that all Flock data requests should require case numbers to be attached, and for officers to provide a reason for each request.

Advocates argue this limits the likelihood that bad actors will be able to sneak a peek at Flock data, ensures that accessing ALPR information has a purpose, and creates checks and balances to prevent overreach from law enforcement agencies. As such, many agencies now deploy these methods.

However, some of these practices have been undermined by recent reports. Records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation show that many
officers reasons for accessing the data include excuses like LMAO, idk lol, TBD, Sexy, and similar phrases. Others took to simply smashing their
keyboards to fill the form with random letters.

Whats more, in an attempt to make it easier to
fill in records but still keep data transparent, Flock introduced
prepared options like Traffic infraction, though some argue this is a step backwards, as it means officers have even less need to articulate their reasoning for accessing ALPR data and it really doesnt help when one option is a generic Other.

The EFF reached out to several police departments, and it seems that some
have been reprimanded, while others claim department policy has changed since the nonsense reasons were given.

However, even if these forms were filled in correctly, or seemingly
correctly, they wouldnt prevent privacy violations. Theyd merely allow
someone to possibly audit the data after the fact to spot misuse if the forms were investigated.

Thats why many are saying the best protection besides pulling down ALPR cameras entirely is to require a warrant for each search.

Though tearing the cameras down might simply be the best approach, especially after that example above, where it shows ALPR cams see a lot more than we might credit them for, and that some of a cameras data can be accessed by hackers who know what theyre after.

Well need to wait and see how things develop, but Flocks troubles dont seem
to be ending soon.

Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/tech/hackers-found-flock-cameras-can-track-more-than -just-cars-and-boston-officials-found-camera-data-was-shared-despite-being-tol d-it-wouldnt-be

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