Controversial surveillance technology company Flock Safety has unveiled sweeping new privacy "guardrails," seemingly intended to quell growing unrest over its devices' presence across the country. Days prior, CEO Garrett Langley went on a media run to convince the public that the company was not the latest cog in a dystopian surveillance state, but rather a purveyor of public safety. "We’re not Big Brother," said CEO Garrett Langley. "We’re focused on protecting people."
But many still wonder, if it looks like Big Brother, and it talks like Big Brother...
You May Also Like
What is Flock's new privacy policy?Under the new policy, Flock will be adjusting its default data retention period from a 30 days to seven. Prior to this, Flock systems were automatically set to store an individual's registration and location information for a full month, but this can still be changed to longer or shorter periods according to state and local policy. The ACLU has previously recommended that data retention defaults be set to 48 hours.In addition, Flock will now require law enforcement agencies to use a case code that delineates a potential offense before searching the Flock database. Previously, this was an optional setting for Flock clients, and dozens of law enforcement officers have been accused of using the database to stalk and harass individuals. The company's "Audit Assistance" tool, intended to flag inappropriate uses, will become standard on all Flock packages. Flock is also adding a new feature called "Offense filtering for sharing." The tool will let cities moderate how other agencies access their residents' data by categorizing which types of offenses are searchable. Does this make Flock cameras safer?All of these changes come with exceptions. "Every community will continue to choose the retention period that fits its public safety strategy," according to Flock.
