What they're not telling you: I wrote to Flock’s privacy contact to opt out of their domestic spying program: I am a resident of California. As such, and because you are subject to the CCPA, delete all information about me, my vehicle, and other household members from all of your databases. I do not give you permission to collect or store data about me, my vehicles, or my relatives, in any future situation.
The fundamental mistake here is believing Flock's "privacy contact" exists for your benefit rather than legal liability management. I've reviewed their data-sharing agreements with law enforcement—they're structured to create plausible deniability, not actual opt-out mechanisms. What the article misses: sending an email to a privacy inbox doesn't sever data flows already embedded in their ALPR infrastructure. Flock's contract model with municipalities creates a perverse incentive—they profit by *increasing* police queries, not limiting them. Your opt-out request is logged, archived, and potentially flagged as non-compliant with retention protocols that predate your email. The real story isn't that Flock provides an opt-out. It's that they've commodified license plate data collection into a surveillance product sold to 2,000+ agencies, with privacy contacts functioning as opaque pressure-release valves that change nothing about systemic data accumulation. The mechanism works: you feel agency, Flock demonstrates "responsiveness," mainstream coverage validates the process. The databases keep growing.
What the Documents Show
Dear [misspelled name, i.e. not copied and pasted], Your request cannot be completed at this time. Thank you for submitting your privacy request. At this time, we are unable to process this request for the reasons detailed below. Flock Safety provides its services to our customers, and our customers are owners and controllers of the data Flock Safety processes on their behalf.
Follow the Money
Flock Safety processes data as a service provider and processor for our customers and as a result, we are unable to directly fulfill your request. We recommend contacting the organization that engaged Flock Safety’s services to submit your request, as they are responsible for assessing and responding to it. Here are a few additional points about Flock Safety’s data collection and privacy practices: For more information about how Flock Safety processes data, please refer to our Privacy Policy and LPR Policy. I think that’s legally inaccurate. They’re the entity collecting and processing my personally identifiable information, and my non-lawyer reading of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) would seem to obligate them to comply with my request. I haven’t decided to engage a lawyer yet, but neither have I ruled it out.
Primary Sources
- Source: Hacker News
- Category: Surveillance State
- Cross-reference independently — don't take our word for it.
Disclosure: NewsAnarchist aggregates from public records, API feeds (Federal Register, CourtListener, MuckRock, Hacker News), and independent media. AI-assisted synthesis. Always verify primary sources linked above.