Pressure Systems edition
Hacker Firmware Dumps and Grassroots Protests Target Flock Cameras
September 19, 2026
What this edition shows
Grassroots revolts, municipal contract cancellations, and hacker firmware extractions are collapsing the operating model for automated license plate reader vendor Flock Safety. As police departments abuse the network for frivolous searches and unauthorized nationwide tracking, physical sabotage and data breaches have exposed the inner mechanics of mass surveillance infrastructure.
Reporting and analysis behind this edition 21 sources
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Hackers Stole Flock’s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks Cars and People
While people around the U.S. are tearing down Flock cameras, one group of hackers went a step further: extracting the camera's software too.
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Hackers reveal how Flock cameras really track cars and people
One hacked camera captured 1.6 million images and could detect people as well as cars.
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Hackers Got Inside a Flock Camera. Its Data Shows How the System Really Works
A hacker collective pulled down a Flock camera and dumped its data. The files included thousands of videos and logs showing that the device captured 1.6 million images of 50,000 vehicles in 21 days.
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‘Flock City PD:’ The Fake Flock-Owned ‘Police Department’ That Searched Real Cameras for Real People
Flock ran searches for “coexist bumper sticker,” “white truck with a trump sticker,” and “Star of David,” apparently to demonstrate what cops shouldn't search for.
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Boston dumps Flock, says it shared data nationwide in violation of contract
City: Flock enabled "nationwide lookup" despite contract requiring it to be disabled.
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Pro-Cop Red States Latest To Kick Flock To The Curb
Whatever wasn’t already going poorly for Flock Safety is just going to keep getting worse. Data collected by privacy activist group Secure Justice pointed out what Flock already knows: it’s losing customers at an unprecedented rate. More than 214 cities and counties have dropped Flock since 2021. Mo…
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Flock Offers Employees Buyouts as Customers Flee
As dozens of cities end contracts for its controversial license plate readers, Flock is rolling out a voluntary severance program, WIRED has learned.
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DHS Feeding Citizens’ Bank Records To Predictive Policing Units To Find Drivers To Pull Over
Every government does stuff because it can, not because it needs to. But this current administration has been far more opportunistic than most, doing constitutional recon in areas of unsettled law right up until a court rules that it can’t. (In some cases, it continues to do these things despite hav…
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How the American revolt against Flock cameras mirrors the Boston Tea Party of 1773
A license plate recognition camera is seen in Boulder. Colo., on March 5, 2026. Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images A grassroots revolt against automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, has gained momentum across the United States. ALPRs are AI-powered cameras that c…
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The High Crime Of “LMAO”: How Cops Are Treating Flock Mass Surveillance As A Joke
Here’s a riddle: Why did a Goshen Police Department officer search 6,474 automated license plate reader (ALPR) networks, representing data from 82,413 cameras, on May 7, 2025? If your answer is “I don’t know,” it turns out you’re 100% correct. The officer left the letters “idk” in the search field w…
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Automobile Camouflage to Hide from Flock Cameras
Not sure it’s practical, but it’s certainly striking.
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👮 Flock Searches for the LOLs | EFFector 38.16
Mass surveillance isn't a joke. But police are treating it like one when using automated license plate reader (ALPR) networks. In our latest EFFector newsletter, we're covering a new EFF report on how officers across the country are routinely logging completely nonsensical "reasons" for their Flock…
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Facing Outraged Residents, Flock Got Help From Group That Uses AI to Rally Public Support
Beset by critics in Knoxville, Flock partnered with a nonprofit accused of “astroturfing” for a campaign to generate support for its surveillance cameras. The post Facing Outraged Residents, Flock Got Help From Group That Uses AI to Rally Public Support appeared first on The Intercept.
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Cops Are Using Flock to Spy on People for the Crime of Standing Around
Police scanned Flock cameras in a single town in Illinois more than 1,200 times to investigate cases of loitering. The post Cops Are Using Flock to Spy on People for the Crime of Standing Around appeared first on The Intercept.
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Cops Search Thousands of Flock Cameras for Reasons of ‘LMAO,’ ‘IDK,’ ‘Hehe,’ and ‘asdfg’
The EFF found cops writing “idiot,” “WEIRD KID,” "blah," "leave me alone," and button mashing in Flock's 'reason' box.
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Smear Campaign Says Anti-Flock Movement Is Chinese Propaganda
Sinclair Broadcasting is pushing the idea that China and the No Kings protesters are the reason people don't like Flock.
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Lawmakers target Flock cameras with a threat to highway funding
A bipartisan bill would restrict Flock cameras to a handful of public safety uses.
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Flock Once Touted Its Cameras as ‘Made in the USA.’ Now It’s Not So Clear
Flock reveals little about where its license plate readers are assembled, but the answer could have geopolitical and cybersecurity implications.
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Lawmakers Want States to Crack Down on Flock Cameras—or Pay the Price
A new bipartisan effort in Congress to rein in automated license plate readers takes a page from the national drinking age: Comply, or risk losing federal highway funding.
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What happens after a town de-Flocks
Demonstrators hold a banner against Flock security cameras during a protest outside the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. Photographer: Cornell Watson/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Bloomberg via Getty Images From Florida to Washington state, l…
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Charges Against Man Who Destroyed 3D-Printed ‘Decoy’ Flock Camera Drastically Reduced After State Admits It Was Not Very Valuable
Three felonies have suddenly become two second-degree misdemeanors.