Despite ‘New’ Updates, Flock’s Creepy Cameras Remain Major Civil Liberties Threat

Flock announced it is reducing its standard data retention from one month to one week, conceding for the first time that “roughly 90 percent of all searches on Flock already happen within a week” of the data’s collection.

“For cases that need more time, Flock is launching Evidence Mode: when a search is tied to a case number, that data is preserved instead of aging out after 7 days,” Flock said in its statement. “Agencies can still set retention to whatever their state or local policy requires. Evidence Mode will be provided to customers at no cost.”

Our Response: While Flock has not shortened the default retention period to the ACLU’s recommended 48 hours, its proposal may be a step in the right direction. Whether this is a real change or just another Flock PR move, however, will depend on how its “Evidence Mode” operates.

If “Evidence Mode” only retains hit result data that police determine may be evidence in an active investigation of a specific case, then the change may be a positive one. But if “Evidence Mode” triggers the retention of any ALPR data that is searched, then the new mode could indefinitely retain all the ALPR data Flock collects and shares nationally. This would make Flock’s data retention problem even worse. Even if “Evidence Mode’s” data retention hold only applies to hits returned on a given search, it would still retain significant amounts of location data on persons and vehicles who law enforcement do not suspect have engaged in any wrongdoing.

While Flock doesn’t establish state or local ALPR data retention periods, its system empowers governments to choose their own retention periods. For states and localities that want and permit longer data retention periods, all they have to do is ask. Although Flock may not technically be the one unlocking the door to months of people’s private location data, it is responsible for building the door and handing out the keys.