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| -Land of the Free |
| A Federal Judge has ruled Flock Cameras Tag Tracking is a warrantless search and violate the Fourth Amendment |
| 2026-10-11 |
| [GeorgiaRecord] An Oklahoma federal court has ruled in a new case that a warrantless search of Flock Safety license plate data is a Fourth Amendment violation. The judge called the system "a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance." A Tulsa sheriff's deputy was found to have had no warrant and "no apparent reason" to look up a woman's license plate number other than that she had a car with California license plates, reports TechCrunch, citing reporting by 404 Media. Her travel history was then used to justify searching her car, where 91 pounds of methamphetamine were allegedly found. All evidence obtained after the Flock search "must be suppressed as the fruit of a poisonous tree," ruled Judge Sara Hill. Hill's findings went beyond the single stop. As she noted, the tracking of people moving about in public becomes "constitutionally problematic when law enforcement can indiscriminately and passively catalog your whereabouts over an extended period of time and then use that information for any purpose whenever convenient." She distinguished Flock from the targeted cell phone location request at issue in Carpenter v. United States, and her depiction of Flock is telling: she said it "is a tool that collects information about all vehicles that pass by any network-connected camera at all times, and it serves up the information to law enforcement on demand." This ruling is not binding on other courts. However, TechCrunch notes that this is one of the first times a federal court has ruled that a Flock search was unconstitutional. There is increasing pressure on Flock across the political spectrum. Local and state governments, including Florida and Texas, have said they will stop using the technology. On Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the Block Flock Act, which would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers like Flock. Flock CEO Garrett Langley is now seeking a middle ground between privacy and safety and apologized to the women stalked by police officers using the system. With customers cancelling contracts, Flock has reportedly offered voluntary buyouts to shrink its workforce, TechCrunch reports. Related: Flock Safety 08/29/2026 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott moves to cut state funding for AI-powered Flock cameras amid privacy concerns Flock Safety 08/21/2026 Flock ‘reactivates’ cameras with no notice to town Flock Safety 08/13/2026 FLOCK - Atlanta-Based Company Pitched Georgia AG On Turning 350,000 Rideshare Cars Into Roaming Surveillance Network |
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