Residents of an Atlanta suburb have been rocked by the revelation that sales employees at Flock have been accessing sensitive cameras in the town to demonstrate the company\u2019s surveillance technology to police departments around the country. The cameras accessed have included surveillance tech in a children\u2019s gymnastics room, a playground, a school, a Jewish community center, and a pool.Flock has taken issue with the way that residents and activists have characterized the access but confirmed that the camera access did happen as part of its sales demonstrations. A blog post by Jason Hunyar, a Dunwoody, Georgia resident who learned about Flock accessing the city\u2019s cameras by obtaining Flock access logs via a public records request is called \u201cWhy Are Flock Employees Watching Our Children?\u201d\u00a0Flock has pushed back against this characterization on social media, in a blog post, at city council meetings, and in a statement to 404 Media: \u201cThe city of Dunwoody is one city in our demo partner program,\u201d a Flock spokesperson told 404 Media. \u201cThe cities involved in this program have authorized select Flock employees to demonstrate new products and features as we develop them in partnership with the city. Moreover, select engineers can access accounts with customer permission to debug or fix any issues that may arise. No one is spying on children in parks, as the substack incorrectly asserts.\u201d\u00a0Flock also argued that it is more transparent than any other surveillance company because it creates these access logs at all, and they can be obtained using public records requests. \u201cAlso, I must state the irony of the situation. We’re one of the few technology companies in this space dedicated to radical transparency […] I understand the concern from the resident, but it is unequivocally false to assert that Flock, or the police, or city officials are doing anything other than using technology to stop major crimes in the city.\u201dThe records Hunyar obtained, however, show that some of the cameras that were accessed were in sensitive locations, including the pool at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (in Dunwoody), the children\u2019s gymnastics room at MJCCA, and several fitness centers and studios. The access logs obtained by Hunyar show at the very least how expansive Flock\u2019s surveillance systems can be in a single city, encompassing not just cameras purchased by the city but also cameras purchased by private businesses.\u00a0A picture of Dunwoody’s “Real Time Crime Center,” which is “powered by Flock Safety.” Image: City of DunwoodyAfter Hunyar wrote about what he found, Flock has agreed to stop using Dunwoody\u2019s cameras to demonstrate its product. Flock\u2019s FAQ page states that \u201cFlock customers own their data\u201d and \u201cFlock will not share, sell, or access your data.\u201d It also states \u201cnobody from Flock Safety is accessing or monitoring your footage.\u201d Flock also published a blog post that notes \u201cone of the benefits communities value most about Flock technology is the ability for law enforcement to directly access privately owned cameras, if and only if the organization allows them to, for crime-solving and security purposes.\u201d\u00a0\ud83d\udca1Do you know anything else about Flock? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at jason.404. Otherwise, send me an email at jason@404media.co.\u201cFair questions have been asked about conducting demos on cameras in sensitive locations when doing this very critical testing in the real-world. Last week, in the City of Dunwoody, questions were raised about a demo conducted as part of authorized activity approved under the city’s demo partner agreement, on cameras at a local Jewish Community Center. Although the camera was only viewed during a routine demo, we understand that this is a sensitive location for many. We have therefore determined that employees will be trained to only conduct demos in more public locations, like retail parking lots,\u201d Flock wrote in the blog. \u201cAccusing someone of spying on children is not a policy disagreement; it is a life-altering allegation. Claims of inappropriate conduct by our employees are false. The employees being named online are well-intentioned employees who accessed a camera network with the city’s explicit permission, as part of their job. They are now being called predators for it.\u201dThe incident prompted a direct email apology from Flock CEO Garrett Langley to the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta which was then forwarded to Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch. That email was obtained by Hunyar using a public records request and was shared with 404 Media: \u201cYou may have seen that questions have been raised about Flock employees\u2019 access to security cameras near MJCCA property. While there is a lot of misinformation propagated by some of the voices making these allegations, I want to be direct and apologize for our poor judgement.\u201d\u201cBecause of our relationship with Dunwoody PD as a development partner\u2013meaning we had explicit permission from Dunwoody to use their Flock system for both testing (for product improvement) and demonstration\u2013Flock employees did occasionally access Dunwoody\u2019s devices for those purposes,\u201d Langley added. \u201cI recognize that the choice to use MJCCA, rather than parts of the city, was a poor one on our part. I am cognizant of the additional, well-founded sensitivity of the Jewish community to security concerns at this time. Therefore, I would like to extend a formal apology to you and the entire MJCCA community for this poor decision. Candidly, it is because of the very real security concerns the MJCCA community is feeling that I am so proud of our partnership, and those with Jewish organizations across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
For nearly three hours earlier this month, resident after resident questioned the Dunwoody City Council about its relationship with Flock, which is extremely close. Flock has repeatedly championed its work in Dunwoody, and Dunwoody has a “real time crime center” that features a giant wall of Flock cameras and is “powered by Flock Safety.” “Powered by Flock Safety, the cutting-edge RTCC is a comprehensive command center that brings together the City\u2019s license plate recognition (LPR) cameras, gunshot detection, police body cameras, Condor pan-tilt cameras, Flock’s Adaptive 911, call geolocation, and third-party video cameras,” the city’s website says.At the city council meeting, the residents universally explained to their elected officials that they did not want their tax money funding surveillance technology that has been used to collaborate with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, to look for a woman who had an abortion, has been abused by police officers to stalk women and surveil protests, has suffered from numerous security and privacy scandals, and was now using their city as, at best, a live surveillance sales demonstration and, at worst, was surveilling the city\u2019s children.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s pretty shocking that Flock employees are watching children in Dunwoody. Like, isn\u2019t that mind boggling?,\u201d resident Kenneth Westmoreland testified. \u201cI think it would go a long way if you just showed up with even a little bit of willingness beyond public comment to listen to people who actually know what they\u2019re talking about \u2026 It’s like, would you put their camera in your child’s bedroom? I don’t know, but it seems a little bit like it to me.\u201dAnother resident, Aaron Miller, suggested that continuing the Flock contract could be a liability for the city, mentioned that its cameras have been used for stalking, that Flock data has been given to ICE, and that Dunwoody\u2019s cameras had been accessed by Flock. \u201cIf and when this misconduct crosses yet another line into unequivocal stalking or god forbid something worse, you will be responsible and you will have to answer for the fact that you knew well in advance that this technology enables and facilitates these kinds of gross violations, and it\u2019s not just about the fine details of the contract,\u201d Miller said.\u00a0\u201cWe should get rid of Flock,\u201d another resident, Sean Collins, said plainly. \u201cI want to congratulate everyone sitting here that has come out all these weeks and put all their effort and their time into this to not only research and write speeches, but to try and inform you guys and persuade you guys. I think it\u2019s awesome that the community is building, unfortunately, around a negative event and hopefully in the future we can build around something positive instead.\u201dDuring the three hours, I was impressed with the depth of knowledge residents had about a relatively complex surveillance system and the many ways that Flock has been abused, many of which we have reported on over the last several years. Not every resident got every fact correct, and Flock has made it abundantly clear that it believes the idea that it is \u201cspying on children\u201d is unfair. And yet, it is reasonable for residents to wonder why their city is being used as a live sales demo, why their community is so heavily surveilled, and why these cameras are being accessed so often. It is reasonable for residents to want to have a conversation about whether they want this technology at all.And the overwhelming message from Dunwoody residents is: This is too much. They are not interested in minor tweaks to contracts, lip service about privacy, being told that their concerns are overblown or don\u2019t matter, and being told to go away. They are not interested in being told that the reason there are livestreaming cameras at the children\u2019s gymnastics room is complicated, actually. And yet, that is exactly what their politicians and Flock itself have been telling them.\u00a0After these and many other impassioned speeches from residents, Dunwoody mayor Lynn Deutsch said she was \u201cconcerned and perplexed\u201d when she learned that sensitive Dunwoody cameras were being accessed, then said \u201cI sought a solution and where we landed is that Flock will no longer use Dunwoody for demonstration projects. So that wasn\u2019t acceptable. They have apologized to the JCC [Jewish Community Center] \u2026 I\u2019m not excusing it at all, I was very frustrated and angry and I believe this is a solution, at least part of a solution from keeping them out of places Flock should not be.\u201d\u201cThe inference that we\u2019re doing something behind doors, that we\u2019re taking bribes, it\u2019s all kinds of not at all correct,\u201d she added. \u201cWe haven\u2019t done any of this in secret. I cannot stress enough that none of this was done without proper notice.\u201d She then said that she did not have any interest in ending the city\u2019s Flock contract, though some tweaks to its existing contract would be sought.\u00a0Jason Hunyar, the man who requested the public records that showed how broad Flock\u2019s network is and the fact that Flock employees were accessing the city\u2019s cameras, shared an email exchange he had with Deutsch and other city officials when he first discovered what was happening.\u00a0\u201cMayor\/City Council, Here is a write-up I’m going to release publicly after I send this email detailing the unfettered access that Flock has to our data. This includes \u2026 watching us and our children at the library, MJCCs pools, MJCCs fitness centers, and MJCCs gymnastics studio,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThey are even watching you in your council chambers \u2026 I am also going to be a member of the JCC coming this fall and my son is going to be in the preschool where some of these exact cameras that these flock employees are looking at. This is where a ton of my concern comes from.\u201dDeutsch responded and suggested it was irresponsible for him to reveal this information: \u201cDoes the JCC realize you\u2019re sharing all about their security system publicly?\u201d\u201cIf I was sending a child to the JCC for preschool, I\u2019m pretty confident, and I say this as a Jewish grandmother with a grandchild in a synagogue preschool, that my number one concern would be security in today\u2019s environment,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI\u2019m disappointed to know that all this is in the public domain, because I think we\u2019re better off when the bad guys don\u2019t know exactly what precautions have been taken. But here we are.\u201d\u201cI look forward to protecting MJCCA and the City of Dunwoody for years to come.\u201d\u00a0Hunyar told me that prior to seeing reporting by 404 Media and the YouTuber Benn Jordan, who lives nearby and has revealed numerous Flock security and privacy problems, he had \u201cnever submitted a public records request before or gone to a city council meeting.\u201d He said that he has been frustrated with how the city has responded: \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to explain to them how the technology works, they ask the police, the police lies to them at the city council meeting,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of educating them. They\u2019re trying to do this performative stuff by slightly tweaking the contract, and [when I tell them how Flock works], I think \u2018Why are you asking me about this and not freaking out that Flock has access to cameras in the children\u2019s gymnastics room?\u2019\u201d\u00a0Over the last few months, numerous cities across the country have decided to end their Flock contracts after organizing by residents. In some cases, police and city council members have themselves decided to end Flock contracts due to some of the company\u2019s scandals. In one case, a Virginia police department decided to get rid of Flock after the police chief felt Langley was mischaracterizing the valid privacy concerns of residents as a concerted conspiracy against Flock and its technology.\u00a0Despite all of the reporting and outrage about this type of surveillance, cities around the country are still signing new contracts with Flock, often using \u201cdiscretionary\u201d police or city council funds that can be used with little or no public debate.\u00a0Georgia Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Chris Carr saw all that happened in Dunwoody and decided to praise Flock: \u201cMayor – thanks to Council and you for supporting the use of FLOCK technology,\u201d he wrote. \u201cGeorgia\u2019s Constitution says that government has one paramount duty – the protection of person and property. I\u2019m proud to say that Dunwoody\u2019s leadership lived up to their duty by continuing to partner with FLOCK.\u201d\u00a0Making anything other than minor changes to the Dunwoody contract does not seem to be on the table; Dunwoody officials including the mayor declined to speak to 404 Media for this story, offering only a statement from a city spokesperson that said \u201cWe are working through a range of items with Flock as we develop a Master Services Agreement for consideration by City Council.\u201d When I followed up, I was told \u201cThis was discussed during the City Council meeting. I don\u2019t have anything to add.\u201d Dunwoody voted to renew its contract after all of this.\u00a0In Langley\u2019s apology email to the MJCCA, he said \u201cI look forward to protecting MJCCA and the City of Dunwoody for years to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"