Flock Safety — a tech surveillance firm that makes AI-enabled cameras that scans and collects license plate information — announced new guardrails Thursday after multiple reports ofabuse by law enforcement and amid growing public backlash over mass surveillance technology.
The new safeguards include requiring law enforcement to label every search with a with a criminal case number, and instituting an automatic review for abnormal search activities, which will trigger proactive lockouts for those users.
The company also said it will introduce a seven-day data retention default instead of the past default of 30 days.
Data from Flock’s 120,000 cameras across the U.S. can be shared by police departments with other agencies throughout the country, but now, cities can choose the type of offenses other agencies can access through their cameras…