The Renton City Council is still weighing what to do with its Flock license plate reader system, which remains shut down. Several residents urged council members to permanently remove the cameras during a meeting Monday night, including Branden Conley, who told KOMO News he understands the need to help law enforcement but remains concerned about the collection and use of residents’ data.
Flock says the data collected by its cameras remains under the control of the cities and municipalities that operate the systems. Critics, however, have raised concerns about public records requests and instances in which federal agencies, including ICE and Border Patrol, have accessed information without formal notification. A new Washington state law exempts automated license plate reader footage from the Public Records Act. The council did not take action on the Flock system at Monday night’s meeting.
Meanwhile, activists and cybersecurity experts are raising similar concerns over Seattle’s proposed expansion of its Real-Time Crime Center. One expert described the cameras as a physical manifestation of a broader “surveillance state,” while others questioned whether images collected by the system can be adequately secured…