New York City’s Mamdani criticizes Madison Square Garden owner over surveillance tech
The mayor’s comments come after the entertainment giant’s data breach last year, which exposed James Dolan’s surveillance.
Privacy
Flock keeps ignoring requests to cancel its contracts
While more cities are canceling their contracts with Flock Safety, just as many are discovering how difficult that can be in some instances. Plymouth, Minnesota’s city council voted to terminate its contract with Flock in September, but failed to respond to the city’s request. For over a month, the cameras remained up, and the city […]
GM to pay $220 million to resolve claims it sold driving habits data
General Motors has agreed to pay $220 million to settle claims that it illegally sold driver and location information to data brokers, as reported earlier by Reuters. The agreement, which resolves a complaint from a coalition of 36 US attorneys general, requires GM to limit the driving data it collects and obtain “express consent” from […]
How a grocery merger could expand a surveillance network
Kroger’s $1.65 billion proposed acquisition of Giant Eagle might not only consolidate the grocery market, but also a vast surveillance network that includes Flock cameras, a new report warns. Beyond standard concerns that a merger could decrease competition and increase prices, the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), which advocates for competition policy reforms, says that […]
Friends don’t let friends feed their data to AI agents
There’s a growing trend in the consumer tech world: gadgets designed to spy on everything and everyone around you, regardless of whether or not anyone else actually consented to it. Now, with the advent of “AI personal assistants” like Meta’s Muse, you’re being cheerfully asked not just to give up your own data, but also […]
Benn Jordan on Flock, privacy, and the new surveillance backlash
Today, I’m talking with Benn Jordan, musician, YouTuber, researcher, and investigative journalist. You might know Benn from those first two titles — he’s got a prolific discography of experimental music dating back decades. But in the last couple of years, he’s become a high-profile face in the creator and media spaces for his work investigating […]
Flock CEO defends surveillance technology amid national backlash: ‘We shouldn’t pause progress’
At TechCrunch Disrupt, Flock CEO Garrett Langley defended his company’s surveillance technology despite growing privacy concerns, arguing that its crime-fighting benefits outweigh the risks of abuse.
Flock CEO: We haven’t ‘fired’ any police departments as customers
Flock CEO Garrett Langley said that the surveillance company has not canceled contracts of any police department or law enforcement agency, despite reports of abuse.
A college in Illinois tried to cancel its Flock contact and it refused
In April of 2025, Elgin Community College had six Flock safety cameras installed to “enhance the safety and security of students.” But by September of that year, the school’s administration grew concerned that Flock was sharing data with Customs and Border Patrol, that camera feeds were not properly secured, and that both law enforcement and […]