Just as the public doesn't want the government to do surveillance on them, the same mentality must be put on private entities.

I think this is too invasive. I think that technology has advanced to a point where tracking people and making use of that data is far too easy and inexpensive.

I don't care if it's the government or private organizations, people should expect a higher level of privacy than this.

>Lakeway is just one example of a community that has faced Flock’s surveillance without many homeowners’ knowledge or approval. Neighbors in Atlanta, Georgia, remained in the dark for a year after cameras were put up. In Lake County, Florida, nearly 100 cameras went up “overnight like mushrooms,” according to one county commissioner — without a single permit. > >In a statement, Flock Safety brushed off the Lake County incident as an “an honest misunderstanding,” but the increasing surveillance of community members’ movements across the country is no accident. It’s a deliberate marketing strategy. > >Flock Safety, which began as a startup in 2017 in Atlanta and is now valued at approximately $3.5 billion, has targeted homeowners associations, or HOAs, in partnership with police departments, to become one of the largest surveillance vendors in the nation. There are key strategic reasons that make homeowners associations the ideal customer. HOAs have large budgets — they collect over $100 billion a year from homeowners — and it’s an opportunity for law enforcement to gain access into gated, private areas, normally out of their reach. > >Over 200 HOAs nationwide have bought and installed Flock’s license plate readers, according to an Intercept investigation, the most comprehensive count to date. HOAs are private entities and therefore are not subject to public records requests or regulation. > >“What are the consequences if somebody abuses the system?” said Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “There are repercussions of having this data, and you don’t have that kind of accountability when it comes to a homeowners association.” > >The majority of the readers are hooked up to Flock’s TALON network, which allows police to track cars within their own neighborhoods, as well as access a nationwide system of license plate readers that scan approximately a billion images of vehicles a month. Camera owners can also create their own “hot lists” of plate numbers that generate alarms when scanned and will run them in state police watchlists and the FBI’s primary criminal database, the National Crime Information Center. > >“Flock Safety installs cameras with permission from our customers, at the locations they require,” said Holly Beilin, a Flock representative. “Our team has stood in front of hundreds of city council meetings, and we have always supported the democratic process.” > >After facing public outrage, the cameras were removed from communities in Texas and Florida, but Flock’s license plate readers continue to rapidly proliferate daily — from cities in Missouri to Kentucky. > >“It’s a near constant drumbeat,” said Edwin Yohnka, the director of public policy at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. > >With over half of all Americans living in HOAs, experts believe the surveillance technology is far more ubiquitous than we know.

It looks like this company is following the playbook of other companies that have been looking to make inroads in communities through disruption, such as Uber and Airbnb. There also seem to be parallels between what they're doing here and what Ring has been doing with individual property owners. If we are to care about privacy in the slightest, regulations around these kinds of activities are sorely needed but also seemingly lacking in most jurisdictions.

> being near a crime ISN’T ENOUGH TO GET SOMEONE ARRESTED!

It absolutely can be for some people in the very common scenario of being on probation. Typically, probation orders forbid people from being around illegal activities and criminals. The scenario above could be used directly or as an aggravator to revoke probation and bring charges.

Sure, they could likely try to appeal or plead their case that they were visiting their family a few doors down and unrelated to the drug bust, but that’s going to take time before you get in front of a judge. In the meantime, the probation officer already revoked the probation and the person is in jail.

“Over 200 HOAs nationwide have bought and installed….”

Absolute bullocks right there. Add a few zeros. I’ve seen probably more than 200 HOAs/neighborhoods with this abomination of a company all over neighborhoods in the metro area I live in. Intercept might want to “investigate” again.

I’ve been complaining about this shit company for years and 99 out of 100 people I talk to “don’t care because they have nothing to hide”

It should 100% be illegal for anyone except governments to have access to this. I dislike governments having access but I know that is just a given at this point they would have it.

HOAs (and funny any individual can buy Flock) should not have the ability to track people, setup tracking of certain plates, etc.

I so hope this company eventually goes bankrupt (but sadly I know they won’t)

Seeing as almost all crimes involve the use of a vehicle, this is fantastic technology tool for real time and criminal investigations. While I understand the privacy concern I am unaware of any incidents where this became an issue. It also has been instrumental in numerous missing person cases and recovered 10s of thousand of stolen cars throughout the US.

I’d be more than OK if my HOA did this.

If a stolen car or a car attached to a felony warrant enters my neighborhood…..I’d love for the police to be notified.

Why would you have an expectation of your license plate being private? Its whole purpose is public display!

Downvote all you want but l the US is a violent society and this is needed. Cars and roads connect everything and most crime involves vehicles

I don't really have a problem with this. I'm a libertarian, but license plates are public information. HOA's, while annoying, are voluntary organizations. Privacy laws vary in many states, but even the most stringent allow storing license plates with consent. You can even store license plates without consent as long as you're not linking them with personal information.

I imagine HOA's want to catalog all the authorized vehicles and who owns them so they can identify who owns a car that's violating the rules.

Source: My company started to implement a system for businesses that used license plates to help identify customers and we had to nix the project. HOA members who specifically opt-in as part of their HOA contract wouldn't have the same concern.