Hackers Crack Open Flock Camera, Share Data
The Spin
Industry-critical narrative
Flock swore nobody with physical access could pull images off a camera, and hackers just proved that a lie by cracking one open and finding the decryption key sitting right there on the device. The box wasn't only reading plates — it was tagging people, bikes and bumper stickers, logging 1.6 million images in 21 days. A researcher flagged this flaw over a year ago and the company shrugged it off.
Pro-industry narrative
Ripping a camera off a pole and tampering with it is a crime, not security research, and anyone who found a real flaw could have reported it through the public disclosure process instead of handing files to reporters. This technology has aided more than a million investigations and helped locate over 10,000 missing people. The answer is accountability and audits, not banning tools that keep communities safe.
Public Figures
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