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MIT Tech Review: the Flock debate is about 120,000 cameras' design choices, not whether they catch criminals
Flock Safety operates roughly 120,000 automatic license plate readers across the US and recently announced platform updates meant to stop officers from using the system for illegal purposes including stalking. MIT Technology Review argues both defenders and critics are asking the wrong question, and that what matters is "what kind of crime-fighting system has Flock chosen to build" — what gets collected, who can search it, how long it is retained, and who it is shared with. The framing generalizes past surveillance: architecture decisions, not stated policy, set the actual terms of the trade between security and civil liberties.
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