Amid rising local and national scrutiny and reporting on misuse, Flock Security, company that provides license plate-reading cameras to private and law enforcement agencies around the country, announced changes to how data is stored and audited.
The default data retention policy is now seven days, down from 30, but searches tied to a case number can be retained for longer in the new “evidence mode," the Atlanta-based company said.
Also, agencies can now opt into restricting the type of searches that can be used by others in the network to access data.
Critics say that the changes do little to address deeper problems with privacy and civil liberties.
Representatives from Columbus Police did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Flock said
that it is also now requiring all agencies to detect abnormal activity to flag for administrator review. Also, each law enforcement search will now require a case code that can be bypassed during emergencies, but will be flagged for an administrator review.
The company also encouraged law enforcement agencies to publish a transparency portal, which Columbus began in recent weeks amid questions about how its network is being used.
Flock has been around for nine years and the new changes “reflect years of work and deliberation,” according to a company blog post published Aug. 13.
“They are not the end of that work, but simply the continuation of our commitment to both safety and privacy. We are not perfect, so we will keep listening, improving, and building a better standard for public safety technology together,” the company said.
Chad Marlow, a senior policy counsel for the national American Civil Liberties Union organization, wrote in a blog post that while the data retention policy appears to be positive, there are loopholes in the system that could lead to data being retained indefinitely.
“While one proposed change to Flock’s operations might constitute a positive development, most of the other changes seem to be following Flock’s playbook of treating legitimate privacy concerns as mere public relations problems. Several of the proposed changes Flock is touting are merely retreads of previous inadequate safety measures,” Marlow said.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers regional/suburban trending news for The Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Flock updates camera policies amid scrutiny, but local impact unclear
