Flock License Plate Readers: Difference between revisions

Line 25:

While Flock defines "Anonymized Data" as customer data ''"permanently stripped of identifying details and any potential personally identifiable information"'' , rendered so a person or entity ''"can no longer be identified directly or indirectly"'', this category still includes info like the vehicle make, model, color, location patterns, & other non–license-plate attributes.<ref>{{cite web |date=2025-07-22 |title=Terms and Conditions |url=https://www.flocksafety.com/legal/terms-and-conditions |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=Flock Safety}}</ref>

Privacy researchers caution that mobility datasets labeled as "anonymized" can still be re-identified. A 2013 MIT study found that just four spatio-temporal points uniquely identified 95% of individuals in an anonymized location dataset.<ref>{{cite journal |last=de Montjoye |first=Y.-A. |last2=Hidalgo |first2=C. A. |last3=Verleysen |first3=M. |last4=Blondel |first4=V. D. |year=2013 |title=Unique in the Crowd: The privacy bounds of human mobility |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01376 |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=3 |pages=1376 |doi=10.1038/srep01376 |access-date=2025-08-23}}</ref> Civil liberties organizations such as the EFF & ACLU note that when detailed travel histories are retained, even without license plates. they're often able to be linked back to individuals when combined with other data sources.<ref>{{cite web |date=2025-06-01 |title=Flock Safety's Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/flock-safetys-feature-updates-cannot-make-automated-license-plate-readers-safe |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2024 |title=Surveillance Company Flock Now Using AI to Report Us to Police if it Thinks Our Movement Patterns Are "Suspicious" |url=https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/surveillance-company-flock-now-using-ai-to-report-us-to-police-if-it-thinks-our-movement-patterns-are-suspicious |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=American Civil Liberties Union}}</ref>

Privacy researchers caution that mobility datasets labeled as "anonymized" can still be re-identified. A 2013 MIT study found that just four spatio-temporal points uniquely identified 95% of individuals in an anonymized location dataset.<ref>{{cite journal |last=de Montjoye |first=Y.-A. |last2=Hidalgo |first2=C. A. |last3=Verleysen |first3=M. |last4=Blondel |first4=V. D. |year=2013 |title=Unique in the Crowd: The privacy bounds of human mobility |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01376 |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=3 |pages=1376 |doi=10.1038/srep01376 |access-date=2025-08-23}}</ref> Civil liberties organizations such as the EFF & ACLU note that when detailed travel histories are retained, even without license plates, they're often able to be linked back to individuals when combined with other data sources.<ref>{{cite web |date=2025-06-01 |title=Flock Safety's Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/flock-safetys-feature-updates-cannot-make-automated-license-plate-readers-safe |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2024 |title=Surveillance Company Flock Now Using AI to Report Us to Police if it Thinks Our Movement Patterns Are "Suspicious" |url=https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/surveillance-company-flock-now-using-ai-to-report-us-to-police-if-it-thinks-our-movement-patterns-are-suspicious |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=American Civil Liberties Union}}</ref>

====Business model====

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 While Flock defines "Anonymized Data" as customer data ''"permanently stripped of identifying details and any potential personally identifiable information"'' , rendered so a person or entity ''"can no longer be identified directly or indirectly"'', this category still includes info like the vehicle make, model, color, location patterns, & other non–license-plate attributes.<ref>{{cite web |date=2025-07-22 |title=Terms and Conditions |url=https://www.flocksafety.com/legal/terms-and-conditions |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=Flock Safety}}</ref>
-Privacy researchers caution that mobility datasets labeled as "anonymized" can still be re-identified. A 2013 MIT study found that just four spatio-temporal points uniquely identified 95% of individuals in an anonymized location dataset.<ref>{{cite journal |last=de Montjoye |first=Y.-A. |last2=Hidalgo |first2=C. A. |last3=Verleysen |first3=M. |last4=Blondel |first4=V. D. |year=2013 |title=Unique in the Crowd: The privacy bounds of human mobility |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01376 |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=3 |pages=1376 |doi=10.1038/srep01376 |access-date=2025-08-23}}</ref> Civil liberties organizations such as the EFF & ACLU note that when detailed travel histories are retained, even without license plates. they're often able to be linked back to individuals when combined with other data sources.<ref>{{cite web |date=2025-06-01 |title=Flock Safety's Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/flock-safetys-feature-updates-cannot-make-automated-license-plate-readers-safe |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2024 |title=Surveillance Company Flock Now Using AI to Report Us to Police if it Thinks Our Movement Patterns Are "Suspicious" |url=https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/surveillance-company-flock-now-using-ai-to-report-us-to-police-if-it-thinks-our-movement-patterns-are-suspicious |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=American Civil Liberties Union}}</ref>
+Privacy researchers caution that mobility datasets labeled as "anonymized" can still be re-identified. A 2013 MIT study found that just four spatio-temporal points uniquely identified 95% of individuals in an anonymized location dataset.<ref>{{cite journal |last=de Montjoye |first=Y.-A. |last2=Hidalgo |first2=C. A. |last3=Verleysen |first3=M. |last4=Blondel |first4=V. D. |year=2013 |title=Unique in the Crowd: The privacy bounds of human mobility |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01376 |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=3 |pages=1376 |doi=10.1038/srep01376 |access-date=2025-08-23}}</ref> Civil liberties organizations such as the EFF & ACLU note that when detailed travel histories are retained, even without license plates, they're often able to be linked back to individuals when combined with other data sources.<ref>{{cite web |date=2025-06-01 |title=Flock Safety's Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/flock-safetys-feature-updates-cannot-make-automated-license-plate-readers-safe |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2024 |title=Surveillance Company Flock Now Using AI to Report Us to Police if it Thinks Our Movement Patterns Are "Suspicious" |url=https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/surveillance-company-flock-now-using-ai-to-report-us-to-police-if-it-thinks-our-movement-patterns-are-suspicious |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=American Civil Liberties Union}}</ref>
 ====Business model====