What’s Behind the Sudden Anger at Flock
Flock Safety, a company providing AI-powered license-plate reading cameras to police and private entities, is facing a growing wave of public backlash and vandalism. The opposition spans the political spectrum, reflecting deep-seated concerns about mass surveillance and privacy.
Why it matters
The resistance to Flock highlights the increasing public friction between the deployment of high-tech surveillance infrastructure and civil liberties.
The sudden, intense pushback against these cameras seems to reflect more than just wariness about the surveillance system.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty September 1, 2026, 6:03 PM ET Share Save This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
As corporate names go, Flock is cleverly flexible. It evokes the many cameras that compose the company’s surveillance system and also a group of sheep, protected by a watchful shepherd. The recent backlash against the company, however, more closely resembles a flight of starlings, seeming to erupt out of nowhere and move as one unified body.
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