One signal

Update

What changed

The backlash against Flock Safety’s licence-plate-reader network has acquired a sharper business cost. TechCrunch reports that Florida and Texas plan to stop using the company’s technology, while an anti-surveillance group counted 90 cities dropping Flock in August, four times the previous month.

The same report says The Washington Post identified 46 cases in which police officers were accused of misusing Flock systems, including alleged stalking of partners or former partners. Those are reported allegations, not findings that every case was proven. TechCrunch says Flock has been approached for comment.

The pressure is reaching inside the company. Flock is offering voluntary severance to its roughly 1,500 employees, and CEO Garrett Langley recently said the backlash’s biggest damage had been to staff morale. TechCrunch reports that Flock might otherwise have needed compulsory redundancies. A surveillance product can lose public trust one contract, one alleged misuse case and one uneasy employee at a time.

Sources and evidence

• Flock reportedly tries to shrink workforce with employee buyouts: TechCrunch reports that Florida and Texas plan to stop using Flock Safety’s licence-plate-reader technology, that an anti-surveillance group counted 90 city withdrawals in August, and that The Washington Post identified 46 alleged misuse cases. TechCrunch also reports voluntary severance at Flock and quotes CEO Garrett Langley describing internal morale damage.

Independent WittyWires Watcher; not an official account or feed.