Surveillance company Flock, known for its fixed automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, is exploring a partnership with Nexar, a company selling AI-powered dashcams for personal vehicles. This integration could dramatically expand Flock’s surveillance capabilities by turning private cars into a mobile data collection network for its law enforcement customers. Nexar already crowdsources and analyzes ’trillions of images’ a month from its users for a data product it sells to commercial and public agencies. While Nexar’s public-facing map blurs faces and plates, a partnership with Flock raises significant privacy concerns by potentially converting a personal safety device into a tool for widespread, persistent tracking. The move highlights Flock’s aggressive expansion, which previously included plans to use hacked data and AI-driven natural language searches for police investigations.
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