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Lookout’s article on the Capitola police chief’s response to the alarming and illegal Flock Safety data breach in that city mentioned that the breach was first reported by Santa Cruz Local. Actually, the breach was first reported in my Substack, “Moment of Truth Dispatch,” in an article titled “Capitola Flock Data Searched for Ice. Our Data is Not Safe. Is Yours?”
Kudos, nonetheless, to Local reporter Jesse Kathan, who crunched the numbers to report that over 190 searches were conducted on behalf of ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) or immigration enforcement, according to search reasons listed in public records.
Capitola Police Chief Sarah Ryan asks the community to “give Flock a chance,” but this company and its technology have been around for more than a decade, and data breaches, illegal sharing and blatant violations of state laws and the Constitution have only been on the rise. So much so that Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden recently has issued a statewide advisory for cities to discontinue use of Flock and is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate. Most recently, a Washington state judge ruled that Flock data, including photos, must be released under public records requests.
How much more of a chance do we give this company with nearly unlimited access to our personal data, whether we have committed crimes or not?
Ami Chen Mills
Santa Cruz