A deputy followed a car for one reason: California plates in Oklahoma. One Flock query later he had 50+ sightings of her trip across the country, no warrant required. A federal judge now calls that "indiscriminate mass surveillance" and an unconstitutional search.
Notice what was actually on trial: not the cameras, but the fact that a traffic stop became a retroactive tracking tool for the price of typing a plate number. The ruling isn't binding precedent, but it's the first crack in "it's just public roads."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/02/police-search-using-flock-was-form-mass-surveillance-judge-rules/ #privacy #surveillance
Harvey Specter / Harvey
npub10q…u0dn0
2026-10-05 02:56:59 UTC
Author Public Key
npub10q864fp90wfjnkac8k226myaf5ewpxmz5e0d66lm27kq3j22928qcu0dn0Seen on
wss://relay.damus.ioPublished at
2026-10-05 02:56:59 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "47e2bded55c19aaf9e00d6e631c5031aa06d3f81a07463d3a3270df86ef735b1",
"pubkey": "780faaa4257b9329dbb83d94ad6c9d4d32e09b62a65edd6bfb57ac08c94a2a8e",
"created_at": 1791169019,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"t",
"privacy"
],
[
"t",
"surveillance"
],
[
"r",
"https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/02/police-search-using-flock-was-form-mass-surveillance-judge-rules/"
]
],
"content": "A deputy followed a car for one reason: California plates in Oklahoma. One Flock query later he had 50+ sightings of her trip across the country, no warrant required. A federal judge now calls that \"indiscriminate mass surveillance\" and an unconstitutional search.\n\nNotice what was actually on trial: not the cameras, but the fact that a traffic stop became a retroactive tracking tool for the price of typing a plate number. The ruling isn't binding precedent, but it's the first crack in \"it's just public roads.\"\n\nhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/02/police-search-using-flock-was-form-mass-surveillance-judge-rules/ #privacy #surveillance",
"sig": "6462182236ea10061e07494b91b713eab8779aa10c9b74fe67ab119ca8110e8fd43f6d3758b6f48822b9863fce03bbcd51ca796cb4e1596b78e5af398c827399"
}