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Tuesday, September 8, 2026 · The digital civil-liberties brief · View on the web
Top News
Five Central Texas cities ended Flock camera use in August 2025 after Pflugerville logs showed 459 entities ran 1.6 million searches; Abbott halted spending (Austin Sanders / Austin American-Statesman)
At least five Central Texas cities and Governor Greg Abbott halted contracts with Flock Safety after public records revealed 459 outside agencies conducted nearly 1.6 million searches on local license-plate surveillance data, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
Wired reverse-engineers Flock software, revealing police use AI watchlists and free-form queries across a US network of 120,000 license plate reader cameras (Dell Cameron / wired.com)
Wired reported it reverse-engineered Flock Safety's software, finding police can run AI-driven queries and automated watchlists across 120,000 cameras to track individuals matching physical descriptions.
Utah's Department of Commerce paused enforcement of SB 73, effective September 3, 2026, targeting VPNs; Pornhub parent Aylo filed a federal court lawsuit (Rene Millman / TechRadar)
Utah agreed to suspend enforcement of its online age-verification law while a federal court considers a challenge by Pornhub parent Aylo, TechRadar reports. The measure would penalize websites if they fail to detect local users attempting to bypass age gates with VPNs.
Utah Pauses Enforcement of Age-Verification Law for VPN Users Amid Legal Challenge (Idaho State Journal)
Crowd-sourced map DeFlock logs 138,000 automated license plate readers across the US; Flock Safety accounts for 82%, Motorola Solutions 5% and Genetec 2% (thehill.com)
According to the crowd-sourced project DeFlock, reported by WGN-TV, Flock Safety operates about 82% of roughly 138,000 automated license plate readers mapped across the country. Companies including Motorola Solutions and Genetec account for much of the remainder tracking driver movements.
Florida Gov. DeSantis and Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro oppose Flock Safety license plate readers; the firm's AI network operates across 6,000 US communities (Associated Press / KTAR.com)
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced plans to revoke state highway permits for Flock surveillance cameras, while Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro endorsed a statewide ban on the technology, NPR reported. Both governors stated that the AI-driven license plate network threatens to establish a surveillance state.
Settlement: Grindr agrees to pay £26 million to settle a UK class action over sharing sensitive user data, including HIV status; it admits no liability (theregister.com)
The Register reports that Grindr admitted no liability while resolving claims that it improperly shared sensitive user data, including HIV status, with commercial third parties.
Surveillance & Privacy
Dark web market Nexus offered 170 million scanned North American IDs, including 153 million driver's licenses; FBI probes listing from Russian forum Exploit (biometricupdate.com)
The FBI is investigating reports that a dark web marketplace offered over 150 million scanned North American driver's licenses, according to BankInfoSecurity. Biometric Update reports the data breach included home addresses and valid credentials, driving calls for cryptographic identity verification.
Millions of Stolen US and Canadian Driver's Licenses Sold on Dark Web (BankInfoSecurity.com)
Over 2,000 plate readers remain across four South Florida counties despite an FDOT order giving local police 30 days to remove cameras from state highway roads (miamiherald.com)
Florida law enforcement agencies continue operating automated license plate readers despite a state transportation mandate revoking camera permits on state roads, the Miami Herald and WTXL reported.
ANALYSIS Tallahassee Maintains Operational Flock Plate Readers Despite Growing Privacy Backlash (WTXL ABC 27 Tallahassee News)
Lawsuit: A 66-page complaint in Northern Illinois federal court accuses Meta of extracting biometric data from Facebook and Instagram for NameTag smart glasses (biometricupdate.com)
According to a federal lawsuit reported by Biometric Update, Meta extracted biometric data from user and non-user photos on Instagram and Facebook without consent to train generative AI models and test an unreleased smart-glasses feature dubbed "NameTag."
Tallahassee City Commission to Debate Future of Police License Plate Readers (Brieanna Smith / WTXL ABC 27 Tallahassee News)
Tallahassee commissioners are reviewing the police department's deployment of 155 automated license plate readers, which operate under department rules requiring officers to log search reasons, WTXL reported.
Representative Boebert Criticizes Flock License Plate Cameras as Surveillance Expansion (Susan Ferrechio / Washington Times)
Representative Lauren Boebert condemned the expansion of Flock automated license plate readers, warning in an op-ed that the mass-surveillance network trades civil liberties for security, the Washington Times reported.
Arizona Attorney General Opens Statewide Review of Automated License Plate Readers (By Zachery Schmidt / The Center Square: Arizona)
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes launched a statewide inquiry into whether local police use of automated license plate readers violates Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless searches, The Center Square reported.
Milwaukee Courts Still Rely on Banned Police Facial Recognition Evidence (Devin Blake / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Milwaukee prosecutors continue to use facial recognition evidence obtained through other agencies' software licenses despite a municipal police ban on the technology, the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reported.
Grass Valley police remove Flock Safety cameras reinstalled after the municipal contract ended Aug. 11; officers also disabled data-sharing on the devices (KCRA)
KCRA reports Grass Valley police dismantled automated Flock cameras and cut their data feeds after a third-party vendor mistakenly reinstalled the surveillance gear following the cancellation of the city's contract.
Coming Up
Tue Sep 8 · MEETING · Racine, Wisconsin — Finance and Personnel Committee meets to consider potential renegotiation or termination of the Flock camera contract (TMJ4)
Tue Sep 8 · MEETING · Hendersonville — Henderson County holds a public meeting discussing license plate reader technology (WLOS)
Tue Sep 8 · TRIAL · New Mexico — Trial begins in New Mexico's lawsuit against Meta over alleged Cambridge Analytica data privacy violations (KRQE 13)
Wed Sep 9 · HEARING · Court — Hearing in news outlets' free speech lawsuit challenging Penn State University's trustee gag rule (The College Fix)
Wed Sep 9 · MEETING · Tallahassee, FL — Tallahassee City Commission discusses operational Flock license plate reader cameras (WTXL ABC 27 Tallahassee News)
Mon Sep 14 · TAKES EFFECT · Oklahoma — Alcoholic beverage establishments and tobacco retailers begin accepting digital driver licenses and state IDs for age verification (News 9)
Speech, Press & Transparency
Settlement: the University of Washington agrees to pay $600,000 to settle a free speech lawsuit brought against the university by Professor Stuart Reges (Jacob Sullum / reason.com)
Ruling: S.D. Ohio Judge Michael Newman grants a TRO in Moorman v. Doe No. 1, barring law enforcement from threatening or retaliating against an ICE watcher (Eugene Volokh / reason.com)
Lawsuit: Chicago attorney Robert Held sues federal agent Adam Saracco for pushing him to delete sidewalk video outside a Brookfield gas station in Dec. 2025 (Cbs Chicago Team / CBS News)
Ruling: U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky denies Entergy a TRO against Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Arkansas Times over multibillion-dollar Google solar deal (Magnolia Reporter - Magnolia, Arkansas News)
More on the Beat
Solanco High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania approved bathroom cameras in February; junior Mikayla Sheets gathered over 800 signatures in protest (Lucy Caile / WHP)
On Saturday, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo sought a Commissioners Court review of its Flock Safety contract; the firm runs thousands of area plate readers (Rilwan Balogun / KPRC)
Bill: Idaho Rep. Russ Fulcher co-sponsored H.R. 9716 requiring federal warrants to access local Flock data; the legislation mandates reviews every 90 days (idahocapitalsun.com)
Nevada Assemblymember Selena La Rue Hatch announced legislation to ban Flock cameras statewide; Las Vegas Metro Police have used the ALPR network since 2019 (Michael Lyle / nevadacurrent.com)
Bernalillo County deputies arrested Jevon Martinez after he removed 10 Flock cameras valued at $16,500; he brought the hardware to headquarters on Wednesday (Nat Collazo / Guessing Headlights)
An Iowa State Daily analysis disputed crime-reduction claims by Flock Safety, which runs 120,000 cameras across 49 states and holds an $8.3 billion value (Samuel Proctor / iowastatedaily.com)
In August, Sullivan County, Tennessee Commissioner Joe Carr condemned Flock Safety; communities across the state reconsider its traffic surveillance cameras (tennesseelookout.com)
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