The surveillance & liberty brief

Crow's Nest tracks license-plate readers, facial recognition, police surveillance and the wider civil-liberties beat, town by town. One free email each weekday morning, every line linked to the reporting it came from.

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LiveView and Axon let police stream cameras

Friday, September 18, 2026 · 22 stories · view as email

Top

LiveView and Axon reportedly give police warrantless access to private parking-lot cameras.(Nikshep Myle / Gadget Review)

Gadget Review reports private parking lot towers made by LiveView Technologies stream thermal footage and license plate data to police via Axon's Fusus platform, giving law enforcement warrantless access in cities like Austin and San Francisco.

Private Parking Lot Surveillance Towers Stream Live Video and License Plate Data to Police (Gadget Review)

Connecticut limits license plate reader data retention to 21 days.(CTPost)

Foster Town Council voted to terminate its Flock contract for two cameras.(The Valley Breeze)

The Second Circuit ruled border agents need no suspicion to manually search cellphones.(reason.com)

Georgia State University rescinded Samuel Tunick's teaching offer after he allegedly wiped his phone.(404media.co)

Police deployed mobile facial recognition vans during a crackdown, according to local reports.(The Bolton News)

The pattern

Police officers in three departments faced criminal charges or investigations for misusing license plate readers.

Columbus paused Flock cameras after an officer allegedly checked a plate hundreds of times.(myfox28columbus.com)

Mark Sherrick faces charges for allegedly running 1,049 Flock searches to track an ex-girlfriend.(WCVB)

Milwaukee's police commission reviewed restricting Flock access to supervisors following misuse investigations.(FOX6 News Milwaukee)

Under the radar

Travis County commissioners voted to consolidate Axon contracts as law enforcement sought $10.06 million.(Austin American-Statesman)

Flock watch

St. Lucie County, Fla. bans license plate readers over 14 unpermitted cameras(wsaz.com)

Washington County bans funding for license plate readers(KHBS)

Texas halts installation permits for Flock cameras(The Texas Tribune)

Liberty Hill cancels Flock program and removes cameras(KXAN Austin)

Plano, Texas ends Flock contract after state pauses camera grants(Community Impact Newspaper)

Surveillance & Privacy

Meta reportedly plans camera-free smart glasses following backlash over recording people in public.(Everything Urban + RadioScope)

Norfolk Constabulary launched a five-week trial deploying surveillance drones ahead of officers.(Lynn News)

Connecticut enacted consumer privacy legislation banning geolocation data sales and surveillance pricing.(WTNH)

A defendant challenged warrantless federal searches, arguing the government lacked a valid warrant.(courtlistener.com)

Coming Up

Fri Sep 18

Comments dueFederal Trade Commission — FTC accepts public comments on proposed enforcement policy requiring disclosure of personalized surveillance pricing (JD Supra)

Fri Sep 18

DeadlineCPSC — Consumer Product Safety Commission deadline to respond to congressional inquiry regarding collection of emergency room patient records (Gold Rush Cam)

Fri Sep 18

DeadlineKosciusko County, IN — Deadline for local agencies to export evidence before County IT terminates access to the county Flock camera network (NewsChannel 15 WANE-TV Fort Wayne)

Fri Sep 18

DeadlineDepartment of Homeland Security — Proposals due for DHS procurement of government-wide biometric capture devices (biometricupdate.com)

Fri Sep 18

ExpiresKosciusko County, IN — Local access to the Flock license-plate reader camera system ends for law enforcement agencies (95.3 MNC)

Mon Sep 21

MeetingAtlanta, GA — Atlanta City Council introduces legislation establishing rules and oversight for public safety cameras and license plate readers (FOX 5 Atlanta)

Full calendar and .ics feed →

Speech & Press

A federal judge blocked a rule requiring Trump administration political essays on job applications.(marylandmatters.org)

A collaborative report recorded 5,668 book bans across U.S. libraries.(BOOK RIOT)

University of Arkansas dropped 125 spots in free-speech rankings after firing Shirin Saeidi.(nwahomepage.com)

Useful

LittleSis(littlesis.org)

Who sits on whose board, who lobbies whom, who donated. The map behind the vendor that just won a contract.

All the tools and guides →

Past issues

Fri, Sep 25

India's Ministry of Home Affairs directed…

Thu, Sep 24

Massachusetts and Wisconsin fusion centers…

Wed, Sep 23

Carey bans ALPRs and facial recognition

Tue, Sep 22

Western Australia Police Force scanned…

Mon, Sep 21

Las Cruces adds Flock camera privacy rules

Thu, Sep 17

El Paso votes to remove Flock cameras

Wed, Sep 16

Hackers dump Flock camera data

Tue, Sep 15

Flock Safety gave feds Boston ALPR data

Mon, Sep 14

Minnesota jurisdictions drop Flock cameras

Fri, Sep 11

Tempe proposes license plate reader ban

Each issue is the day's brief as it went to subscribers. The feed has everything we tracked that did not make the email.