Crow's Nest
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 · The digital civil-liberties brief · View on the web
Flock Safety plans to expand into camera-equipped aerial surveillance drones.
Local radio outlets report Flock Safety plans to expand into camera-equipped aerial drones, even as several Texas constables remove existing automated license plate readers and the state pauses new installations. (101.5 KNUE)
Top
- Rhode Island State Police deactivated three Flock license-plate cameras on state roads. (East Greenwich News)
- British Transport Police scanned 500,000 faces in a trial with no arrests. (theregister.com)
- TikTok will pay Alabama at least $100 million and verify users' ages. (reclaimthenet.org)
- New Connecticut privacy laws take effect restricting facial recognition and geolocation tracking. (ctmirror.org)
- Hyderabad police screened 1,917 people with facial recognition during a festival. (Deccan Chronicle)
The pattern
Three police departments reported officers or staff facing charges for using plate-reader data to track partners or exes.
- Athens-Clarke police fired a civilian employee for allegedly tracking his ex-wife's vehicle. (Georgia Today (GPB))
- Texas judge Todd Kassaw cut bond to $250,000 for Lufkin officer Zachary Klein. (KLTV.com)
- Five Indianapolis police officers face charges for allegedly tracking partners and exes. (93.1FM WIBC)
Under the radar
- Seattle Police Department accesses internal transportation camera feeds without a written agreement. (komonews.com)
Flock watch
- North Attleboro Town Council voted to pause data collection from seven Flock cameras. (The Sun Chronicle)
- Connecticut Senate leaders called to pause Flock Safety surveillance across the state. (EIN News)
- South Lyon police covered two Flock Safety cameras with trash bags. (Audacy)
- Manitowoc will not renew the city's Flock Safety camera contract. (WBAY)
- Ledyard Police Chief Ken Creutz recommended severing the town's Flock contract. (WFSB)
Surveillance & Privacy
- Scottish Biometrics Commissioner renewed calls for live facial recognition legislation. (The Herald)
- California lawmakers passed SB 690 to strip private lawsuits over website tracking. (jdsupra.com)
- The State Department will require visa applicants to set social media accounts to public. (JD Supra)
- D.C. Circuit upheld a federal ban on Anthropic over mass surveillance limits. (The National Law Review - A Free To Use Nationwide Database of Legal Publications)
Coming Up
Wed Sep 30 · DEADLINE · Florida — Deadline for law enforcement agencies to remove Flock Safety and automated license plate readers from Florida state highway rights of way (WIOD)
Wed Sep 30 · DEADLINE · California — Gov. Gavin Newsom faces deadline to act on passed privacy and AI legislation, including SB 690 (jdsupra.com)
Wed Sep 30 · DEADLINE · Protect Democracy — Protect Democracy seeks unclassified records from four federal agencies regarding secret reviews of frontier AI models (CyberWire Daily)
Wed Sep 30 · TAKES EFFECT · Columbus, OH — Columbus Division of Police revised Directive 11.08 takes effect, establishing limits on ALPR and sensor surveillance technologies (WSYX)
Wed Sep 30 · EXPIRES · Covington, Kentucky — Covington's police technology contract with Axon expires (WLWT5)
Wed Sep 30 · EXPIRES · Lorain County, OH — Lorain County terminates its contract with Flock Safety for license plate surveillance cameras (The Oberlin Review)
Speech & Press
- CNN, MS Now and Politico ask a judge to block Trump's White House ban. (rhodeislandcurrent.com)
- CNN, MS NOW, and Politico asked a federal court to block Trump's White House ban. (reason.com)
- California Assemblymember Maggy Krell sued ICE over a closed FOIA request. (KCRA)
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