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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Today's issue

Flock refused to remove college cameras

Friday, October 9, 2026 · 18 stories · view as email

Top

Flock Safety refused Elgin Community College's request to remove six license plate readers.(Chicago Sun-Times)

WBEZ reports Elgin Community College sought to remove six campus Flock surveillance cameras over concerns the automated vehicle tracking data was shared with immigration authorities, but the vendor refused.

College Demands Flock Remove Campus Cameras Over Immigration Concerns, Company Refuses (WBEZ Chicago)

Harrisburg Mayor Justin Kimble covered the city's Flock license plate readers with trash bags.(WREG.com)

Preston City Council enabled facial recognition on 130 CCTV cameras without public consultation.(BBC)

Homeland Security reviewed 82 Pennsylvania NGOs to investigate voter registration drives.(Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

Warrington Police plans to deploy live facial recognition technology in Warrington town centre.(Warrington Guardian)

High Court quashes search warrants Thames Valley Police used in Prince Andrew probe.(courthousenews.com)

Flock watch

Michigan City withdrew a proposal to expand police Flock surveillance cameras(nwitimes.com)

Pinellas County weighed ending Flock contracts(Florida Politics)

Harris County ordered 13 Flock plate readers decommissioned(Houston Chronicle)

Washington Post finds over 100 police workers accused of misusing Flock(Insight News)

Waukesha County sued to require warrants for Flock database searches(Gadget Review)

Surveillance & Privacy

Gaza Children Village plans to record classroom audio and use AI to flag speech.(San Francisco Gate)

The Italian Data Protection Authority fined Emirates €180,000 for passenger health forms.(edpb.europa.eu)

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signs HB 380, lowering data privacy thresholds to 10,000 consumers.(National Law Review)

Four federal judges recuse themselves from Sen. Marsha Blackburn's suit over phone records.(Newser)

Coming Up

Fri Oct 9

DeadlineCharleston, WV — Flock Safety deadline to answer West Virginia lawmakers' questions regarding surveillance practices and safeguards (WCHS)

Fri Oct 9

DeadlineWashington, DC — Government faces deadline to submit additional brief in lawsuit challenging FCC broadcast license review of ABC stations (AP)

Fri Oct 9

DeadlineCharleston, WV — West Virginia House Committee on Government Organization deadline for Flock Safety to answer questions on data security (WV News)

Fri Oct 9

HearingWashington, D.C. — District Court holds preliminary injunction hearing on media organizations' lawsuit challenging White House press ban (The Daily Beast)

Fri Oct 9

HearingWashington, D.C. — U.S. District Court holds hearing on news organizations' request for a preliminary injunction against White House press ban (The Daily Beast)

Sat Oct 10

ExpiresClear Lake, Iowa — City's Flock surveillance camera contract is set to renew (Clear Lake Mirror Reporter)

Full calendar and .ics feed →

Speech & Press

An Angolan court sentenced exiled journalist Daniel Frederico to 14 months for criminal defamation.(cpj.org)

Trump administration asks Judge Engelmayer to reconsider order identifying officials.(Law & Crime)

Judge Timothy Kelly extended an order forcing the White House to restore press passes.(Rhode Island Current)

Useful

Digital security for journalists(freedom.press)

Freedom of the Press Foundation's guides for reporters and their sources: devices, accounts, crossing borders.

All the tools and guides →

Past issues

Thu, Oct 8

Internal reports show Homeland Security…

Wed, Oct 7

South Windsor ends Flock reader contract

Tue, Oct 6

FinCEN withdrew two rules on Oct. 5…

Mon, Oct 5

Hawaii plans to deploy 400 plate readers

Fri, Oct 2

West Yorkshire Police deployed live facial…

Thu, Oct 1

Cambridgeshire Police will deploy live…

Wed, Sep 30

Flock Safety plans surveillance drones

Tue, Sep 29

Germany's parliament passed a Federal…

Mon, Sep 28

Texas cities deactivate 900 Flock cameras

Fri, Sep 25

India's Ministry of Home Affairs directed…

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