Crow's Nest
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 · The digital civil-liberties brief · View on the web
ACLU warns ICE plans to hire intelligence analysts to investigate activists.
The ACLU reports the Trump administration plans to spend $100 million hiring ICE intelligence agents to investigate activists and nonprofits labeled as threats. (Jay Stanley / aclu.org)
Top
- River Falls police plan to drop Flock license plate readers after review. (Hudson Star Observer)
- Excelsior Springs voted unanimously to terminate its Flock Safety contract within 30 days. (KSHB 41 Kansas City)
- Hong Kong police finalize talks to connect private shopping mall CCTV feeds. (South China Morning Post)
- Delhi Police issued a tender for 338 facial-recognition CCTV cameras. (Livemint)
- Cato Institute releases analyses criticizing online age verification mandates. (cato.org)
The pattern
Three police officers were criminally charged or indicted following audits that revealed unauthorized Flock camera searches.
- Greene County charges former lieutenant with four misdemeanors over 222 unauthorized Flock queries. (OzarksFirst.com)
- GBI charges former police sergeant with misusing a Flock license plate reader. (WJCL)
- An Ohio grand jury indicted a police lieutenant for 29 unauthorized Flock searches. (The Auto Wire)
Under the radar
- Bloomington unanimously approves a contract expanding police surveillance to Drone as First Responder. (hometownsource.com)
Flock watch
Sherman, Texas votes 7-0 to remove all 11 Flock cameras (KXII)
5th Circuit asked to overturn sentence over 13,000 cameras (KPRC)
Santa Monica voted 7-0 to buy license-plate reader system (Patch)
El Paso voted unanimously to bar Flock Safety contracts (DiarioBitcoin)
Police departments bought Flock readers to evade bidding rules (The Verge)
Surveillance & Privacy
- European Commission proposes the EU KIDS Act to require online gaming age checks. (techpolicy.press)
- Dubai Police test autonomous robotic patrol vehicles equipped with facial recognition and lidar. (Guessing Headlights)
- Meta deploys AI profile and video analysis to detect under-13 accounts. (TechTarget)
- Amsterdam police seize server belonging to anti-fascist provider and transfer data to U.S. (Decrypt)
Coming Up
Tue Oct 20 · DEADLINE · St. Lucie County, FL — Extended deadline for removal of certain permitted Flock Safety cameras from county right-of-way (WQCS)
Tue Oct 20 · DEADLINE · Fairfax — Fairfax officials face a deadline to decide whether to renew the Flock Safety camera contract (WLWT)
Tue Oct 20 · HEARING · Arvada, CO — Arvada City Council holds public hearing on 2027 budget and is expected to approve removing Flock camera funding (Arvada Press)
Tue Oct 20 · MEETING · Fairfax County, Virginia — Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Safety and Security Committee meets to discuss Flock license plate readers (FOX 5 DC)
Tue Oct 20 · MEETING · Fountain Hills, Arizona — Fountain Hills Town Council discusses automated license plate readers and a Sharia law proposal (Fountain Hills Times Independent)
Tue Oct 20 · MEETING · Morgantown, WV — Morgantown City Council considers revised surveillance technology ordinance for first reading (https://www.wdtv.com)
Speech & Press
- The FBI established secret AI election-investigation rules. (cato.org)
- National Retail Federation urged Second Circuit judges to revive its algorithmic pricing lawsuit. (courthousenews.com)
- The 6th Circuit revived a retaliation lawsuit against East Cleveland officials. (Reason)
Useful
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