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Boston drops Flock after outside agencies gained access to vehicle data (www.yahoo.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/DeFlock@sh.itjust.works
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When Flock and the Boston Police Department began its contract for 156 days at no cost to the city from April 1, 2025 to Sept. 4, 2025, the "contract clearly noted that data sharing was to be disabled, and BPD confirmed with Flock that settings were 'off' for sharing," read the 2025 annual report slated to be released Monday, WBUR reported.

However, "within three days of initiating the Pilot, BPD became aware that other law enforcement agencies were able to access license plate and vehicle information," blaming an "error" by Flock, according to WBUR.

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[–] 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That's crazy, flock couldn't resist sharing data for a 170 day contract... They started on day 3 lol.
Keep an eye on who the city is replacing flock with. The article doesn't say.

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    [–] 11 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    …and replaced it with?

    Getting rid of Flock is great. But then turning around and buying Axon isn’t.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Considering this was a 5 month trial period, possibly nothing. It's not something they've been using for years like other departments. Definitely need to keep an eye out, but a trial for a new tool and immediately having the industry leader break the contract tends to leave a bad impression of the industry to those making decisions.

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    • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Is it possible there was an actual error? Yes. But given everything we know about Flock, the chance of that is infinitely small, like subatomic small.

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    [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    "Boston is big mad that a tool they were using does exactly what it is designed to do."

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