‘Don’t Take The Bait’: A Whole Lotta People Aren’t Buying Flock’s Latest PR Move

August 13, 2026 4:07 PM ET Flock Safety, whose surveillance cameras blanket the United States, released a slate of new privacy and transparency “safeguards” Thursday amid reports of police officers abusing the system and spying on innocent people. But critics say the move is largely about optics, warning Americans not to miss the forest for the trees: that a surveillance state has been built right before their eyes. “As long as Flock continues to value profits over privacy and continues to treat legitimate privacy concerns as mere PR issues, we are going to continue to see more Flock efforts like today’s that seek to create headlines about positive reforms when few if any impactful changes are actually made,” Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),