Flock “can’t tech its way out” of the stalker cop problem, experts say

Flock to lock out cops who stalk exes, but agencies can still hide abuse.

The short version

• On Thursday, Flock announced plans to require all agencies with access to license plate reader data to use a safety tool that automatically detects abnormal activity and locks out cops who abuse their access to stalk people they know in their personal lives.
• Flock’s audit assistance tool suspends access when user activity “meets defined criteria for abnormal behavior,” Flock said.
• “This is such an obvious way to curb abuse,” Langley said, while admitting that “we got this one wrong.

What happened

We should make it a requirement.” According to Flock, the Georgia case is not unique, and “identification of abuse predictably went up” for agencies that chose to activate the tool. “Unless we know the number of officers misusing the system, we cannot conclude if Flock and its auditing tools are catching 95 percent of violators or 5 percent,” the ACLU said in a post analyzing Flock’s changes.

Why it matters

Ars Technica says flock “can’t tech its way out” of the stalker cop problem, experts say is the central development readers should understand.

Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.