Sensitive law enforcement search data from Flock was found in public search engine results. Privacy advocates and the company confirmed the exposure, raising new concerns about surveillance technology.
Media and publishing professionals tracking privacy and data security risks should note a recent incident involving Flock, a major automatic license plate reader (ALPR) provider. Sensitive details from police license plate searches, including search reasons and sometimes the plates themselves, were discovered in public search engine results on platforms like DuckDuckGo and Bing.
Privacy advocates and 404 Media reported that URLs containing law enforcement search data appeared in search engine caches. The NoCo Privacy Coalition, an activist group in Northern Colorado, shared examples showing that information such as license plate numbers, states, vehicle descriptions, case numbers, and search reasons were accessible through search queries indexed by third-party engines.
404 Media independently verified that some URLs exposed apparent license plates, search reasons like case numbers or terms such as “GTA” (grand theft auto), and date ranges. Flock confirmed the exposure, stating that around 70 such results were found, dating from 2024 to 2025. The company said the cached content did not include underlying law enforcement data or search results, but rather portions of search queries.
Flock’s spokesperson said the company is reviewing how this information was indexed and is working with relevant parties to remove cached content. Flock cameras, deployed in thousands of communities, scan and record vehicle details for law enforcement searches, typically without a warrant. Ongoing privacy debates have led some communities to reconsider or discontinue use of Flock cameras.
The company emphasized that protecting customer data is a top priority and that it is continuing to investigate the incident and will take appropriate action as needed.
According to 404 Media, Flock previously exposed live camera feeds to the internet, highlighting ongoing concerns about the security of surveillance technology.
