Flock Turned a License-Plate Camera Grid Into an AI Search Engine for Tattoos and Race
Flock's AI FreeForm search lets cops query hundreds of cameras at once for people by tattoos, sport shirts, skateboards, and sometimes race, turning a plate-reader network into a person hunter.
"person wearing orange vest and construction hat"
404 Media, Joseph Cox
Police departments have used Flock’s FreeForm feature hundreds of times to search not for cars but for people, running queries like “heavy-set male with a black and white hat” and “person on skateboard” across hundreds of cameras at once, according to data reviewed by 404 Media. Flock’s AI and image recognition decide who matches, and the searches sometimes reference a target’s race or signs of political affiliation, so the plate-reader grid everybody was told just scans bumpers now scans bodies. The ACLU’s point lands hard: AI video analytics means oceans of footage get searched like text, for tattoos and t-shirts and everything else, without a single face-recognition match required. 404 Media on Flock’s people searches
Source: 404 Media, Joseph Cox · Joseph Cox
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