Comment by tyrust

> From the beginning, we have been clear that our customers own the data captured by their ALPR cameras. This has always been the case, but some of our contractual language has confused the public on this crucial point... The principle is simple: customers own the data, decide who can access it, and choose who they share it with.

I'm one of the general public that is continually confused by their usage of the word "own". I can't imagine that their language update will make it any more clear.

If the data is on Flock's servers (it is) and accessible by Flock (it is) then it is Flock who owns the data, not the PDs. Sure, they can allow the PDs to have say over what is done with the data, but ultimately Flock has the ability to use the data however they'd like.

This is not hypothetical: Flock have used previously shared data with DHS [0] without the so-called owner's permission and use data for their AI training [1] without option to opt-out.

Their definition of ownership is further contradicted later in this post:

> we will now require case codes for all law enforcement searches by the end of the year.

To be clear, I think this is a good change, but if PDs "own" their data, then they should be able to decide whether or not they want to use this feature.

All in all, this is not ownership.

[0] - https://apnews.com/article/immigration-abortion-license-plat...

[1] - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/...