Hunyar says Flock's explanation “provides the opposite assurance of what they seem to purport”
Jason HunyarDunwoody, Georgia resident and privacy researcher who originally documented Flock's camera access through open-records requests and has previously spoken to the city council against its Flock contract
Jason Hunyar, a Dunwoody, Georgia resident and privacy researcher, told 404 Media that Flock's claim of imposing search restrictions "provides the opposite assurance of what they seem to purport," because it confirms the company's camera network "does in fact capture this sensitive information," with access to it "controlled solely by the policies of a for-profit corporation."
Responding to
The sensitive searches run through the Flock City PD and related demo accounts, including for "Star of David" and "vehicle a pretty girl would drive," were internal tests of the company's search-moderation safeguards, not investigative searches conducted by a customer law enforcement agency.
“Flock's claims that they impose restrictions on what users can search for in their database provides the opposite assurance of what they seem to purport. In doing so, they admit that their dynamic surveillance network does in fact capture this sensitive information, and that the gate to that information is controlled solely by the policies of a for-profit corporation.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Did Flock Safety's use of fake police accounts to search live license-plate cameras cross a line?
Public records show that Flock Safety, a maker of automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras used by police departments nationwide, ran searches on live cameras in Dunwoody, Georgia and Bryan, Texas, and other jurisdictions, through accounts named "Flock City PD - Law Enforcement Demo," "Flock Intelligence," and "Flock Safety - Commercial Sales Demo." 404 Media reported on September 17, 2026 that the searches included sensitive queries such as "Star of David," "coexist bumper sticker," "white truck with a trump sticker," and "vehicle a pretty girl would drive." Flock told 404 Media the searches tested and validated the moderation safeguards meant to block such queries, and were not investigative searches by a customer agency. The audit logs show, however, that several sensitive searches were not blocked. A Dunwoody privacy advocate said the episode shows Flock's own network captures this sensitive information, with access controlled only by the company's own policies.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
404 Media's report, read in full on 2026-09-22, based on public records showing search audit logs from accounts named "Flock City PD - Law Enforcement Demo," "Flock Intelligence," and "Flock Safety - Commercial Sales Demo," which ran searches on live automated license plate reader cameras in Dunwoody, Georgia and Bryan, Texas, among other jurisdictions.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Hunyar and his wife, McKayla Hunyar, have separately spoken before the Dunwoody City Council about the city's Flock Safety contract.
After the quotation
404 Media reported that Dunwoody residents have said they understand Flock needs to test its systems but "did not sign up to be guinea pigs for a surveillance company."
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to whether Flock Safety's use of fake police accounts to search live license-plate cameras for sensitive queries was appropriate, Hunyar directly rejects Flock's defense, arguing the company's own explanation proves the sensitive-search capability exists and is controlled only by the company's own discretion, which condemns the arrangement rather than accepting Flock's justification.
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- Published here
Corrections to this statement
These notices document reporting corrections, classification changes, and topic-label updates.
Reporting correction
Correction to: Statement by Jason Hunyar
- Previous language
- McKayla Hunyar, a Dunwoody, Georgia resident and privacy advocate, told 404 Media... Hunyar and her husband have previously testified before the Dunwoody City Council about the city's Flock Safety contract.
- Corrected language
- Jason Hunyar, a Dunwoody, Georgia resident and privacy researcher, told 404 Media... Hunyar and his wife, McKayla Hunyar, have separately spoken before the Dunwoody City Council about the city's Flock Safety contract.
This statement was originally attributed to McKayla Hunyar. The cited 404 Media article ("'Flock City PD:' The Fake Flock-Owned 'Police Department' That Searched Real Cameras for Real People," Sept. 17, 2026) identifies the source of this quotation as Jason Hunyar, the Dunwoody resident who originally documented Flock's camera access and writes the newsletter "FOIA Around And Find Out." McKayla Hunyar is Jason Hunyar's wife and a distinct, real person who has separately spoken to the Dunwoody City Council against the Flock contract, but she is not the speaker quoted in this source. The record has been corrected to attribute the statement to Jason Hunyar.
This corrects our account of what happened.
404 Media's report, read in full on 2026-09-22, based on public records showing search audit logs from accounts named "Flock City PD - Law Enforcement Demo," "Flock Intelligence," and "Flock Safety - Commercial Sales Demo," which ran searches on live automated license plate reader cameras in Dunwoody, Georgia and Bryan, Texas, among other jurisdictions.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)More from this case
Read the full caseProton says Flock's "Flock City PD" searches are "creepy functionality that shouldn't even exist"
Proton
“Why did @flocksafety create a fake police department "Flock City PD" and then look up "car that a pretty girl would drive"? Allegedly, it's to prove that these types of searches are blocked. In reality, it's advertising creepy functionality that shouldn't even exist to start.”Read statement
Flock says the searches were “testing and validating” its moderation safeguards, not investigative searches
Flock Safety
“Flock City PD is a demo and testing organization name used for law enforcement demonstrations and for our development engineers to conduct testing. Those searches were part of testing and validating FreeForm search moderation and related safeguards. These were not investigative searches conducted by a customer agency.”Read statement
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- Hunyar says Flock's explanation “provides the opposite assurance of what they seem to purport”
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The Dispute Index. "Hunyar says Flock's explanation “provides the opposite assurance of what they seem to purport”". First published: 2026-09-22. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1448-jason-hunyar-a-dunwoody-georgia-resident-and-privacy