Proton says Flock's "Flock City PD" searches are "creepy functionality that shouldn't even exist"
ProtonPrivacy-focused technology company (official account)
Proton, a privacy-focused technology company, rejected Flock's explanation that its "Flock City PD" searches were safeguard testing and said the underlying search capability itself is "creepy functionality that shouldn't even exist".
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.
“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.”
Original post
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
Original post
About this source
In a direct post responding to reporting on Flock's 'Flock City PD' demo accounts, Proton rejected Flock's testing explanation and called the underlying search capability itself the problem.
Before the quotation
The post followed 404 Media's September 17, 2026 report that Flock ran sensitive searches, including for "car that a pretty girl would drive," through internal accounts named "Flock City PD" on live customer cameras in Dunwoody, Georgia and Bryan, Texas.
After the quotation
The post criticizes the underlying search capability itself and does not address any specific customer agency's use of the cameras.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
On whether Flock's use of fake police accounts to search live cameras crossed a line, Proton condemns it: addressing the same testing explanation at issue in claim 271, Proton says the searches are "advertising creepy functionality that shouldn't even exist to start" — an express evaluation that the underlying capability, not just a particular blocked or allowed search, is wrong.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Flock Safety
More from this case
Read the full caseHunyar says Flock's explanation “provides the opposite assurance of what they seem to purport”
“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.”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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- Proton says Flock's "Flock City PD" searches are "creepy functionality that shouldn't even exist"
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The Dispute Index. "Proton says Flock's "Flock City PD" searches are "creepy functionality that shouldn't even exist"". First published: 2026-09-22. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1512-proton-a-privacy-focused-technology-company-rejected-flock