For the last two years, Will Freeman has been advocating against Flock Safety, an $8.3 billion surveillance company that tracks vehicles with a network of over 80,000 cameras. His organization, DeFlock, crowdsourced a map that shows where the company’s cameras are located, and helps local grassroots movements organize against Flock deployments.
In an interview with Forbes last year, Flock CEO Garrett Langley described DeFlock as a “terroristic organization.” But now, as Flock faces an increasingly vitriolic public backlash, Langley says he regrets that label.
“My comments were a mistake and I apologize,” he says. “There are groups today that have real valid criticisms of the business, and I think what’s changed for us is, as we’ve listened to them and heard them out, what we’re trying to do is find this balance. We believe in a world where we can have safety and privacy.”
The anti-Flock movement has picked up steam recently thanks to reports of ICE’s access to the company’s cameras, a brief partnership with Amazon’s Ring that ended after a public outcry about an especially creepy Superbowl ad, and recent stories of cops using Flock to stalk women. Even celebrities are starting to speak out. UFC fighter Sean Strickland posted earlier this month on X, “To the legends out there destroying Flock cameras, I just want you to know America salutes you.” On Wednesday, Tucker Carlson claimed Flock was helping build “the largest mass surveillance operation in history” and called Langley a “douchebag billionaire.” Langley says he doesn’t pay attention to the online chatter about him.
“No, we do not work with ICE,” Langley tells Forbes. He emphasized that Flock only retains data on cars for 30 days, unless a local government customer demands otherwise. In Washington state, the company keeps data for 21 days, per a recently-enacted local law. Langley says he welcomes such regulation, as it guides the company on what the community wants when it comes to privacy. “What’s changed in the business in the last year is an acknowledgement that we don’t have all the answers,” he says. He’s also accepted DeFlock’s mapping of its cameras. “Assuming no one is committing a crime, it’s perfectly fine.”
Freeman says it’s “awesome” Langley has apologized. “I’m also just an American who values safety,” he says. “I just don’t think mass surveillance is the way to go about it.”
Langley’s comments are in sharp contrast to Flock’s previous stance on activist groups organizing against it. The company tried to shut down DeFlock in the past, sending cease and desist letters to the group in early 2025. It’s also gone after HaveIBeenFlocked, an unaffiliated website that helps people learn if their vehicle has been tracked by the company’s cameras. Flock claimed the site hosted identifying information of officers in live investigations and posed a threat to their safety. In December last year, Langley lambasted anti-Flock activist groups in emails to customers, saying they “want to defund the police, weaken public safety, and normalize lawlessness” and are “trying to turn a public records process into a weapon against you and against us.”
Vandals have been taking aim at Flock cameras for at least a year. Anti-Flock Facebook groups have accrued hundreds of thousands of members who often post creative suggestions for how to dismantle the license plate readers. One person recommends taking an ankle grinder to cut down a camera pole. Others say lasers or drones armed with a spray paint canister can blind Flock’s AI.
When police agencies post warnings that vandals face prosecution for trashing Flock’s cameras, the movement comment-bombs them. For instance, in the small town of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, earlier this month, the chief of police put up a Facebook post that vandals who saw down camera poles would be “charged to the fullest extent allowed under North Carolina law.” Facebook users left 35,000 comments in response, many disparaging Flock. “I’d like to thank Flock for finding apparently the lone topic that is able to unite right and left in collective disdain,” read one.
Langley is measured in his criticism of anti-Flock vandalism. “There is a right way to share your beliefs and there’s a lot of organizations doing really good work, even if it’s critical of what I’m doing.”
Some major police agencies have stopped using the technology due to privacy concerns, including the LAPD and police departments in Mountain View, California and Framingham, Massachusetts. But Langley says net customers have gone up, with annual revenue rate hitting $500 million earlier this year.
Half of Flock’s business comes from other products, including drones and software that uses AI to comb through massive datasets and flag leads to investigators. It also sells gunshot detection and searchable live-stream surveillance cameras. Cops can type in a simple phrase like “man with ginger beard,” and Flock’s tech will pull up footage of all men with the facial hair color within a given locale. “The business is growing really fast,” Langley says.
Freeman isn’t slowing down either. There are now DeFlock Android and iOS apps that allow users to quickly upload the location of a camera, which have been downloaded 350,000 times. Freeman is also suing Boulder Police Department to release records showing when Flock cameras captured his personal vehicle. And next month, he’s running a National Week of Action Against ALPRs (automated license plate readers), during which activists will hold public meetings and town halls to raise awareness about the spread of the surveillance technology. Thousands have already signed up to take part across 102 cities.
