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PetaPixel — Flock's AI Surveillance Cameras Exposed to the Internet
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Big Brother Left the Door Open: Flock’s AI Surveillance Cameras Exposed to the Internet
Dec 29, 2025
Kate Garibaldi
5
A series of investigative reports sent shockwaves through the tech and privacy communities when it was revealed that dozens of Flock Safety’s AI‑powered surveillance cameras were left streaming live footage to the open internet, unprotected and accessible to anyone who knew where to look.
What initially appeared to be a narrow technical misconfiguration soon came to symbolize deeper concerns about the rapid deployment of private surveillance systems in public spaces, corporate oversight, and the balance between crime‑fighting and civil liberties.
To put it into perspective, researchers estimate that there are 80,000 or more Flock cameras currently deployed, including automated license plate readers, pan‑tilt‑zoom surveillance units, mobile devices, and third‑party integrated cameras connected to Flock’s systems, yet many citizens are not even aware of these devices’ existence.
At the center of the controversy is Flock Safety, a company that has quietly built one of the most expansive private surveillance networks in the United States, with cameras installed in thousands of towns and cities. Critics now say that the recent exposure highlights how easily these systems can compromise privacy and trust when security is treated as an afterthought.
What Are Flock Cameras and How Widespread Are They?
Flock Safety, founded in 2017 by Georgia Tech alumni, is best known as a manufacturer and operator of automated license plate readers (ALPR), video surveillance equipment, and gunfire detection sensors. The company’s products are marketed primarily to law enforcement agencies, neighborhood associations, private property owners, and municipalities. According to its own disclosures, Flock operates in more than 5,000 communities across 49 states, capturing billions of vehicle scans per month.
While ALPRs photograph and index vehicle license plates for law enforcement leads, Flock’s Condor pan‑tilt‑zoom (PTZ) cameras represent a larger step into continuous video surveillance of people and places. These Condor units are capable of automatically tracking individuals and vehicles, zooming in on faces or movements as subjects traverse public areas such as parking lots, bike paths, or playgrounds. Unlike static license plate cameras, Condor cameras can be manually controlled or configured to use artificial intelligence to follow motion and focus on subjects of interest.
This broad and growing surveillance footprint has been applauded by some police departments as a valuable investigative tool and criticized by privacy advocates as a pervasive surveillance apparatus that operates largely outside traditional public oversight.
The Exposure: Cameras Streaming to Anyone Online
The first public sign of trouble came with a detailed investigation by 404 Media, corroborated by technologist and YouTube creator Benn Jordan and security researcher Jon “GainSec” Gaines, which found that at least 60 of Flock’s Condor PTZ cameras were publicly accessible on the open internet without any authentication. This meant that anyone with a modern browser and basic technical knowledge could view live footage, access archived video going back 30 days, and, in some cases, interact with administrative controls normally reserved for authorized operators.
One of the most striking scenes from the reporting came from Bakersfield, California, where a 404 Media reporter watched himself in real time on his phone as a Flock camera recorded and livestreamed him standing in the street without any password requirement. The same exposed feed was viewable by the reporter’s colleagues hundreds of miles away through the uncovered link.
The investigation documented how exposed Condor cameras captured people walking dogs on suburban bike paths, shoppers moving through parking lots, children swinging on playground sets, and even rollerbladers moving along public greenways. In one striking instance, researchers watched a man rollerblading down Brookhaven, Georgia’s Peachtree Creek Greenway, with the camera automatically zooming in on him. Minutes later, that same individual appeared on another exposed camera further along the path, illustrating both the mobility of surveillance and the resolution of the footage.
The accessibility of these cameras underscored the very human stakes of the story. In some cases, researchers watched unattended children at public playgrounds, parents and caregivers going about their routines, and individuals in mundane, everyday situations. According to reporting, none of the livestreams were encrypted, and no login was required to access either the live feeds or the stored videos. An exposed camera could easily be used to identify people by their faces or license plates, raising serious concerns about personal privacy and the potential for misuse of the footage.