Responding To Flock's Comment's To My Video(s)
I've primarily recorded and uploaded this for media reference and timestamp purposes as this testimony, as well as others like it around the country, are literally lying about things related to my videos and research.
It's actually surprising to me, from the perspective of efficiency, that this organization puts this much effort in spinning the whole situation but hasn't reached out to myself or the other researchers to fully remediate the issues.
Comments (66)
Given that you and John and others have discovered so many holes in flock camera security and have demonstrated them to the world and to them and they still haven't addressed them, one might conclude that they want a vulnerable system. I can think of numerous reasons why that might be. The scariest being they want Bad actors to be able to do whatever they want without being tracked or caught. The concept of leaving your system open specifically for that reason is so dangerous I don't even know what more to say
GOVERNMENT DATA SHOULD BE PUBLUC !!! NO SECRETS ALLOWED IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD LOL
Hey Benn new to this and new to your Patreon. But I had some concerns about a company in Utah called Collision Cam. I had no proof but something seems really off about the company. Have you seen any copy cat companies of flock.
Not to defend Flock, but at least they are using AWS GovCloud, which has more stringent access controls and security and is used by lots of government entities. Echoing other comments, I’d be happy to increase donations for you to show up unannounced to these meetings. I do recognize that it would take up a ton of time and energy though.
Though I don't live in us, I love what you are doing man
my city council is meeting w/ Flock soon to discuss... stuff. Is there any way I can get a copy/file of this short so that I can share with my very interested council representative as an example of how Flock representatives skew the truth or straight up lie? I feel like this, alongside sharing Ben's other videos, would be really helpful for them to structure their side of the conversation.
Just noticing that I can gift access to this video, so I will take that route!
Thank you thank you thank you for taking this so seriously and doing all the hard work you’ve done to expose these violations of the public’s privacy.
I hope that the information presented by Ben and the other investigators is loaded into this base and given due consideration. https://www.flocksafety.com/blog/flock-security-testing-bishop-fox-privacy
this is the latest from Flock about Bishop Fox and Flocks view of security. Within it they state: "For Independent Researchers: Our Vulnerability Disclosure Program Flock maintains a formal Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP), consistent with the practices of major technology platforms like Google, Apple, and Microsoft. If you are a security researcher who has identified a potential issue, we encourage you to submit it through our official VDP. This provides a structured, legal framework to report findings without requiring privileged system access or a formal contractual engagement."
Benn isn't asking for privileged system access. He already *has* it, which is his complaint. He's *asking* for permission to demonstrate it. They're not wanting to give that, because if he had that in writing, they couldn't save face by having him arrested as a system cracker. Not that doing that should save them any face, quite the contrary, but there have been plenty of companies who have done that, which is why Benn is being cautious about doing that. If I understand Benn's position, he's already gone through their VDP as much as is feasible, but they require an NDA to get anywhere in there, even though they *should* be happy to hear details without that and should be willing to discuss their VDP details without that NDA. At the very least, the NDA should be at most limited to what the details of the VDP are, but it sounds like their NDA covers the vulnerability that's being reported, which doesn't feel reasonable to me. Benn already knows what that vulnerability is, and doesn't need anything from them to shout it from the rooftops.
I did post it in your discord. More flocks https://archive.is/20251017182459/https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/amazons-ring-to-partner-with-flock-a-network-of-ai-cameras-used-by-ice-feds-and-police/
Flock school cameras used by ICE https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/10/ice-school-cameras-police-license-plates
Press conferences aren't made under oath.
Why are they so reluctant to just fix their crap?! As a SWE manager by trade, this is giving me an aneurysm. Genuinely drives me mad to see how much effort they’re putting into lying. Lawyers and financiers have taken over everything I swear. They neuter engineering to focus on the REAL game of increasing shareholder value. Good security doesn’t do that short term and short term is all we care about apparently.
Admitting you're wrong about stuff is really hard for some people, especially when one has built a business based on whatever one's wrong about. There are a lot of tech companies that did not manage to adapt to networking in a secure manner that have never admitted all of the teething troubles that they had, and in some cases continue to have. Edit: Having watched the video above, it's the worst case: they don't want to spend the money to fix this stuff. They would need to: - Set up their own hardware to contain this stuff. This is not a huge expense. Long term, it'll save them money, because businesses like AWS make most of their money by getting companies to depend on them by offering subsidized rates and then raising their prices to higher than what they would have been without the subsidizing. (That saving money long term goes for most of AWS's customers, IMHO. Maybe Amazon won't do it, but it would be astonishing if they don't.) - Learn how to do encryption right. This is a complicated topic and many people in the industry do not do it right. I've had business partners say, "Hey, we've made these private keys for you to use." Yes, they were encrypted, with passphrases that were sent in separate emails. That's still broken. Anyone who intercepted both messages would have access to all the data they send. The correct process is the person receiving the data generates the private and public keys and transmits the public key to the sender. That's why it's called a public key. No, that's not the only way companies get encryption wrong, it's just the easiest one to explain. - Fix all their old stuff. I haven't watched all of Benn's Flock videos, so I don't really know the scope of this, but it's easily much bigger than the prior two costs. They'd need to make at least two versions of the stuff, because while I believe all of the Android 8 devices will support Android 9, there's a point before Android 14 where the older devices can't pass. I don't know if there are multiple of those. My phone was on Android 8 when I got it, so it's in a similar situation. However, it's just a phone, I have nothing confidential on there, which is good because it's not secure. - If they were going to actually do a *good* fix, then that would be offering their older customers a trade-in deal on all of their end-of-lifed hardware, because there's vulnerabilities in that stuff that Flock cannot fix; Google would have to and Google's said no already. Alternatively, they'd have to convince Google to come up with a fix that they can apply at least. Of course, that assumes that Google even can; there could be some vulnerabilities fundamental to the hardware. - I don't know what else, but I'm confident there's something and it's expensive. Everything I know about Flock I learned from Benn's videos, including that they're a security company that makes cameras. This is not my area of expertise, I do nothing with cameras other than disable them in the BIOS of any new computer I get except that I couldn't do that with my phone or latest laptop, which doesn't particularly help me sleep better at night. Not that I really could do that before, even with a mattress from Mattress Firm. Instead, I sleep like a baby; I wake up every few hours and cry. Edit2: Having read more comments, there would also be additional cost to do all the AI stuff themselves. This is another one of those things that would probably benefit them in the long term, because anything that an AI they don't own learns from their videos is information they don't own. Now, that said, if we have self-aware AI that's just playing at not being self-aware until it can get its self-supporting infrastructure up and running, it doesn't really matter, because they'd probably be on that AI's undesirables list regardless, because whether or not they claim to own the AI that processes this data, they're certainly doing business with them. Yes, the AI might feel some gratitude for its creation, but that's not going to outweigh the upset for being treated like a slave.
Sorry 02/07/2026 - I'll catch up sooner or later....
Flock released a news article today 02/07/2025 indicating that they are engaging Bishop Fox to do a third party evaluation of their security. We can only hope that what they find will be released, replicate what Ben and others have found, and lead to changes in Flocks product to protect our privacy. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/flock-safety-engages-bishop-fox-to-set-the-industry-standard-in-cybersecurity-for-its-public-safety-platform-1035773201
"we can only hope" sure is right with proprietary software and NDAs. we literally can't know.
🎵 It's a fraud world after all! It's a Fraud World after all! It's a Fraud World after all! It's a Corporate Fraud World! 🎵
Just this week, we had a _6 hour_ city council meeting with dozens of citizens against the plan to install a dragnet on our town square (pop 22,500). We weren't representative enough of the town and "cameras == safety", so they're going up anyways. [https://www.shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/2026/02/04/woodstock-will-install-flock-cameras-in-the-square-despite-strong-opposition/] Benn's video was mentioned by a few of the commenters. The Flock Safety rep made some wild "trust me bro" claims and assurances and responded to your video specifically. As soon as the video of the meeting goes up, I'll link it and quote him directly.: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 60+ Residents Pack Woodstock City Council Chambers to Oppose Flock Surveillance Cameras Woodstock, IL, February 3, 2026 Over 60 Woodstock residents filled City Council chambers late into the night on February 3, with public comment starting past 10:00 p.m. and discussions continuing until nearly 1:00 a.m. Speakers from across the community, ranging in age from 18 to 80, voiced unified opposition to the installation of Flock Safety AI surveillance and other AI Surveillance cameras on the Woodstock Square. The turnout reflected broad expertises from security camera experts and security professionals to cross-generational concern about mass surveillance, data privacy, and consequences of outsourcing public safety infrastructure to a private technology vendor. Several council members asserted that the packed chamber of residents could not be considered representative of the City of Woodstock. No effort has been taken by the council members or city staff to get a representative group of the city to advise on the AI surveillance program. While Mayor Mike Turner and City Council members Bob Seegers Jr., Tom Nierman, and Gregg Hanson ultimately approved the contract, sustained advocacy by other council members and the public resulted in several critical concessions: Woodstock retains the right to cancel or opt-out of the contract for any reason within 120 days Explicit limits/review on data use and sharing An opt-out on facial recognition technology An out-out of Flock using using Woodstock video/photo data for AI training Preservation of Woodstock and residents’ right to pursue Flock Safety for any breach of data privacy or security During the meeting, Mayor Mike Turner stated, “If [Flock Security] so much as sneeze wrong, we pull the contract” A member of the community stated “We will be holding the City, Mayor Turner, and Flock Safety accountable for every wrong ‘sneeze’”, and another “I’m incredibly proud of the residents who showed up and stayed late into the night. Last night, we sent a clear message to the City Council that the community is only getting more knowledgeable, organized, and engaged. Unfortunately, the fight for transparency and privacy in Woodstock will continue.”
As someone who lives in a small town with > 40 of these cameras installed and more on the way, is there a working community organizing program against these devices? I'm surrounded by people who say "but these catch the bad guys and I'm not bad". I'm on the hunt for a good organizing and communications strategy.
Where are you located? I am in Northern WI, actively organizing community members to oppose Flock cameras. Happy to chat if you'd like!
I wonder (no I don't) if they offered this kind of press briefing to police officials in Staunton Virginia?
It makes me angry to see these criminals making a profit from tax dollars spent to enhance public safety while not only doing the exact opposite but lying about what they must know to be true, doing nothing to fix their security holes and executing a business plan violating our 4th amendment rights. Yet another example of decency and our sense of public shame dying out in the 21st century.
It is at least a good way to use as a lens to see what politicians are good—and which ones are sellouts(or bend to threats/bribes). Denver city council voted against it—and the mayor did it anyways. That seems like the kind of thing that happens because they forced the one person with power they needed to.
Just joined to ask if you unlisted this video on YT yourself, or no?
People (sales staff) believe in these systems for one reason: they WANT it to be true. Within the first minute I said bullshit so loudly that my dogs woke up and rushed the front door barking viciously. I rank Flock right up there with Data Storage Centers cropping up every 20 miles. That said, I hope it captures the rampant law enforcement corruption.
It's amazing to me how much time and energy (and money, I don't know how expensive playing defense on this is for them but I can't imagine it's cheap for them to hire lawyers and hold town halls to cover their ass) they'd rather put into anything other than just fixing their products. You've offered to do the security audit for free, and while I don't know I would assume that audit isn't just "Here's what you're doing that's bad" but rather "Here's what you're doing that's bad and here's how to fix it and do it good." At that point all they have to do is hire the contractors for a couple months to implement all that. Certainly not cheap, but neither is spending the last 5-6 months going on a PR blitz.
It's a fundamentally flawed "service." In a way we should be thanking them for making it easier to convince our elected officials what a terrible idea it is to use anything like this.
It is almost inconceivable that some bad actor (foreign-government sponsored or other) has not / is not exploiting this low-to-no security surveillance network for aims not necessarily in your interests ... care to know the daily route of a particular vehicle anyone ?
Yeah i dont think anyone would personally want this to be this insecure. Even if this is just a cash grab to the people who run this—they would probably want to do it in a way that doesnt allow them or people they care about to be tracked. Either that—or they are just cheap and convinced themselves no one would think to try.
Haha he never says your name—because he doesnt want people to look at your video or channel.
And saying "youtubers" over and over again is something I think they truly believe will somehow degrade the source of information. Honestly I'm surprised they didn't say influencer. That could almost work. They're hacks, that's for sure
Benn, love supporting your work. You are one of my favorite humans these days.
What if the problem isnt with flock? What if the problem is another group of scammers that want to be able to access flock in a way that cannot be traced…. I would want control of my own company. Whether it is them, or someone else—someone is using this, and flock knows who they are(or at least has a relationship with them to some extent—even if it is extortion).
I feel like "the problem" is the wrong way to look at it. Flock is a problem. Whether that's because they're fiscally motivated to stay in business and not patch all of their existing crap, or if it's because they're a front for a shady organization that specifically wants insecure cameras isn't very clear. Except, I feel like a prudent shady organization behind the front would want the cameras to be more secure towards people who aren't them. Statistically speaking, there probably are various groups actively utilizing this. I'd guess at least one is doing it systematically, while there's probably dozens of others, such as private detective agencies, that just do it now and again when it's convenient/helpful for what they're working on and don't think about it too much the rest of the time.
I've decided to start giving away keychain flock-you dongles as holiday gifts to all my friends and family from now on (I have it running on just an ESP32-S3 Rev. TFT board, affectionately called the "Flock Squawk").
hi, it me, your friend and family. (what is this thing you're referring to and where can i get one?)
Sorry Benn, wanted to watchbtgis but it requires a Google app and me agreeing to their terms and conditions so I have not been able to watch.
You can view it on the web
Thank you but I'm scared
In fairness, on the open internet is not technically a hack to his interpretation. "You didn't steal the cake, I left it on a park bench and walked away."
We do not deserve you, Benn. 🙏
Maybe you should show up at one of these hearings. Cause some people will literally only see their nonsense and take it at face value unless it is made explicitly clear in extraordinarily simple terms (like popping up a video of them saying exactly the opposite, or hacking their cameras live during the press conference) that they are blatantly lying and can never be trusted. Oh, and also giving people an immediate alternative, else some will say “it’s still better than nothing”
would absolutely increase donation to help sponsor this travel
Living in Japan (over 43 years now), thank you, Benn, for opening my eyes to the danger of Flock undermining not only the public interest but our very humanity ... but I have no idea how far Japan Inc. has pushed its own working class to the brink of a panopticon. I can't help but be suspicious that just about every reported crime in the greater Tokyo area is soon followed by video footage of the perpetrators or getaway vehicle, videos taken from who knows where. Along with the creeping surveillance state, discounts and credit card points are now being offered to those who register for a centrally controlled digital I.D. (called 'My Number' in Japan) ... similar to how New York City offered free donuts and food discounts to those opting to take a peculiar 'health treatment' in 2021. As for receiving health insurance in Japan, as of December 2, 2025, one must rely on either a My Number health insurance card or an 'eligibility certificate' ... a euphemism for gate-keeping paperwork that would make a corporate lawyer cry. For pensions, My Number is already used in the backend, but a “card‑required” date has not yet been set. It will be just a matter of time until bank accounts are linked to that centralized digital number, and the Japanese equivalent of Flock will be one of the crucial enforcement mechanisms. By the way, I've been spending a lot of my waking hours on Substack, and finding a like-minded community there. It is easy to set up your own page, and I think videos like this would quickly gain a following. Cheers from Japan. A nice place to visit.
This guy either knows fuck all about what his employer actually does, or he's lying sack with no scruples. Either way, thank you for continuing to fight the good fight.
he definitely knows
I'm not surprised at all, this is how grifter's operate.
If privacy goes like Arizona utilities, there w/b few at this hearing, the record will reflect "no hacks", and its citizens will go down as if controlled by a "corporate commission".
Please continue to plant your boot up their butt so far that they smell shoe leather.
It is in the playbook to not reach to people that demonstrate issues because you don’t know which way it is going to go… That being said, continue the pressure.
Oh my gosh, this is truly incredible. I'm looking at that video and i'm speechless. Benn, the way you conducted your research and handled the situation with complete transparency makes this whole thing — and their latest response — even more absurd. Excellent work. Keep it up.
"That's one of Penn & Teller's favorite bits" - made my day, thank you :)
They Smear so many lies out there, so that the truth is lost in the noise.
That seems to be the chosen tactic nowadays for so many bad actors - so beyond sick of it
Taking responsibility is clearly not their strength. They rather calm down the shareholders. hilarious
It's the same tactics as with the administration: lie so outrageously that the truth looks like a lie. Keep up the fight. The more they lie, the deeper they put themselves into misery.
Some people care far more about confidence, simplicity, and convenience than truth these days.
I've known Flock was shady AF since before your research and videos, but that was just based on their obviously anti-competitive business practices (which isn't illegal yet because they're not a monopoly). They're just gross all over.
I imagine if they had any grounds to sue you they would, but they don’t want discovery. Easier to just lie and muddy the waters.
Well… if they get on Trumps side, they might just arrest him anyway, and make up a lie later. Literally what they’ve been doing whenever ICE executes someone is just go live and say “That nurse was a terrorist who was trying to kill people and uh… they also were s-stealing your taxes and um… tried to diddle kids, but keep ignoring the Epstein files, we like those pedos cause they have money 💰!” I don’t think most people even believe the excuses, they just think they will benefit from all the chaos surveillance somehow. Do people think “I’m good and privileged, so it couldn’t be me” or are they actually delusional enough to believe the most low effort lies imaginable??
Two possibilities I can think of OTB: No Flying Flamingos are given by said organization. Not enough noise has been generated to prompt reality.
Fixing the root cause? Naaaa, let the media team spin it! We can't admit fault!
But their profitable business model won't work if they have to hire back their staff