Flock CEO Punches Back Against Critics on Fox News: Privacy Can’t Be the Only Priority

Flock CEO Garrett Langley pushed back against the growing criticism of his company’s AI cameras during a Saturday interview on Fox News, arguing concerns about privacy are warranted but fail to take into account how its license plate-reading technology can be used for good.

“I think these are important conversations to have,” he told Saturday in America co-host Kayleigh McEnany, after she asked about the privacy concerns.

“I value my privacy… but what we’re talking about is safety as well. And so I think when people talk about just one of these things, privacy or safety, they’re prioritizing the wrong thing. What we have to prioritize as a country is compromise: how do we have our safety, and how do we balance privacy?”

His comment came a moment after McEnany pointed out many Americans are fighting against Flock — including one man who griped at a city council meeting while dressed up as Darth Vader.

She noted there is also a bipartisan focus on the company on Capitol Hill, with Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) pushing for federal tax dollars not to be used to install the cameras and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calling for an outright ban.

McEnany said the scrutiny from both lawmakers and citizens follows examples of the cameras making “mistakes” and three alleged cases of cops improperly accessing Flock data. On the other hand, she said the company claims it has been used to solve 10,000 missing person cases and helped solve more than 1 million crimes.

Langley told Fox News calls to ban the technology are absurd — but he was in favor of more regulation.

“That’s like banning vehicles. That would never have made sense,” Langley said about a ban. “Instead what we did is we introduced laws against drunk driving, laws around airbags.”

Moving forward, he said the company and lawmakers need to nail two key things: data retention, or how long information is allowed to be accessed — he recommend one week — and what happens when officers improperly access data.

Langley also doubled down on his recent claim Flock could have helped solve the Nancy Guthrie case, telling McEnany “more often than not, a license plate, a vehicle, can be that first piece of evidence to lead into a larger investigation.”

Watch above.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!