Chapter 1: What are Flock Safety surveillance cameras and how do they work?
AI surveillance cameras have been live streaming to the internet for anyone to see. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carino. An increasing number of cities across the U.S. have contracted with Flock Safety to deploy AI surveillance cameras to solve and deter crime.
They can read license plates and newer models can automatically pan, tilt and zoom in to follow human faces. And the footage they capture was surprisingly easy to access, as independent technologist Ben Jordan recently found out. He reported on his findings on his YouTube channel and in collaboration with 404 Media. I used a search engine called Shodan and it's used for security.
It's like, you know, making sure that your internet router is not leaking a port that will allow somebody access to your server or something or to make sure that you don't have an IP camera in your company.
Chapter 2: How did Benn Jordan discover the accessibility of surveillance footage?
And so just through some pretty basic searches, I was able to find just on Shodan alone, I think we found over 60, but initially I think I found like 30 or 40. And you note that none of these feeds from the cameras were password-protected. Yeah, I mean, once that search was set in, you didn't even have to type anything in the keyboard.
A lot of times you would just go to one administration interface and they could go back to December 2nd at 2 p.m. and see what was going on at that point on that camera. And then in most of these cameras that I saw, they actually had a button to delete footage. which is, you know, evidence in some cases. If it's being used by the police, then this would be evidence.
And, you know, if I wanted to, I couldn't modify the device legally, but we need Fox's permission, and they have not responded to even public letters that I've published. But with that permission, I would assume that you would be able to put files into the file system as well on these cameras.
Chapter 3: What are the privacy implications of unprotected surveillance cameras?
We'll be right back. You're listening to Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carino. We're back with technologist Ben Jordan. So it's really hard to sort of convey, I think, just with, you know, descriptions what you saw on these videos. People should really go and watch the video because that's a very different experience. But give me some examples of what you saw on these videos.
I mean, it's interesting because I feel like when you think of a surveillance camera, you think of, like, there are surveillance cameras that you could watch on the internet, public ones. And once you're able to go through 30 days of footage, I think that's when it feels especially invasive. So if you had an open camera on a running trail...
That can be creepy, but if you have an open camera that's zooming in on a woman running alone at dusk, and then you can find out her running schedule, you start understanding how this could be misused. You could see somebody loading up their truck or van full of some expensive stuff that's going to go in their garage.
You could cross-reference their license plate with the ParkMobile data breach, find out where they live. Depending on how much access you have to these cameras, you could even find out, you know, when they'll be home. Yeah. And I mean, with the sort of zoom function of these cameras, some of the, you know, visual information is incredibly detailed.
You saw, you know, a guy watching videos on his phone and you could actually tell kind of like what he was watching. Yeah. Yeah, it was a guy rollerblading. And I mean, it was kind of, you know, in any other world, this would be like humorous, right?
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Chapter 4: What disturbing examples did Benn Jordan find in the surveillance footage?
It's like this guy was like rollerblading. He clearly wasn't a great rollerblader. He was kind of learning it. And then he just stops and pulls out his phone. He's all out of breath and then just watches rollerblading videos for, you know, the next 15 minutes. And again, I mean, I was chuckling at this and then I kind of realized how dystopian it was. But yeah.
Anyone who has like a pattern on their phone to unlock it, something like that, you'd be able to easily see that. So, yeah, I mean, I guess you get to see how dangerous high resolution and zooming can be. I think especially, you know, kind of in the age of smartphones, it's easy to become a bit inured to the idea that we have no privacy.
You know, our personal data is all over the Internet, as you noted. We're being tracked wherever we go. There may or may not be cameras wherever we go. If they're not on, you know, a light post, they might be in someone's pocket. But what sort of shocked you about what you found here, even just viscerally? There were a couple different things.
Obviously, a camera like this being pointed at a playground 24-7, that's incredibly problematic on two different levels. Like, one... Knowing that anybody in the world could have access to watching unattended children playing in a playground should be troubling for anyone. The second thing, like how differently do people behave when they know that they're being watched?
Chapter 5: How can surveillance technology affect individual behavior?
All of a sudden having a camera watching you 24-7. that may change your behavior. And changing your behavior, in my opinion, is just like, I mean, that's like your freedom, that's your liberty. And I think that that's something that everybody needs to be pushing back against. That was YouTube technologist Ben Jordan.
In response to his reporting, a Flock spokesperson told 404 Media that, quote, this was a limited misconfiguration on a very small number of devices, and it has since been remedied. Nicholas Guillaume and Jesus Alvarado produced this episode. I'm Megan McCarty Carino, and that's Marketplace Tech. This is APM. Hey, it's David Brancaccio, host of the Marketplace Morning Report.
Chapter 6: What was the response from Flock Safety regarding the findings?
It has been one year since the costliest set of wildfires in California history, U.S. history, and by at least one calculation, the history of the world. 16,000 structures were destroyed, most of them homes. I can quote you figures about insured versus uninsured losses measured in billions. But as people in the fire zones face year two, we go from macro to micro.
I'm checking in with the neighbors on one street in Altadena, where 15 homes were destroyed on a single block. These are my own neighbors. I lost a home on that street too. Join us for on-the-ground reporting as we hear from people still dealing with insurance, getting permits, finding contractors. One guy had to go through 30 contractors to find one with the right skills he could afford.
Chapter 7: What concerns arise from constant surveillance in public spaces?
Plus, for most, rebuilding is taking years. How do people find the money to live elsewhere? Listen to the Marketplace Morning Report using your favorite podcast app.