Browse
Log in / Register
Share
April 1, 2025 – A new transparency tool is putting the power back in drivers’ hands. The website “Have I Been Flocked” (haveibeenflocked.com) allows anyone to check whether their license plate was captured and searched by Flock Safety’s automated camera network, a system used by thousands of police departments across the United States.
The site, which went live this week, was developed by a group of privacy researchers and engineers who wanted to give the public a way to see how often their vehicles are tracked by the more than 120,000 Flock cameras deployed nationwide. Users simply enter their license plate number and state, and the site returns a report showing whether that plate has been queried in the Flock system over the past 30 days.
Flock Safety’s technology has been a flashpoint in the debate over mass surveillance. The company’s cameras are parked on poles, traffic lights, and private property, continuously reading plates and logging their location and time. Law enforcement agencies in every state except Alaska have access to the data, which can be used to track suspects, locate stolen cars, or — critics argue — monitor innocent drivers without a warrant.
The new website comes amid growing backlash over Fourth Amendment violations. In recent months, several police departments have faced lawsuits after officers used Flock cameras to stalk romantic partners, monitor journalists, or conduct “fishing expeditions” for petty crimes. One high-profile incident involved an officer in Tennessee who ran a license plate 50 times in a single month to track a woman he was dating.
“Have I Been Flocked draws inspiration from the ‘Have I Been Pwned’ breach-checking service, but instead of passwords, it’s about your physical movements,” said the site’s anonymous creator in a statement. “We believe the public has a right to know when their data is being accessed by a for-profit surveillance company.”
The site does not store or share user queries. It pulls data from a public API that Flock Safety provides to law enforcement agencies, though the company has not officially endorsed the service. Flock Safety engineers have confirmed that the API returns limited metadata — only whether a plate was searched, not the exact location or time — to protect officer safety and ongoing investigations.
Flock Safety has been under pressure from civil liberties groups and legislators. In response, the company announced two major changes set to take effect on January 1, 2025. First, the default data retention period for license plate scans will be reduced from 30 days to just seven days. Second, an internal audit tool will automatically flag unusual search patterns — such as an officer querying the same plate 50 times — and lock the user’s account during an investigation.
These changes were largely welcomed by privacy advocates, but many say they don’t go far enough. “Seven days is still too long when you consider that a single trip to a doctor’s office or a protest could be logged and accessed by police without a warrant,” said Jennifer Lee, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “The audit tool is a good step, but it’s reactive. We need proactive protections like requiring a warrant for all plate searches.”
The EFF has also called for state-level legislation to restrict the use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs). At least five states — California, New York, Illinois, Washington, and Massachusetts — are considering bills that would limit data retention, require public reporting of camera locations, and mandate deletion of irrelevant data.
Using “Have I Been Flocked” is straightforward:
The site will display a result such as “Yes, your plate was queried within the last 30 days” or “No records found.” The creator notes that the service only checks queries made by law enforcement agencies that share their API logs — not all Flock camera reads. Therefore, a “no” result doesn’t guarantee your plate was never captured, only that it wasn’t searched in the available database.
The launch of “Have I Been Flocked” highlights a broader shift in how Americans think about surveillance. The site joins a growing ecosystem of tools that let individuals check their exposure to government data collection, from Clearview AI facial recognition lookups to police drone flight logs.
For drivers, the ability to check plate searches offers a rare glimpse into a system that usually operates in the dark.
