Ulta: Mass surveillance isn’t pretty.
💋 DROP FLOCK NOW!💄

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Flock (also called Flock Safety) and other automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) put women’s safety and privacy at risk. These FAQs explain how Flock and similar mass surveillance systems are harming women and what YOU can do to push back.

#1: What is Flock and how does it work?

Flock (also called Flock Safety) is a surveillance technology company that operates a massive network of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). Currently, there are at least 120,000 Flock cameras installed across both urban and rural areas on highways, in neighborhoods, and outside local stores like Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ulta Beauty.

The federal government, large corporations, and Big Tech all say that these surveillance cameras are for our own safety, but time and again, we’ve seen how Flock and other ALPR cameras have done just the opposite.

Flock and similar ALPR surveillance systems have already been used to track women seeking abortions, help ICE track and deport immigrants, stalk women, monitor protesters and activists, spy on children, and have contributed to dozens of wrongful arrests. Flock’s mass surveillance network is a serious privacy and safety risk for women, children, and gender-expansive people.

Sources:

“Despite ‘New’ Updates, Flock’s Creepy Cameras Remain Major Civil Liberties Threat”, ACLU, August 13, 2026
“A Texas Cop Searched License Plate Cameras Nationwide for a Woman Who Got an Abortion”, 404 Media, May 29, 2025
“ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows”, 404 Media, May 27, 2025
“Flock is just the latest example of using surveillance to stalk women”, The 19th, August 2026
“How Cops Are Using Flock Safety’s ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters and Activists”, Electronic Frontier Foundation, November 20, 2025
“Flock camera captured kids on a playground. A security failure exposed them online”, Straight Arrow News, December 22, 2025
“Dozens of Innocent Motorists Have Been Pulled Over, Detained at Gunpoint, or Jailed Due to AI License Plate Camera Errors”, Institute for Justice, July 1, 2026

#2: Why is Flock a feminist issue?

Women are disproportionately at risk of violence and deserve safety from that violence, but to UltraViolet, Flock’s massive network of surveillance cameras serves to monitor, control, and punish, rather than actually keep us safe.

Flock’s mass surveillance network puts women and gender-expansive people at risk by making it easier to track where we go, including when seeking normal reproductive care or exercising our right to protest. Flock and similar automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) have also been used to stalk women and facilitate violent immigration enforcement by ICE.

Women already disproportionately face scenarios in which their consent is taken from them. UltraViolet believes that having Flock cameras constantly follow our cars and movements, in many cases without our knowledge, is a new form of stripping us of consent.

Sources:

“A Texas Cop Searched License Plate Cameras Nationwide for a Woman Who Got an Abortion”, 404 Media, May 29, 2025
“How Cops Are Using Flock Safety’s ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters and Activists”, Electronic Frontier Foundation, November 20, 2025
“Flock is just the latest example of using surveillance to stalk women”, The 19th, August 2026
“ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows”, 404 Media, May 27, 2025

#3: How is Flock being used to track women seeking abortions?

Flock has already been used for extreme abortion surveillance — and the threat could grow as its network expands. In Texas, a sheriff’s deputy used a nationwide network of more than 83,000 Flock cameras while trying to locate a woman who had obtained an abortion.

These incident show how Flock and similar automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) can be turned into powerful tools for monitoring and even prosecuting people seeking normal reproductive care.

Sources:

“Outrage After Texas Sheriff Deputy Searched 83,000 Flock Cameras To Track Down Woman Who Had an Abortion”, Yahoo News, July 29, 2026
“Texas Cop Searched License Plate Cameras Nationwide for a Woman Who Got an Abortion”, 404 Media, May 29, 2025

#4: How is Flock being used by ICE to threaten immigrant communities?

Flock’s surveillance network is being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track people’s movements across the country. Reporting from 404 Media found that ICE officials have accessed local law-enforcement agencies’ Flock systems, often without warrant, giving federal immigration authorities another way to locate people and vehicles even if they are not legally authorized to do so.

UltraViolet believes that expanding ICE’s ability to track people through their communities poses a particular threat to immigrant women, children, and families already facing the risk of detention and separation.

Source:

“ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows”, 404 Media, May 27, 2025

#5: How is Flock being used to stalk women?

Flock and similar automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) have been abused to stalk, track, and harass women, specifically by law-enforcement officers. An investigation by The 19th identified at least 50 law-enforcement personnel accused or charged with misusing surveillance technology to target women, while 404 Media documented a case in which an officer used a license-plate reader to repeatedly search for a woman’s vehicle and eventually stop her car without cause.

UltraViolet believes these documented cases raise broader concerns about how many women may be tracked or stalked by people with access to Flock and similar surveillance systems without ever knowing it.

Sources:

“Flock is just the latest example of using surveillance to stalk women”, The 19th, August 2026
“I Saw a Shiny Thing’: Cop Explains Why He Used License Plate Reader to Stalk Woman”, 404 Media, August 19, 2026

#6: How is Flock being used to track protesters and activists?

Flock’s surveillance network has been used to monitor people exercising their right to protest and organize. An Electronic Frontier Foundation analysis of more than 12 million Flock searches by over 3,900 agencies found that more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies conducted hundreds of searches connected to protests. Some searches explicitly listed “protest” or the names of demonstrations as the reason, while others targeted activist groups.

In one case, police in Beaumont, Texas searched 1,774 camera networks in connection with a No Kings protest. Many protesters, especially those part of the No Kings movement, are women fighting against gender equity rollbacks.

Source:

“How Cops Are Using Flock Safety’s ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters and Activists”, Electronic Frontier Foundation, November 20, 2025

#7: How does Flock put children’s privacy and safety at risk?

Flock and similar automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) can create serious risks for children’s privacy and safety. In 2025, a security failure left at least 60 Flock surveillance cameras exposed online, allowing anyone with a link to view live feeds and archived footage of children’s spaces without a username or password. Among the footage exposed were images of unattended children on a playground.

404 Media also reported that Flock employees accessed cameras in sensitive locations — including a children’s gymnastics room, playground, and school — as part of demonstrations of the company’s technology to prospective law-enforcement customers.

Sources:

“Flock camera captured kids on a playground. A security failure exposed them online”, Straight Arrow News, December 22, 2025
“City Learns Flock Accessed Cameras in Children’s Gymnastics Room as a Sales Pitch Demo, Renews Contract Anyway”, 404 Media, April 30, 2026

#8: How are Flock errors leading to wrongful arrests?

Errors made by Flock and other automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) have led innocent people to be stopped at gunpoint, detained, and jailed. An Institute for Justice review identified at least 27 cases since 2018 involving errors associated with stationary license-plate readers. In nearly two-thirds of the cases reviewed, police pointed guns at innocent people before realizing there had been a mistake.

In 2025, a Florida woman was arrested for a crash she did not cause after her car was misidentified by Flock. She was held in jail without bond for 13 days and faced eight felony counts and the possibility of life in prison.

Sources:

“Dozens of Innocent Motorists Have Been Pulled Over, Detained at Gunpoint, or Jailed Due to AI License Plate Camera Errors”, Institute for Justice, July 1, 2026
“Florida woman sues highway patrol after Flock data falsely identified her”, NewsNation, August 21, 2026

#9: What can I do about Flock?

To stop Flock and other automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) in your community, you can organize locally and demand that your city end or reject its Flock contract. Fight for the Future, a digital rights advocacy organization fighting mass surveillance, offers a free toolkit to help people organize local campaigns against Flock cameras.

But cities aren’t the only institutions helping expand Flock’s surveillance network — major companies are, too. And we don’t have to accept mass surveillance as inevitable.

UltraViolet’s Tech Justice Campaign Director, Jenna Sherman, calls this “AI coercion” or “forced AI inevitability” — the idea that we have to embrace these technologies whether we want them or not. For women, having cameras track our cars and movements without our knowledge or consent is yet another way technology can strip us of our say.

That’s why UltraViolet is calling on two of Flock’s biggest retail customers, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ulta Beauty, to terminate their contracts with Flock Safety and other dangerous mass surveillance systems. Add your name and help pressure Lowe’s and Ulta to cut ties with Flock!

Source:

“Flock Safety Shares Vision for a Safer Future at National Anti-Human Trafficking Event”, Flock Safety, July 24, 2025.

TAKE ACTION

Hey Ulta: Mass surveillance isn’t pretty

Flock Safety’s network of 120,000 AI-powered cameras is tracking people’s movements by scanning their license plates. Used extensively by ICE, Flock cameras have been used to hunt women seeking reproductive care, track protesters, terrorize immigrant families, and stalk and harass women.

Ulta Beauty is one of Flock’s biggest commercial customers, putting this invasive surveillance technology in parking lots where millions of women shop. Join us in calling on Ulta Beauty to sever all ties with Flock and shut off Flock cameras in its parking lots IMMEDIATELY.

Sign the Petition