Footnote4a

Mass surveillance, government contracts, and other bedtime reading.

Contract & Procurement

Agency procurement records, pricing, and other shady deals.

9 posts

Contract & Procurement

Flock Dodges Dunwoody Question with Demo Defense

Flock responds to allegations that its executives accessed cameras inside a community center gymnastics room — three months late, via blog post, and with a novel theory of what 'crime-solving' means.

Contract & Procurement

The Dunwoody Drone Deal

Dunwoody tried to negotiate a Flock contract. The MSA won narrow concessions on data governance but left every structural problem intact. The drone program is ungoverned, Flock's liability in year two is $0, and sensitive law enforcement data is flowing to a third party under terms the MSA doesn't reach.

Contract & Procurement

No Permit, No Problem: California Governor Hopeful Chad Bianco's 500+ Unauthorized Surveillance Cameras

Riverside County issued three encroachment permits for 500+ Flock surveillance cameras to the wrong permittee and based on incomplete applications. Then it let them lapse for over a year. Bianco and Flock continued to operate them.

Contract & Procurement

All the Attorney General's Men: As Transparent as a One-Way Mirror

How a complaint to Iowa's AG about Coralville's unenforceable ALPR policy forced a choice—and revealed the AG's selective relationship with transparency.

Contract & Procurement

The Deal has been Altered Further: Flock Publishes New Terms

Flock's terms got worse. All of them. The new terms add perpetual data licenses, mandatory Georgia arbitration, and potential constitutional problems for every city that signs.

Contract & Procurement

"Official Police Business Only" Now Covers City Planning

The dropdown says more than the contract does.

Contract & Procurement

Flock is altering the deal. Pray it does not alter it further.

Flock customers are one signature away from losing data ownership.

Contract & Procurement

All the Chief's Men: How Coralville's Flock Contract Bypassed Oversight

How Flock leveraged a dysfunctional city council to install surveillance cameras in Coralville, Iowa without proper oversight or approval.

Contract & Procurement

Johnson County, Iowa, Sheriff Botches $98,900 Tiffin Surveillance Deal

The Johnson County, Iowa, Sheriff's Office spent three months negotiating a $98,900 surveillance contract for another city—apparently without authorization from either government.