A federal judge has dealt a significant blow to the tech industry, ruling that a sheriff's deputy in California was justified in using an AI-powered surveillance tool called Flock to search for a suspect's license plate without obtaining a court order.
The incident unfolded at a traffic stop in October when Deputy James Duggan allegedly used Flock, a facial recognition software developed by Amazon, to track down the license plate number of a woman who was involved in a minor traffic violation. The judge found that the deputy had used the tool in an "unprecedented mass surveillance" scenario without obtaining a warrant or following proper procedures.
The ruling has sparked outrage among civil liberties groups and tech companies, which have argued that Flock's use by law enforcement agencies is a clear example of overreach. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has called for the implementation of new regulations to prevent such abuses, while Amazon has stated its intention to continue using facial recognition technology in its surveillance systems.