public pressure

At least 54 cities across the US have voted to cancel, non-renew, or reject Flock’s automatic license plate reader (ALPRs) since the start of the year, according to data collected by the Washington Examiner. That comes after reporting in February that some 30 cities had done the same since 2025, indicative of the rising backlash against the tech.

In all, the Examiner reports cities in 23 states have shredded their Flock contracts so far this year, led by California and Wisconsin, which each have seven rejections, cancellations, or deactivations. Other heavy hitters include New York, Washington, and Massachusetts with four each, and Virginia with three.

Though Flock has its cameras in over 5,000 US cities as of July 2026, the rise in rejections at the municipal level comes amidst a tidal wave of outrage around issues of privacy and civil rights.

Harrisonburg City Council voted Tuesday to remove the city’s fixed automatic license plate recognition cameras, end its contract with Flock Group Inc., and require council approval before similar systems can be installed in the future.

The resolution passed 4-0 and directs city staff to terminate the contract, stop using the city’s fixed automatic license plate recognition system within seven days and work with Flock to remove the cameras.

The resolution says City Council determined the benefits of the fixed camera system were outweighed by concerns about privacy, equity, data security and public trust.

This week, another New Mexico county commission unanimously approved a data center moratorium.

The Sierra County Commission met in Truth or Consequences Tuesday to vote on a resolution opposing the development of large-scale data centers within the confines of the county. By the end of the roughly three-hour meeting, commissioners had amended the item into an 18-month moratorium on data centers.

"The protests that came out at last Monday's City Council meeting was the most intense and emotional; in just the sheer numbers they've ever seen on any subject in Salem," said Salem resident Brian Hines.

He went on to say, "I had mixed feelings, but now I think I'm happy [with Kotek's decision], because it shows, like the sayings go at every protest that I've been to, you know, this is democracy in action when people come out loud, angry, sometimes impolite, but it got the city's attention, and it looks like it got Gov. Kotek's attention."

The city of Newport is ending its Flock pilot program, will remove the cameras from the city and will not move forward in purchasing the technology.

Newport announced Tuesday afternoon that it is ending its Flock Safety pilot program and will not purchase the automated license plate reader cameras. The city said the cameras helped police with criminal investigations and showed promise as a public safety tool, but officials decided not to continue the program after reviewing the pilot results, public feedback and recent developments in Fourth Amendment law. 

The cameras have drawn mixed reactions from residents. Some support the surveillance technology, while others argue it violates privacy rights. LAPD officials said those concerns influenced the department's decision not to renew the agreement.

"This contract is not being renewed because of serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues, particularly around privacy and the data that is being collected from these cameras," said Dean Gialamas, LAPD's chief information officer. "The LAPD had to make a difficult decision, in this case discontinuing using Flock services until we can get those data, privacy, security and sharing concerns ironed out through a contractual relationship."

However, the feature was met with near immediate backlash over its “opt-out” policy, which required users above 18 with public accounts to disable the feature in order for their images to be excluded from the image generator. CAA, whose clients include the likes of Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, said it raised its concerns with Meta directly and urged the platform to take on “a more reasonable approach.”

“No one’s name, image, likeness, voice or creative work should be used by any third party, including AI models, without clear, documented consent,” CAA said in a statement. “True innovation puts creators first: respecting their rights, protecting their livelihoods, and giving them real control, not handing it over to platforms.”

A new law signed by Gov. Bill Lee signed new legislation aims to protect utility ratepayers’ pockets when new data centers come to town.

The law, sponsored by Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and Rep. Ed Butler (R-Rickman), requires data centers that have a peak demand of at least 50 megawatts of electricity during the first three years of operation to pay for their own electricity infrastructure so the ratepayers aren’t stuck with the bill.

“Under no circumstances should ratepayers have to pay for the infrastructure improvements needed by these data centers and their insatiable appetite for energy,” Taylor said.

Hungary’s new government, led by Péter Magyar, has put forward a constitutional amendment that would limit prime ministers to a maximum of eight years in office, in effect barring Viktor Orbán from returning to the role.

The draft amendment was submitted on Wednesday, just over a week after the new government took office. It marked Magyar and his Tisza party’s first step in dismantling a constitution that was unilaterally rewritten and amended more than a dozen times as Orbán and his Fidesz party worked to turn Hungary into what they called a “petri dish for illiberalism”.

The Metropolitan Police has been blocked from signing a contract worth up to £50m with the US technology firm Palantir, after London's deputy mayor refused to approve the deal.

The Met had proposed a £25.3m contract with Palantir UK for 2026-27 to support criminal investigations and reforms aimed at improving the force's culture and standards. It included an optional one-year extension worth a further £24.8m.

But the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) said it was not satisfied the Met had adequately ensured or demonstrated value for money.

It also cited concerns around the firm's values and ethics, although legally this cannot influence a deal refusal.