Flock’s Connection to Video-altering Technology
Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company founded in 2017, operates one of the largest networks of automated license-plate-reader cameras in the United States — reports estimate the company has as many as 100,000 devices across nearly all states. The solar-powered or hardwired cameras capture a vehicle’s license plate; make, model, and color; and other identifying features, feeding data into a searchable national database used primarily by law enforcement. Flock markets the system as a tool for solving crimes.
Critics call Flock cameras instruments of warrantless search, and public backlash has been harsh.
The Toka Link
New information adds fuel to the fire — Flock may have ties to an Israeli company capable of altering camera footage. The lead investor in Flock also funds an Israeli firm that “can hack cameras and change the footage.” The company is Toka, co-founded in 2018 by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Israel Defense Forces cyber official Yaron Rosen. Haaretz reports that Toka develops tools that allow government clients to locate security cameras or webcams in a given area, access live feeds, and manipulate both live and recorded video without leaving forensic traces. The company has positioned itself as a provider of offensive cyber capabilities for state actors and has sought business with U.S. agencies.
The documented link between Flock and Toka runs primarily through shared venture capital rather than ownership, technology licensing, or operational control. Andreessen Horowitz is the leading foreign investor in Israeli start-ups, and is also a major investor in Flock Safety and in Toka.
Amdocs
The situation recalls the Amdocs episode of 2001. Fox News’ Carl Cameron reported at the time, “Here’s how the system works. Most directory assistance calls, and virtually all call records and billing in the U.S. are done for the phone companies by Amdocs Ltd., an Israeli-based private telecommunications company. Amdocs has contracts with the 25 biggest phone companies in America, and more worldwide. The White House and other secure government phone lines are protected, but it is virtually impossible to make a call on normal phones without generating an Amdocs record of it.”
“In recent years, the FBI and other government agencies have investigated Amdocs more than once. The firm has repeatedly and adamantly denied any security breaches or wrongdoing,” Cameron continued. “What U.S. government officials are worried about, however, is the possibility that Amdocs data could get into the wrong hands, particularly organized crime.”
Abetting Organized Crime?
Fox News drew sharp criticism at the time for implying that Amdocs and another Israeli company called Comverse Infosys may have been using telecommunications data to tip off Israeli organized crime.
Fast-forward to the modern era. If Flock cameras are used in tandem with Toka’s footage-altering technology, a very real possibility exists that images could be erased or video altered to protect sensitive Israeli operations on U.S. soil or delete any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Israeli organized crime in the United States. The technology could be used to delete real evidence and/or plant false evidence.
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