Georgia’s Child Protective Services quietly bought a nearly million-dollar surveillance vehicle, including a cell-site simulator (a “Stingray”) that can sweep up everyone’s phone data within a mile, using federal foster-care funds, while the state claims it can’t afford basic services for kids in the system.
Meanwhile MapQuest is having an unlikely comeback by adding Flock camera locations to its maps after someone found Flock’s data sitting unsecured online and the USPS is turning mail trucks into rolling surveillance cameras.
Plus: OpenAI’s rare-book-buying habit (and the copyright rule forcing them to destroy the originals after scanning), and a 404 Media report on Houston police searching a flock camera network in North Carolina 183,000 times in three months, and a flock database in Ohio 900,000 times in one month, raising the question of what, exactly, they’re using it for.
Zach Varnell
Zach Varnell is a cybersecurity expert and advocate for privacy and individual liberty. He is a founding member of Banish Big Brother, a nonprofit dedicated to combating invasive surveillance. He also runs Asteros, a security firm that helps software teams and compliance-driven organizations understand and reduce their real-world risk. His insights have been featured in publications like Infosecurity Magazine, Threatpost, ZDNET, and the Washington Examiner.