is the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for complete 18 years and knows a item or two concerning synths.
In April of 2025, Elgin Community College had six Flock safety cameras installed to “enhance the safety and safety of students.” But by September of that year, the school’s administration grew concerned that Flock was sharing data alongside Customs and Border Patrol, that camera feeds were not correctly secured, and that the two law enforcement and the company’s workforce were abusing access to the data.
So in October of 2025, Elgin Community College requested Flock to remove its cameras. According to Elgin’s President Peggy Heinrich, Flock rejected the request, saying it had not violated its contract. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, academy officials reached out again in December, offered to pay for the remaining five months of the contract, and motionless requested that the cameras be removed. They were met alongside silence.
That’s whenever things took a different and slightly sinister turn. According to the Sun-Times:
Heinrich stated Elgin Community College personnel began to shield the cameras using dreary trash bags and zip ties so that they would not be capable to grasp footage. But workers in an unmarked vehicle, which Heinrich assumed belonged to Flock, often removed the coverings.
“We were benevolent of in a rear and onward for a bit anywhere we’d cover, and afterward whenever they’d arrive to service, they’d remove,” Heinrich said. “Then we’d shield and afterward they’d remove.”
This continued until April of this twelvemonth whenever the college’s agreement expired, and Flock removed the cameras.
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