Texas City Demands $2.3M for AI Camera Public Records

City officials in North Richland Hills, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, have demanded a fee of $2.3 million to fulfill a public records request concerning the usage of Flock AI-enabled camera systems. This demand comes amidst growing bipartisan backlash against Flock, a company that provides surveillance technology to law enforcement agencies. The substantial fee was reportedly calculated based on the estimated labor required to search approximately one terabyte of data related to "errors, misuse, and effectiveness of the Flock system." City officials claimed this process would take roughly 14 years of work, calculated at an hourly rate of $15. Phil Mynona, who submitted the request under a pseudonym on behalf of the Texas Privacy Coalition, described the fee as "ludicrous" and suggested it was intended to obstruct public records searches. The Flock system utilizes AI-powered cameras to track vehicles, raising significant privacy concerns among civil liberties advocates and the public. These cameras are designed to capture and record every vehicle that passes them, creating a vast database of movement patterns. The request specifically sought information regarding potential errors, instances of misuse, and the overall effectiveness of the Flock system as employed by the North Richland Hills police department. The high cost associated with fulfilling such requests highlights a broader trend where cities are imposing exorbitant fees on anti-surveillance advocates and media outlets seeking information about the deployment and impact of AI surveillance technologies. This practice is seen by critics as a deliberate tactic to deter transparency and prevent public scrutiny of potentially invasive government surveillance programs. The Texas Privacy Coalition, the group behind the request, aims to shed light on how law enforcement agencies are utilizing these advanced technologies and to hold them accountable for any potential abuses or inefficiencies. The demand for $2.3 million by North Richland Hills represents one of the most significant fee requests reported for public records related to AI surveillance systems, underscoring the escalating tensions between law enforcement's adoption of new technologies and the public's right to information and privacy.