ILLINOIS · FLOCK · CBP · DATA SHARING

Illinois restricted how ALPR data could be used. A state audit later found that CBP had nevertheless gained access to Illinois Flock data.

State restriction → prohibited access found → access ordered terminated

WHERE

IL

View this place in the Illinois surveillance directory →

In August 2025, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced that an audit had found Flock Safety in violation of state law after U.S. Customs and Border Protection was given access to Illinois license-plate-reader data. The Secretary of State ordered Flock to terminate CBP's access to Illinois data.

This case is fundamentally different from a false plate read. The surveillance system did not need to misidentify anyone for the safeguard to fail. Illinois had already imposed restrictions on the use and sharing of ALPR information, yet the state discovered prohibited access after the fact.

Why it matters: A legal prohibition and a technical prohibition are not the same thing. A law can prohibit access. It cannot un-share data that has already been shared.

Source: Illinois Secretary of State — Aug. 25, 2025

WHY THIS LIBRARY EXISTS

This page preserves the anecdote and its caveats separately from the shorter Why Privacy Matters explainer. The goal is to keep the argument readable without hiding the receipts.