North Richland Hills asks 2.3 million dollars for Flock documents
North Richland Hills in Texas quoted an upfront charge of 2.3 million dollars for communications about its Flock surveillance cameras. The city based the estimate on reviewing roughly a terabyte of material. A privacy advocate sought similar documents from almost 200 agencies, with sharply different responses: Sealy provided hundreds of thousands of pages free, while Victoria quoted a far smaller amount.
Artificial Intelligence··Midday
The city priced document review at 2.3 million dollars
North Richland Hills, a municipality near Fort Worth in the US state of Texas, asked for 2.3 million dollars upfront to supply communications about Flock surveillance cameras. Its estimate covers review of approximately 1 terabyte of material concerning errors, misuse and effectiveness. At 15 dollars per hour, the calculation corresponds to around 14 years of one person’s work. A city spokesperson verified the charge quoted to the requester.[1]
Similar requests brought sharply different charges
Privacy advocate Phil Mynona, who uses a pseudonym, sent requests to almost 200 agencies in late August while working with the Texas Privacy Coalition. The group is gathering information on camera use. Sealy released roughly 400,000 pages free of charge. Victoria put its estimate at about 5,000 dollars. North Richland Hills’ requested sum is a document-access charge payable in advance, distinct from the price of equipment.[1]
Only some agencies disclose camera searches
Across Texas, an estimated 13,000 Flock cameras capture vehicle plates and features such as model, stickers and body damage. A transparency portal lists about 2,600 cameras across 60 agencies, but search records are shared by only 16 agencies. More than 900 cameras are operated by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which has curtailed access to search data previously disclosed. Flock spokesperson Andrew Smith says audit information is exportable through a few clicks.[1]
