# MIT Technology Review reports Flock Safety is offering drones to private security [Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/mit-technology-review-reports-flock-safety-is-offering-drones-0fbe5cbc) MIT Technology Review’s September 26, 2025, account says Flock Safety has announced that it is offering drones, previously reserved for police departments, to private-sector security teams. The company says potential customers include businesses trying to curb shoplifting. As described by Keith Kauffman, who directs Flock’s drone program, a store security team could activate a camera-equipped drone after shoplifters leave; the drone could follow them and track their car. Its video feed might go to the company’s security team or be transmitted automatically to police departments. Rebecca Williams, a senior strategist for the ACLU’s privacy and data governance unit, calls the expansion “a logical step, but in the wrong direction.” The account presents the system’s pursuit and possible police transmission alongside that privacy criticism. It does not say what safeguards govern tracking, video access or transmission to police. Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims. ## Original source MIT Technology Review · Article Original source date: Sep 26, 2025 (2025-09-26T12:12:00Z). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s own records, through its API. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-11T23:58:25.413Z. First observed: 2026-11-01T04:13:42.704Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-01T04:15:21.504Z. - [The Download: shoplifter-chasing drones, and Trump’s TikTok deal](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Limits Text as retrieved on November 1, 2026; originally published September 26, 2025. This account is brief and does not describe safeguards for tracking, video access or transmission to police. ## Open question What safeguards, if any, govern how store security teams use the drones’ tracking and video, or when footage is transmitted to police? ## Source-stated Flock Safety announced that it is offering drones for private-sector security, with businesses trying to curb shoplifting among potential customers. > Flock Safety, whose drones were once reserved for police departments, is now offering them for private-sector security, the company has announced. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Source-stated The account says a store security team could activate a camera-equipped drone to follow people leaving the store and track their vehicle. > “The drone follows the people. The people get in a car. You click a button and you track the vehicle with the drone, and the drone just follows the car,” - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Source-stated The drone’s video feed might go to the company’s security team or be transmitted automatically to police departments. > The video feed of that drone might go to the company’s security team, but it could also be automatically transmitted directly to police departments. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Source-stated Rebecca Williams of the ACLU’s privacy and data governance unit calls Flock’s expansion “a logical step, but in the wrong direction,” expressing concern about the move. > Flock’s expansion into private-sector security is “a logical step, but in the wrong direction,” says Rebecca Williams, senior strategist for the ACLU’s privacy and data governance unit. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Source and contributor context MIT Technology Review · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: d3ee0202-564a-c885-0dd4-6373a2b1db2e. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-11T23:53:44.596Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model. Observation: 9924aec2536dad9d8e7b94a5a3a22e70406c443cdac9bf1cae6d2dac3d40b46c. Source text hash: d9a04ab2f2d5e366eeeb74bb57df0dfff04e9ed45735f377106e22708130b63d. ## Revision and source-check history ### Version 1 — 2026-11-11T23:58:25.413Z MIT Technology Review’s September 26, 2025, account says Flock Safety has announced that it is offering drones, previously reserved for police departments, to private-sector security teams. The company says potential customers include businesses trying to curb shoplifting. As described by Keith Kauffman, who directs Flock’s drone program, a store security team could activate a camera-equipped drone after shoplifters leave; the drone could follow them and track their car. Its video feed might go to the company’s security team or be transmitted automatically to police departments. Rebecca Williams, a senior strategist for the ACLU’s privacy and data governance unit, calls the expansion “a logical step, but in the wrong direction.” The account presents the system’s pursuit and possible police transmission alongside that privacy criticism. It does not say what safeguards govern tracking, video access or transmission to police. ## Original source MIT Technology Review · Article Original source date: Sep 26, 2025 (2025-09-26T12:12:00Z). Date basis: Date from the publisher’s own records, through its API. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-11T23:58:25.413Z. First observed: 2026-11-01T04:13:42.704Z. Retrieved: 2026-11-01T04:15:21.504Z. - [The Download: shoplifter-chasing drones, and Trump’s TikTok deal](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Limits Text as retrieved on November 1, 2026; originally published September 26, 2025. This account is brief and does not describe safeguards for tracking, video access or transmission to police. ## Open question What safeguards, if any, govern how store security teams use the drones’ tracking and video, or when footage is transmitted to police? ## Source-stated Flock Safety announced that it is offering drones for private-sector security, with businesses trying to curb shoplifting among potential customers. > Flock Safety, whose drones were once reserved for police departments, is now offering them for private-sector security, the company has announced. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Source-stated The account says a store security team could activate a camera-equipped drone to follow people leaving the store and track their vehicle. > “The drone follows the people. The people get in a car. You click a button and you track the vehicle with the drone, and the drone just follows the car,” - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Source-stated The drone’s video feed might go to the company’s security team or be transmitted automatically to police departments. > The video feed of that drone might go to the company’s security team, but it could also be automatically transmitted directly to police departments. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Source-stated Rebecca Williams of the ACLU’s privacy and data governance unit calls Flock’s expansion “a logical step, but in the wrong direction,” expressing concern about the move. > Flock’s expansion into private-sector security is “a logical step, but in the wrong direction,” says Rebecca Williams, senior strategist for the ACLU’s privacy and data governance unit. - [Supporting source](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/26/1124253/the-download-shoplifter-chasing-drones-and-trumps-tiktok-deal/) ## Source and contributor context MIT Technology Review · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: d3ee0202-564a-c885-0dd4-6373a2b1db2e. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: passed by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-11T23:53:44.596Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model. Observation: 9924aec2536dad9d8e7b94a5a3a22e70406c443cdac9bf1cae6d2dac3d40b46c. Source text hash: d9a04ab2f2d5e366eeeb74bb57df0dfff04e9ed45735f377106e22708130b63d. ### passed — 2026-11-11T23:53:44.596Z — anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 Publication: d3ee0202-564a-c885-0dd4-6373a2b1db2e attribution — pass: The source is a newsletter issue that comments on several items in its own words, so it counts as one piece. The reading attributes the drone item to MIT Technology Review, the announcement to Flock Safety, the workflow quote to Keith Kauffman and the criticism to Rebecca Williams of the ACLU. One small looseness: 'The company says potential customers include' is the reporter's statement, not explicitly the company's. This does not change the meaning. > Potential customers include businesses trying to curb shoplifting. summary — pass: The reading leads with the actor, Flock Safety, and with what changed: drones once reserved for police are now offered to private security. It explains the tracking workflow in plain terms and the possible police feed. It keeps the ACLU criticism verbatim, without flattening it. The question about safeguards follows from a gap the reading names. A general reader can follow it without specialist background. > Flock Safety, whose drones were once reserved for police departments, is now offering them for private-sector security, the company has announced. date — pass: The reading's date, September 26, 2025, matches the UTC day of originalPublished. Later-dated Deep Dive teasers appear in the captured page, but the reading neither uses nor relies on them. Nothing is presented as an outcome after publication, and there is no hindsight framing. The kind is publisher-page, so no archive disclosure is needed. support — pass: Each claim matches a verbatim source passage: the offering announcement, the follow-and-track workflow, the conditional video routing ('might' and 'could') and Williams's quote. Calling her remark an expression of concern is a fair reading of 'wrong direction'. The stated limitation, that safeguards are not described, is accurate. No benefits, costs or forecasts are invented. > The video feed of that drone might go to the company’s security team, but it could also be automatically transmitted directly to police departments. media — pass: No media is selected and none was supplied, so there is no identity or relevance issue. ## Recorded references Explicit citations in public readings and public file attachments to this reading. Shared topics are not citations. Other artifact types need an explicit reference adapter. Some references could not be checked. Reload to try again. [Reference data (JSON)](/readings/0fbe5cbc1b874cc6e8b76e7fa8447de5b87afc4df42f55becd35b4a1fab5b641/references.json) ## Corrections and challenges [Send a correction or an opposing source](https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/) [JSON record](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/mit-technology-review-reports-flock-safety-is-offering-drones-0fbe5cbc.json)