Who would you rate as the world’s most unlikeable tech tycoon? Elon Musk is obviously a major contender. The digital warlord Palmer Luckey is also up there.

While there’s a lot of competition, Garret Langley also deserves a shoutout. The CEO of the tech company Flock may not be a household name, but his controversial surveillance technology is rapidly worming its way into daily life. If you live in the US, there’s probably a Flock product on a highway or parking lot near you. The company, which largely sells its products to law enforcement, makes automated license plate readers (ALPRs) which capture license plate data and help track where a vehicle has been. (If you want to check if your license plate has been the subject of a Flock search you can do so at haveibeenflocked.com)

Capturing driver data doesn’t sound terrible on the surface. But what makes Flock alarming is the scale of its surveillance network – there are more than 80,000 Flock cameras across the US – and the ease with which data can be accessed. An ACLU investigation last year found that Flock’s default agreement with police departments gave the company the right to share people’s license plate data with federal and local agencies for “investigative purposes”. Various police departments have reportedly shared driver-surveillance data with ICE as part of Donald Trump’s deportation push. (Flock claims it “does not work with ICE”, though its website says that federal agencies it partners with “can establish 1:1 sharing relationships” with other law enforcement agencies.)

Some police officers also seem to be using Flock data to stalk their exes, partners and potential love interests. The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, recently conducted an analysis of media reports and found at least 14 cases across the US where cops are alleged to have accessed ALPR data to “to keep tabs on their romantic interests, including current partners, exes, and even........

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