Do Wilmington Drivers Have a Legal Claim?

1. Does selling captured plate data violate North Carolina law?

North Carolina has a statute written for exactly this technology. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-183.32 makes captured plate data confidential and not a public record, allows it to be disclosed only to a criminal-justice officer, for a legitimate law-enforcement purpose, and pursuant to a written request — and states plainly that the data “shall not be sold for any purpose.” So the question writes itself: if captured plate data is being sold, licensed, or commercially exploited by anyone in the chain, how does that square with a statute that flatly forbids selling it? That’s a question worth putting to the county — and to a lawyer.

2. A “worldwide, perpetual” license — whose data is it, really?

The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office’s $219,000 contract (executed through the county) grants Flock a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free license to use the data, and to collect, analyze, and anonymize customer and customer-generated data for “service improvement,” diagnostics, other offerings, and machine-learning training (see our breakdown of the contract). Here’s the concern several readers have raised, and it’s a sharp one: under a perpetual license, what stops Flock from using AI to copy or “screen-scrape” the data into its own systems? If it does, there are effectively two copies — the county’s, which may delete after 30 days, and Flock’s own copy, which the perpetual license could let it keep and use indefinitely for its products and AI models. If that’s how it works, the reassuring “deleted after 30 days” line covers only the county’s copy — not Flock’s. The question for residents: whose data is it, really, and where does it ultimately end up?

3. When a camera captures your face, is that appropriation of your likeness?

North Carolina recognizes the tort of appropriation of name or likeness for another’s commercial advantage (Flake v. Greensboro News Co., 1938). For a plate-only reader this is a stretch — a license tag isn’t your “likeness.” But Flock’s people-tracking cameras can capture identifiable faces. If a for-profit company captures and monetizes images of identifiable people without their consent, does that implicate appropriation? It’s untested in this context, but it’s a question worth a careful look.

4. The bigger question: the Fourth Amendment

The three above are state-law angles. The constitutional question underneath them is whether a standing, warrantless record of everyone’s movements is a “search” at all — and the law is moving fast. In June the Supreme Court held in Chatrie v. United States that pulling your location history is a search even when a private company holds it. Weeks later, a federal court struck down “tower dump” dragnets — scooping up everyone’s phone data to find one suspect — as unconstitutional general warrants. Neither case is about plate readers yet. Both aim straight at the premise a Flock network rests on.

If your data really deletes in 30 days, why does the contract hand Flock a perpetual license to it?

What to do with these questions

• Ask your county commissioners to explain, in public, the sale prohibition, the perpetual license, and exactly what Flock may retain — before the contract renews.
• If you believe your rights were affected, talk to a licensed North Carolina attorney.
• Sign the petition and share these questions — they deserve answers on the record.

Sources

• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-183.32 (captured plate data: confidential; “shall not be sold for any purpose”) — NC General Assembly
• Appropriation of name/likeness — NC Media Law Handbook; Flake v. Greensboro News Co., 212 N.C. 780 (1938)
• DeFlockILM — Understanding the Flock Contract in New Hanover County

This article raises legal questions for public discussion. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and does not assert that any person or company has broken the law. Laws and contracts are complex and fact-specific — consult a licensed North Carolina attorney about your own situation.