Slashdot has reported:

A Colorado woman wrongly accused of stealing a porch package is suing Flock Group, two towns and local law enforcement, alleging that warrantless use of the company’s licence plate reader system violated her constitutional rights. Chrisanna Elser filed the case in U.S. District Court in Denver on behalf of herself and other Coloradans whose licence plates Flock has logged. The $25 package theft accusation relied on a Flock Safety automated licence plate reader hit.

The defendants named in the lawsuit are Flock Group, the towns of Columbine Valley and Bow Mar, Sgt. Jamie Milliman and Chief Bret Cottrell. Elser alleges intrusion upon seclusion, negligence and negligent design. The complaint argues that Flock sold a searchable archive of location data without requiring police to provide a warrant, case number or supervisor’s approval before searching it.

The case follows a Ring video that went viral showing Elser being handed a criminal summons over the theft. Milliman told her that Bow Mar’s surveillance cameras had captured her forest green Rivian driving through town on the day a package disappeared. Elser offered to show footage from her Rivian’s onboard cameras as evidence that she had not taken the package, but Milliman told her she could bring it to court.

Elser said she spent the next two weeks trying to prove her innocence to a police department that did not return her calls. She said she had not known the Flock cameras existed or that a private company was recording each time she drove past her neighbourhood. She also said she did not know an officer could retrieve that information without asking anyone or providing a reason.

“The scariest part is what happened to me can happen to anyone. I had no idea the Flock cameras existed and no idea a private company was keeping a record of every time I drove past my own neighborhood, or that any officer could pull it up without asking anyone or giving a reason for doing so,” Elser said in a statement Tuesday. “If it can happen to me, it can happen to you....”

Flock said its technology correctly identified where Elser’s vehicle was, while police remained responsible for interpreting that information within the broader investigation. “Flock stands by the accuracy and integrity of its technology and intends to vigorously defend itself in this litigation,” said Paris Lewbel, the company’s public relations manager.

Elser’s lawyer said the cameras record people travelling to everyday destinations and that Flock provides the resulting data to police without limits. “Coloradans pass Flock's cameras on the way to work, church, the doctor, a protest, and a friend's house, and Flock keeps a detailed record of their every movement. It knows where you went, when you went there, and how often you go back, and it gives that information to a police officer with no limits,” the attorney said.

“We are asking a federal court to say what should be obvious: Flock's surveillance is straight-up creepy and the government does not get to follow everyone, all the time, without any reason for doing so,” the attorney added.

Elser is asking the court to order Columbine Valley, Bow Mar, Cottrell and Flock to delete retained location data and bar them from keeping it unless it is connected to an open case number. She also wants Flock to require a warrant, case number and supervisor’s approval before a Colorado agency can search its system. Her case comes after a Florida woman sued Flock the previous week over a police accusation of a crime she said she did not commit.