Flock 对其车牌识别器的组装地点披露甚少，但这一信息可能具有地缘政治和网络安全影响。

Flock reveals little about where its license plate readers are assembled, but the answer could have geopolitical and cybersecurity implications.

Flock 首席执行官 Garrett Langley 曾表示，该公司最初是在他位于亚特兰大的家中制造车牌识别摄像头的，钻孔痕迹永久性地刮花了他的餐桌。十年后，该公司组装其标志性且备受争议的产品地点已变得更加神秘。尽管 Flock 的硬件生产地可能对美国国家安全产生影响，但其制造供应链却鲜少受到关注。WIRED 采访了 Flock 的现任和前任员工以及供应链分析师，查阅了美国进口记录数据，并观看了过去包含 Langley 的营销视频，从而拼凑出关于其硬件管线演变的首个完整叙述。 Flock 的摄像头主要依赖全球各地的供应商提供非定制部件，这些部件也被用于其他公司的产品中。“我们的价值在于将所有这些东西聚合、打包成一个精美的防水、消费者友好的设备，”Langley 在 2021 年的一段营销视频中说道。据两名前员工透露，Flock 并未开设仓库，而是将摄像头存放在全国各地的自助仓储设施中，供安装团队按需取用。其中一人将该系统描述为“简陋粗糙”，指出与存放在由 Flock 自行运营的更安全地点相比，这种做法可能使摄像头更容易遭受篡改。该人士称，Flock 希望将组装环节保留在北美，既是为了缓解安全顾虑——特别是针对潜在的中国监控担忧——也是为了保持工厂距离足够近，以便能够根据客户需求快速定制产品。 WIRED 无法确定 Flock 目前在哪里组装其摄像头。今年的一份 Flock 营销演示文稿中未提及具体地点。Flock 正在对一笔约 9,500 美元的拟议罚款提出异议，声称其在得知受伤情况后迅速进行了报告。即使 Flock 的制造供应链仍留在美国，这也可能难以平息两党对该公司的强烈反对。公民自由倡导组织电子前沿基金会（Electronic Frontier Foundation）的高级政策分析师 Matthew Guariglia 表示：“国内制造并不能替代对这些系统如何构建、销售和使用的问责。”“无论在哪里组装，这个每年产出数十亿美元大规模监控技术的行业都不会因此变得更安全或更令人接受。”

Flock CEO Garrett Langley has said the company made its first license plate cameras in his Atlanta home, permanently scratching his dining table with drill marks. A decade later, where the company assembles its signature—and fiercely debated—product has become more of a mystery. But Flock’s manufacturing supply chain has received scant attention, even though where its hardware is produced could have implications for US national security. WIRED spoke with current and former Flock employees and supply chain analysts, reviewed data from US import records, and watched past marketing videos featuring Langley to piece together the first account of how its hardware pipeline has evolved. Flock’s cameras largely rely on suppliers around the world that provide non-custom parts, which are also used in products from other companies. “Our value is in the aggregation and the packaging of all of these things … in a nice waterproof, consumer-friendly device,” Langley said in one marketing video from 2021. Rather than opening up warehouses, Flock stored cameras in self-storage locations across the country for its installation crews to retrieve as needed, according to two former employees. One described the system as “janky,” noting it may have left cameras more vulnerable to tampering than they would have been if kept in more secure locations operated by Flock itself. The person says Flock wanted to keep assembly in North America, both to ease security concerns—particularly about potential Chinese surveillance—and to keep factories close enough that it could quickly customize products in response to customer needs. WIRED was unable to determine where Flock’s cameras are assembled now. A Flock marketing presentation from this year does not mention a location. Flock is contesting a proposed penalty of about $9,500, saying it reported the injury quickly after learning about it. Even if Flock’s manufacturing supply chain remains in the United States, it may do little to calm bipartisan backlash against the company. “Domestic manufacturing is no substitute for accountability over how these systems are built, sold, and used,” says Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the civil liberties advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The multi-billion dollar industry churning out mass surveillance technology is not safer or more acceptable based on where it is assembled.”