Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez Target Flock Safety in Surveillance Crackdown

The proposed legislation seeks to bar the federal government from utilizing automatic license plate readers (ALPR) or accessing data harvested by the technology. Under the bill, federal grant funding would be stripped from state and local agencies that continue to deploy these systems. Furthermore, the act provides a legal pathway for citizens to sue the federal government for privacy violations linked to the use of these devices. Senator Jeff Merkley, who co-sponsored the bill, emphasized that the technology allows private corporations to profit by selling the ability to monitor the daily movements of ordinary Americans.

Flock Safety currently operates more than 120,000 cameras nationwide, creating a massive database that records vehicle details ranging from license plates to bumper stickers and vehicle damage. While proponents like President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel have defended the tools as essential for law enforcement, critics point to mounting evidence of misuse. An August investigation by the Institute for Justice uncovered over 100 instances of abuse, including incidents of romantic stalking and wrongful detentions. Lawmakers argue that the lack of rigorous oversight for these systems poses a fundamental threat to constitutional privacy rights.