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Republicans and Democrats in Congress have introduced competing legislation to rein in the government’s use of Flock cameras and other automated license plate readers (ALPRs) following widespread abuses by police and intense public backlash to the powerful surveillance technology.

ALPRs allow police to track vehicles and their drivers across expansive areas by using a variety of easily searchable data points from images captured by the cameras. The Ban Flock Act, backed by some Democrats and progressives, would halt federal funding to slow the rise of AI-powered surveillance nationwide. A competing GOP bill creates legal guardrails for police when using ALPR data but would not “ban” license plate surveillance by the federal government.

Introduced on October 2 by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), the Ban Flock Act would prevent federal funds from being used to purchase ALPRs, including but not limited to Flock cameras. In order to incentivize a “moratorium” on the use of ALPRs by local police, only state and local governments with laws or policies in place to prohibit the use of ALPRs could continue receiving financial assistance from several federal entities, including from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services.

The bill would also ban the use of both ALPRs and the data gathered by them at the federal level while creating a legal avenue for lawsuits against the federal government over privacy violations.

However, the legislation would not place an outright ban on the use of Flock and similar cameras attached to license plate analytics software, nor would it ban the use of AI-powered surveillance systems by local governments and private actors. The Ban Flock Act would also allow Congress to pass legislation allowing police to use ALPRs for a specific purpose with privacy restrictions, including deleting data after 48 hours. ALPRs used to collect tolls are exempt from the bill.

Sanders Vows to Introduce Legislation to Stop Flock’s “AI Mass Surveillance”

Speaking at an event in Bakersfield, California, on October 5, Sanders linked Flock cameras to the controversial rapid advances in AI. While the AI systems that enhance ALPR surveillance are not the most controversial frontier models still in development, AI-powered search engines made by Flock Safety and its competitors to analyze data collected by ALPRs make the systems much more powerful.

When asked by Sanders if they had heard of AI data centers and Flock cameras, the crowd booed.

“We are looking at the possibility [of] the evisceration of privacy rights in America,” Sanders said.

Flock Safety is the leading manufacturer of ALPRs along with competitors such as Axon and Motorola Solutions, which some cities are turning to as the Flock brand becomes increasingly........

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