U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders stated that he will introduce a bill targeting Flock Safety to limit the expansion of this surveillance technology company. He claimed that large-scale AI tracking is pushing the United States towards becoming a “surveillance state.”
Sanders named Flock for expanding too quickly
Sanders posted on the X platform this week stating that Flock has deployed over 120,000 AI cameras across the United States, covering more than 6,000 communities, scanning approximately 20 billion vehicles per month. He believes that such systems are continuously recording residents' daily activities, including taking their children to school, seeking medical treatment, and engaging in private activities.
According to Sanders, the Flock new generation system can not only identify vehicles, but may also combine images of people and vehicles with databases containing phone numbers, family relationships, and court records, among other information, for the purpose of determining personal identity and whereabouts.
Opposition has spread to both parties.
He did not specify the exact time of submission of the bill, but he has clearly stated that he will push for restrictive measures at the federal level. The controversy surrounding the Flock automatic license plate recognition system has recently expanded from the local level to Congress.
U.S. Representative Thomas Massie has also previously stated that he plans to introduce legislation to cut off federal funding for agencies that deploy such cameras. Meanwhile, from Los Angeles to Monroe County in Indiana, some local governments have suspended or canceled contracts with Flock due to privacy concerns.
The company claims not to engage in facial recognition.
The company, headquartered in Atlanta, was founded in 2017. Flock indicates that its cameras do not use facial recognition, and the footage is typically retained for only 30 days. The company's CEO, Garrett Langley, stated that once the outside world learns that the product is mainly used to film vehicles, their attitude tends to soften.
However, Langley stated in an interview with FOX News earlier this week that Americans should make "compromises" on privacy issues and give greater priority to security. This stance has further intensified external doubts about their monitoring practices.
Over the past year, Flock has continued to expand its business scope, including promoting a national license plate scanning network involving drivers from Uber, and launching tools for the police to track drivers.
