Lawmakers from both parties have introduced bills to cut federal agencies off from Flock's license-plate camera network, citing 404 Media's reporting as their reason.
Flock is a company that has put tens of thousands of cameras into American neighbourhoods. They do one thing: photograph every passing plate, store it, and let police search it at will.
Now lawmakers from both parties are moving at once.
What the cameras were actually used for
Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and Merkley introduced the Ban Flock Act. It bars federal agencies from using license-plate readers, cuts federal funding to states and cities that use them, and lets citizens sue the federal government.
Sanders put it plainly: going to the doctor, Flock knows; dropping your kid at school, Flock is tracking you. Hawley's version requires written approval for every search, deletion of driver data within ten days, and no facial recognition.
Why it became a target now
Because 404 Media kept finding uglier uses. Local police ran lookups for ICE. California police investigated an immigration protest with it. No Kings demonstrations were monitored nationwide.
Flock itself ran a webinar teaching police how to surveil No Kings protesters. A Texas officer used it to search nationwide for a woman who had self-administered an abortion.
The lawmakers cite that reporting directly. A company's own training material for customers is now evidence in a Senate hearing.
Strip away the jargon and it comes down to this: when a camera system is convenient enough that anyone can casually look someone up, the distance to abuse is zero.
Why it matters
The fight over Flock is not about cameras but about defaults: once plate data is centralised, checking on a woman who had an abortion or a protest costs almost nothing. What sets the limit is not technical capability but whether searches leave a trace, how long data is kept, and who gets to look.
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