1 hour ago
5
Sen. Josh Hawley is demanding answers from Flock Safety over whether its rapidly expanding network of AI-powered cameras has helped create a searchable national database of Americans’ movements as communities across the country pull the plug on the technology amid mounting privacy concerns.
"Flock has assembled an unprecedented national surveillance network," Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital. "They boast more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states and more than 20 billion vehicle scans every month."
"I’m investigating Flock cameras to determine who has access to hundreds of millions of Americans’ data and what they’re doing with it," he added. "Americans deserve answers."
POWERFUL CRIME-FIGHTING SURVEILLANCE GROWTH SPURS LAWMAKERS TO ISSUE WARNING: 'ORWELLIAN'
Robert Frommer, director of the Institute for Justice’s Project on the Fourth Amendment, told Fox News Digital that the core concern is not simply the use of cameras, but police being able to search a person’s past movements without first getting approval from a judge.
"The number one reform that I think is needed here is a warrant," Frommer said. "Go to a judge, explain to the judge why you should be able to use this tool."
Frommer said police should still be able to act immediately in genuine emergencies, including cases involving imminent danger or missing people, but should be required to justify the search afterward if there was no time to obtain a warrant.
"Most law enforcement searches are things that happen within a few days of the crime," he said. "You don’t need to be keeping this gigantic database on everybody’s movements."
Hawley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, launched the investigation Wednesday in a letter to Flock CEO Garrett Langley.
The Missouri Republican said Flock’s camera network goes far beyond the discrete, local investigations for which law enforcement surveillance tools are traditionally used.
LICENSE PLATE CAMERAS AT HOME DEPOT AND LOWE’S SPARK PRIVACY FEARS
"Instead of serving discrete local investigations, as contemplated by our constitutional processes and safeguards, these camera networks harness artificial intelligence to pool what they capture into a national database that customers can search," Hawley wrote.
Flock’s automated license plate reader cameras capture passing vehicles and can log details including a vehicle’s license plate, description, location and time. The Atlanta-based company markets its technology to law enforcement agencies, businesses and homeowners associations.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Flock Safety spokesperson Paris Lewbel said the company had received Hawley’s letter and would respond directly to the subcommittee’s questions.
"We look forward to working with Senator Hawley and the Subcommittee to provide additional context about how our technology works, the safeguards built into our platform, and how law enforcement agencies use Flock to solve crime and find missing people," Lewbel said.
Hawley said law enforcement needs tools to catch offenders and keep communities safe, but argued Americans should not have to surrender their privacy while carrying out everyday routines.
DAVID MARCUS: CHINA TRIP A GLIMPSE INTO THE SURVEILLANCE STATE AMERICA MUST NEVER BECOME
"Americans do not surrender their privacy rights when they drive to work, drop their kids off at school, or go to church," Hawley wrote. "The Supreme Court has recognized that a comprehensive, retrospective record of a person’s movements is different in kind from ordinary observation in public."
Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, echoed Hawley’s concerns in a Wednesday post on X, arguing that the Fourth Amendment "is not up for ‘compromise.’"
"Our Founders did not risk their lives so a CEO could trade our rights for profit and perceived ‘safety,’" Self wrote, invoking Benjamin Franklin’s warning against giving up essential liberty for temporary safety.
Axios first reported Hawley’s investigation.
Frommer said Flock’s position that agencies control their own data-sharing settings does not resolve the privacy issue when those agencies can be connected to far broader networks than they realize.
"The fact that they technically control the data is a false promise when reality has shown that these things are often spread much further than agencies expected," he said.
The scrutiny comes as a growing number of cities and counties reconsider their relationships with Flock, citing concerns over data sharing, privacy and the potential for misuse.
On Tuesday, the Pflugerville City Council voted unanimously to end the Texas city’s agreement with Flock. City staff will turn off all 28 automated license plate reader cameras covered by the contract and disable access to the system, according to the city.
"Public safety and public trust have to go hand in hand, and recent revelations about the Flock system have fueled concerns throughout the community; we can’t engage with organizations we can’t trust," Pflugerville Mayor Doug Weiss said in a statement.
Pflugerville police had used Flock cameras since 2020. The city had considered a new two-year agreement that included updated privacy, security and data policies, but officials said they lost confidence in the company’s ability to meet the city’s standards.
FOREIGN ENEMIES HAVE A SHOCKINGLY SIMPLE WAY TO TRACK US TROOPS OVERSEAS, LAWMAKERS WARN
"ALPR technology is a valuable investigative tool, and we have seen firsthand its ability to help protect our community during critical incidents," Pflugerville Police Chief Willie Richards said. "But as useful as this tool is, we must have confidence that the safeguards and settings we put in place function exactly as intended. Unfortunately, we’ve lost confidence in the current system and the vendor’s ability to meet our data and privacy standards."
Lewbel said Flock respects Pflugerville’s decision and said the city had participated in Texas’ statewide sharing network, which she described as distinct from one-to-one sharing between agencies.
"Statewide sharing allows participating Texas agencies to search across the network using a full license plate," Lewbel said. "Agencies control their sharing settings and can change or revoke them at any time."
Lewbel said Flock’s audit logs showed statewide sharing had been enabled for Pflugerville since 2024, and that agencies receive monthly emails detailing their sharing relationships.
She said the company identified two out-of-state agencies that had been mistakenly categorized as Texas agencies and included in the statewide network.
"We take responsibility for that error, which was corrected months ago," Lewbel said.
In Hood County, Texas, the Commissioners Court voted to end its relationship with Flock and later unanimously directed that the county’s three cameras be disconnected and covered until they can be removed.
Constable John Shirley said his office carried out the court’s decision, sharing photos of the cameras unplugged and covered.
"Today is a good day for the Freedom of the people of Hood County," Shirley wrote in a Facebook post. "These cameras were constantly scanning and recording regular folks just going about their day."
"That kind of permanent, warrantless tracking doesn’t belong in a free society," he added. "Privacy isn’t optional, and mass surveillance isn’t how we do things here."
Shirley later stressed that he supports technology that helps police solve crimes, find missing people and locate dangerous suspects, but said public safety cannot end the conversation about individual liberty.
"We can have good policing and still insist on boundaries," he said. "We can use technology without giving government unlimited surveillance capability."
Shirley said the cameras remain Flock’s property and that he was carrying out the Commissioners Court’s direction, not acting independently. He told the company to "come get your garbage out of my county."
Tempe, Arizona, has also turned off its Flock automated license plate reader system and will end its contract with the company, city officials said.
The cameras are no longer collecting license plate data, and Tempe said it does not plan to hire another company to replace the system.
While Tempe police said the cameras had helped solve crimes, the city cited recent misuse of automated license plate reader systems in Arizona and elsewhere as raising concerns about the risks associated with the technology.
Tempe police found no misuse of its own Flock system, according to the city. Flock will remove the cameras, and Tempe said previously collected data will be automatically deleted after 30 days unless it is tied to an ongoing case or investigation.
Frommer said the constitutional concerns extend beyond Flock to any provider of interconnected license plate reader technology.
"License plate readers, as a technology, are incredibly helpful. They can help solve crimes," he said. "But there have to be safeguards in place, constitutional safeguards in place — no matter whether it’s Flock or Axon or Motorola or another company."
English (US) ·