Flock Safety, whose cameras scan license plates across the country, continues to draw public anger, and now Sen. Bernie Sanders wants the federal government to get out of the matter altogether.
Sanders (D-Vt.) on Friday introduced the Ban Flock Act, which would prohibit federal agencies from using automatic license plate readers (ALPR) or exploiting data collected by readers run by local police and private companies. Despite its title, the bill does not refer to nine-year-old Flock in the text, but rather covers all ALPR systems.
The bill allows exceptions only for toll collection and for uses approved by Congress in future legislation, which is expected to limit data retention to 48 hours.
State and local governments would be financially penalized if they fail to comply if the bill becomes law. (Like most bills, this one faces big challenges.) Starting in the first fiscal year after enactment, they would lose funding from five federal departments, including the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, unless they ban the technology.
Americans could also sue the federal government for violations, and state attorneys general could enforce the law.
Flock is the largest ALPR provider in the United States, according to Sanders, with more than 120,000 cameras. In a February blog post, the company – currently valued at more than $8 billion by its investors – said its network processes more than 20 billion vehicle readings each month.
Under increasing pressure from communities protesting the product, suspending its use and, at an increasing rate, canceling their contracts, Flock has tightened its rules. In August, CEO Garrett Langley, who previously said how police used the cameras was up to local agencies, announced a new default data retention period of seven days, up from 30.
Customers must also now use an auditing tool that blocks access to agents awaiting review when it flags unusual searches. In one of the most high-profile cases of an officer abusing Flock’s platform, a former Milwaukee officer pleaded guilty to misconduct after searching for his then-partner and ex 179 times, citing the reason as an “investigation.” (During a recent podcast interview, investor Jason Calacanis suggested a “dual key” system in which two people must approve a search, and Langley said the idea was “on the whiteboard.”)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) are co-sponsors.
We’ll be catching up with Langley at our next Disrupt event, October 13-15 in downtown San Francisco.
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