Flock Safety, whose cameras scan license plates across the country, continues to draw public ire, and now Sen. Bernie Sanders wants the federal government to get out of the business entirely.
Sanders (D-Vermont) on Friday presented the Flock Prohibition Lawthat would prohibit federal agencies from using automatic license plate readers (ALPR) or accessing data collected by readers managed by local police and private companies. Despite its title, the bill does not mention nine-year-old Flock in the text, but rather covers any and all ALPR systems.
The bill allows exceptions only for toll collection and for uses that Congress approves in future legislation, which would have to limit data retention to 48 hours.
State and local governments would be financially harmed by not complying if the bill became law. (Like most bills, this one faces long odds.) Starting in the first fiscal year after it is enacted, they would lose grants from five federal departments, including the Department of Justice 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 supplier in the US, according to Sanders, with more than 120,000 cameras. In a February blog post, the company, currently valued by its venture sponsors at north of $8 billion — said its network processes more than 20 billion vehicle readings each month.
Under increasing pressure from communities that are protesting the product, suspending its useand, at an ever-increasing rate, canceled its contracts, Flock has tightened its rules. In August, CEO Garrett Langley, who had previously said that how police use cameras is up to local agencies, announced a new default data retention period of seven days, instead of 30.
Customers must now also use an auditing tool that blocks agents awaiting review when they detect unusual searches. In one of the highest-profile cases of an officer abusing Flock’s platform, a former Milwaukee officer pleaded guilty to misconduct after seeking out his then-partner and ex 179 times, listing the reason as “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 is “on the board.”)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) are cosponsors.
We’ll be sitting down with Langley at our next Disrupt event. October 13-15 in downtown San Francisco.
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