Republican lawmakers introduce bills to limit Flock and license plate reader surveillance

Centre · 1Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, introduced the FLAFO Act on September 24; it would bar federal agencies from buying, operating, accessing or sharing data from networked license plate reader systems without a warrant. 1 Centre · 1It would also make certain Justice Department grants for state, local and tribal police conditional on adopting similar privacy rules. 1 Mixed · 2Separately, Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, is unveiling the Stop Flock Abuse Act on Wednesday, reported first by CBS News. 2 3

Mixed · 2It would bar local governments from selling or sharing vehicle data, require agencies to delete driver data within 10 days unless a criminal investigation is under way, and ban facial recognition on these networks. 2 3 Left · 1Searches would need written approval and an audit log, and data would have to be encrypted and kept in the United States. 2 Left · 1Hawley said Flock and its competitors' cameras are creating digital footprints of Americans and called them "a nightmare for individual liberties unless Congress enacts meaningful rules and accountability." 2

Mixed · 2Hawley opened an investigation in August and chaired a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing last week; executives from Flock, Axon, Motorola and Verkada declined to testify. 2 3 Right · 1Flock CEO Garrett Langley sent a letter describing safeguards, and Flock says it operates 120,000 cameras in 49 states. 3 Centre · 1Researcher Joshua Michael published a map he says shows more than 300,000 Flock-linked devices, including over 170,000 cameras; a brand-protection firm acting for Flock filed a trademark complaint against the site hosting it. 1

Right · 1The Center Square, carried by Just the News, said at least 138,000 ALPR cameras had been mapped nationwide by independent groups such as Finding Flock, about 120,000 of them Flock's, and noted that Flock's letter to Hawley said it does not keep a single consolidated count of confirmed customer misuse. 4 Right · 1The Center Square also reported that Flock lets clients keep data as long as they choose, that its image searches are meant to rely on visible traits rather than a biometric template, and that it has applied for a patent that would allow searches for individuals; Flock did not say whether it supports the bill. 4 Right · 1In a Washington Examiner opinion piece, Georgetown graduate student Burak Oktenli argued the debate should also ask whether agencies can prove who can access plate records, citing Flock's announced multi-factor authentication, case codes for searches by year-end and lockouts, a Bishop Fox test that found 36 issues, and a Ventura, California, incident in which two out-of-state agencies could query its system. 5

Right · 1The piece said there is no public evidence that the Chinese-linked Salt Typhoon campaign accessed Flock systems, and that Sheriff Ross Teeple of Pinal County, Arizona, who ended his county's Flock contract, still called ALPRs useful investigative tools. 5 Mixed · 2Steube cited reported cases in Florida, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin of officers allegedly misusing the databases, and a Florida woman, Lindsey Isaacs, testified she was jailed after her car was misidentified on a Flock camera. 1 2 Left · 1Sens. Raphael Warnock and Katie Britt have asked the attorney general for Justice Department guidance, and several House bills have been introduced. 2