US lawmakers introduce multiple bills to restrict federal agencies' use of Flock cameras

Multiple Democratic, Republican, and independent lawmakers in the United States have introduced several pieces of legislation to significantly restrict federal agencies' use of Flock automatic license plate recognition cameras, citing 404 Media's reporting in the legislative explanations. The Ban Flock Act, announced by Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Senator Jeff Merkley, would prohibit federal agencies from using automatic license plate recognition systems, cut off federal funding to state and local governments that use such cameras, and allow Americans to sue the federal government for violations of their rights. Sanders said Flock has installed tens of thousands of cameras without community consent and noted that it has shared state information with federal immigration officials. The Stop Flock Abuse Act, introduced by Senator Josh Hawley, would require written approval for each query, require agencies to delete driving data after ten days (except for ongoing investigations), and prohibit license plate recognition networks from connecting to facial recognition technology.