Sanders Moves to Bar Federal Agencies From Using Flock and Other License Plate Readers

Sen. Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill that would stop the federal government from using Flock, the surveillance company whose camera network has spread across American roads and neighborhoods. The proposal does not stop with a single vendor. It would extend to automated license plate readers as a category, closing the door on federal use of the technology no matter who makes it.

Flock Safety sells networks of cameras that capture the plates and other identifying details of passing vehicles, then store the records in searchable databases. Police departments, homeowners associations and businesses have adopted the systems in large numbers, and the company has pitched them as a practical crime-solving tool. Critics see something different: a sprawling, privately run dragnet that logs the movements of ordinary drivers who are suspected of nothing.

The bill targets federal agencies specifically, so it would not directly change how local police departments buy or operate readers. Even so, it takes aim at a growing worry among civil liberties groups, which is that data collected locally can end up in federal hands. Concerns have centered on whether plate-reader records could be used for immigration enforcement or other purposes far removed from the original local crime-fighting pitch.

By defining the ban around license plate readers generally, the legislation avoids a loophole in which agencies might simply swap Flock for a competitor. It treats the underlying practice, not just one company, as the problem.

Passage is far from assured. Sanders is not in the majority, and law enforcement agencies have come to rely on plate readers as a routine investigative tool. Still, the bill gives a high-profile voice to a debate that has been building at the state and city level, where several communities have reconsidered or cancelled their Flock contracts amid privacy complaints.

Whether or not it advances, the measure signals that automated vehicle tracking is moving from a niche privacy issue to a mainstream political fight in Washington. Expect Flock and its law enforcement customers to defend the technology as a proven public safety asset, while privacy advocates press for firm limits on who can collect, keep and share the location data of everyday drivers.