Flock, a company that makes AI-powered license plate reader cameras used by law enforcement agencies, is facing bipartisan criticism over privacy and misuse concerns. Senator Bernie Sanders said he would introduce legislation targeting AI mass surveillance, House Republicans led by Representative Tim Burchett introduced a bill barring the federal government from buying Flock cameras, and a Washington Post investigation found at least 69 police officials accused, charged or convicted of misusing Flock or similar plate readers. Flock's CEO, Garrett Langley, has called for compromise in response to the backlash, while DeSantis has also criticized the cameras as out of control.
Vox frames Flock backlash as a rare 'weird' bipartisan coalition uniting left and right lawmakers and activists against AI-powered surveillance, emphasizing the strangeness and breadth of the political alliance opposing the company.
No centrist outlet in our set has published this story.
Reason's two pieces frame Flock as a symptom of a much broader, preexisting surveillance-state problem: one piece argues Florida officials like DeSantis are hypocritical for criticizing Flock while having built up other surveillance tools (DAVID database, drones, facial recognition) that have already been used for political retaliation; the other argues that banning Flock specifically is insufficient because competitors like Motorola and Axon have even fewer privacy protections, urging systemic legal reform over targeting one company.