Congressional Hearing Adds Fuel to Flock Fire

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism held a hearing on Flock’s Nationwide AI Surveillance Network. Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers (ALPR) take still photos, video recordings, audio capture, and livestreaming capabilities. EPIC commends the committee for gathering a strong panel of experts to shed light on the unchecked mass surveillance system being sold to law enforcement.

Privacy experts from the Institute for Justice and the ACLU highlighted the way that Flock, and its competitors Axon and Motorola, go beyond mere cameras that read license plates. Flock’s vehicle fingerprinting algorithm uses computer vision to catalogue make, model, color, license plate, and unique features such as bumper stickers and bike racks. Beyond the vehicle though, Flock’s Condor suite can explicitly zoom in on human figures and track them across the frame. This granular cataloguing of every person and vehicle that cross a Flock camera is supercharged by the database created, with each image and meta data noting time stamp and location. This database can then be shared with other law enforcement agencies to create an immense pool of Americans’ whereabouts.

The hearing featured an Arizona Sheriff who was among the first to cancel a city’s Flock contract. Several cities have since cancelled contracts with Flock, citing misuse, accuracy issues, and Fourth Amendment violations. In particular, the Sheriff noted that its law enforcement’s duty to proactively analyze its investigation techniques and not wait until the Supreme Court decides whether or not a particular practice violates the Fourth Amendment.

The hearing also featured a woman who was imprisoned after her vehicle was falsely flagged by Flock in a car crash investigation. Law enforcement officials ignored compelling evidence once Flock flagged her, such as the fact that the woman’s car did not have any damage that would indicate a car crash occurred.

Finally, a cybersecurity expert discussed the extensive cybersecurity flaws in the Flock system, such as buttons directly on the camera that allow access to footage, passwords, and other troves of data.

EPIC has long opposed the unchecked expansion of ALPRs and recently filed an amicus brief arguing that Flock’s warrantless dragnet mass surveillance is unconstitutional. EPIC has supported various legislative efforts to push back against automatic license plate readers.