Growing factions from both sides of the political aisle in the US are pushing back against surveillance cameras made by a single company, a rare response in a sharply divided country with a president pushing an unwaveringly pro-tech agenda. The bipartisan backlash against Flock Safety cameras resembles nationwide rage toward the construction of large datacenters that power artificial intelligence. Polling shows roughly 75% of Americans oppose new datacenter construction in their areas.
Flock’s cameras are automated license plate readers (ALPRs), which take pictures of vehicle license plates so police and security companies can log the movement of cars in a given area. There are about 120,000 Flock cameras across the US, which conduct roughly 2bn scans per month. The company is staring down controversy after reports of abuses of its cameras by police officers in multiple states, who have used them to stalk ex-lovers and track people seeking abortions.
The network the cameras feed into is also frequently utilized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Data and polling from the Washington Post show that social media posts about Flock have increased since July, and about 46% of Americans oppose ALPRs being used in their community – up 13 points from the previous year. Vigilantes are posting videos of themselves destroying the cameras to digital applause.
According to privacy and surveillance experts, hatred of Flock cameras has become bipartisan. Greg Abbott, Texas’s Republican governor, blocked state agencies from procuring Flock products. On the other side of the political spectrum, Bernie Sanders, the progressive US senator, is promising to introduce legislation to restrict the use of Flock cameras.
Republican senator Josh Hawley has launched an investigation into potential Flock privacy abuses, and Democratic congressman Ro Khanna is cosponsoring a bill with Republican congressman Thomas Massie to prevent federal funds from being used to purchase Flock cameras. Municipal leaders of all political stripes are dropping contracts with Flock, though sometimes they replace the license plate readers with another brand of camera and continue the surveillance. We reached out to Flock Safety for a statement and did not receive a response before publishing.
Surveillance hasn’t always been a unifying topic in US politics. Debates over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), the Patriot Act and other surveillance issues have often been divisive. This appears to be an unusual case where politicians are getting on the same side of a hot-button issue.
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