Bernie Sanders Going to Introduce Legislation Targetting Flock and Other AI Surveillance

**According to Fortune**, Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged on August 26 to introduce legislation targeting Flock Safety and broader AI surveillance. The proposal has not yet been formally introduced, so its precise scope remains unknown. Sanders is therefore promising legislation, rather than advancing a filed bill that can currently be evaluated clause by clause.

**Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports** that scrutiny of Flock has become unusually bipartisan. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has opened a Senate investigation into the company, while Sanders has called for federal legislation. The convergence suggests that privacy concerns about automated license plate readers are becoming less tied to traditional party divisions.

**Investigative reporting from The Washington Post found** at least 69 police officials had been accused, charged, or convicted of misusing Flock or other license plate reader systems for unauthorized purposes. Its reporting also found that some departments lacked routine auditing practices, strengthening arguments that the policy debate is increasingly about oversight and access controls, not simply whether the cameras help solve crimes.

**The Associated Press notes** that Flock has responded to criticism by announcing tighter safeguards, including plans to reduce default data retention from 30 days to seven, require searches to be connected to case numbers, and make automated monitoring for suspicious use mandatory. The company maintains that its technology helps law enforcement solve crimes and locate missing people, while civil liberties advocates argue that company imposed safeguards cannot substitute for independent legal oversight.

**Communities are abandoning Flock contracts at an accelerating rate, with 93 jurisdictions ending relationships with the company during August alone, according to data compiled by the advocacy group Secure Justice. Flock says new municipal partnerships still substantially outnumber nonrenewals. The larger consequence is that a dispute once handled mainly through local procurement decisions is moving toward federal politics, where Congress could ultimately determine whether nationwide vehicle tracking requires warrants, statutory limits, or broader restrictions.**

**If politicians on the left and right are converging on the same surveillance concern, is Flock an isolated privacy controversy, or the first major test of how Americans will regulate AI systems that can reconstruct everyday movements at national scale?**