Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduces bill targeting federal support for Flock technology
Technology & SocietyWell-covered
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The Facts
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduced the Get the Flock Out of Our Communities Act on Oct. 14.
- The bill targets automated mass-surveillance systems, including automated license-plate readers such as Flock cameras.
- The proposal would prohibit federal funding for covered surveillance technology.
- The bill would prohibit federal agencies from using covered surveillance systems.
- The proposal would require state and local governments to divest from covered systems.
- The bill would require permanent deletion of data from covered systems.
- Communities have ended or considered ending Flock contracts amid privacy and data-security concerns.
Context
What are Flock cameras used for?
Flock cameras are automated license-plate readers that capture vehicle and license-plate information for law-enforcement investigations. B104.7 Manhattan's … News&Observer WKBW
Why are the systems being debated?
Critics have raised privacy, surveillance and data-access concerns, while police supporters say the systems help investigate crimes and locate missing people. CBS News News&Observer WickedLocal
What would the bill require of state and local governments?
It would bar federal funding for covered systems and require state and local governments to divest from them and permanently delete their data. CBS News Detroit News
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Automated license-plate readers raise genuine privacy and data-security concerns, and communities have already moved to end or reconsider Flock contracts on that basis.
- Where Left and Right split
- The left and the right split on whether Congress or local governments should decide Flock surveillance's fate.
- Why they won’t converge
- The split reflects a trust-in-institution divide: whether local police and elected councils or a federal mandate should hold authority to judge how much surveillance capability public safety work requires.
How left and right read it
No one should have to prove innocence to a camera that logs every car's movements by default. That is why the Get the Flock Out of Our Communities Act matters: introduced Oct. 14, it would cut federal funding and federal use of automated license-plate readers, force state and local divestment, and permanently delete the data already collected. Those archives fall hardest on people with the least cover.
“But critics warn that the information could also be used to track immigrants, people seeking abortions outside their home states, and survivors fleeing abusive partners.” — CBS News
Deciding which tools a town's police may use belongs to that town, not to a federal mandate ordering state and local governments to divest from license-plate readers and permanently delete their data. Communities have already ended or reconsidered Flock contracts over privacy and data-security concerns, so that judgment is being made where accountability actually sits. Congress may set terms for its own funding and its own agencies. Why reach further?
Flock cameras raise one privacy worry nationwide, but the fight is over who gets to act on it: Congress or city hall.
The receipts — 48 sources
Wire services (1)
Independent coverage (47)
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