Sanders introduces bill to ban the federal government from using Flock

Key Points:

• Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the Ban Flock Act to prohibit federal agencies from using automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) and accessing ALPR data from local police and private companies, with exceptions only for toll collection and future Congress-approved uses limited to 48-hour data retention.
• The bill would financially penalize state and local governments by withholding federal grants unless they ban ALPR technology, and it allows Americans and state attorneys general to sue or enforce the law against federal violations.
• Flock Safety, the largest ALPR vendor in the U.S. with over 120,000 cameras and processing more than 20 billion vehicle reads monthly, has faced growing public backlash leading to tightened data retention policies and audit tools to prevent misuse.
• Notable misuse cases, such as a former Milwaukee officer’s repeated unauthorized searches, have prompted discussions about stricter controls, including a proposed "double-key" approval system for searches.
• The legislation is co-sponsored by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Jeff Merkley but faces long odds in becoming law.