US lawmakers introduce the Ban Flock Act to block surveillance camera use

• A new Ban Flock Act has been introduced in Congress
• It cites privacy concerns over camera tracking systems
• All ALPRs are covered, not just those made by Flock

The momentum behind banning Flock cameras and other surveillance tech continues to build, with Senators Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley, together with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, filing a new Ban Flock Act that does exactly what you might expect given its name.

As TechCrunch reports though, it goes beyond Flock: the bill covers all automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), and would stop federal agencies from acquiring, possessing, accessing or otherwise using one of these devices.

Exceptions could be approved by Congress, the bill states, with toll collection one use case that would be exempt from the rules. If any exemptions did get cleared. data retention would be limited to 48 hours.

The proposed ban is at the federal level, which means states and local areas could still invest in ALPR systems using their own money, if they chose to — but central government funding would then be removed, so in practice, the cameras would be banned at this level too. Private companies and use by residents associations would still be allowed.

What happens next

If you're not familiar with the workings of the US political system, the next stages are for the bill to get committee, House, and Senate approval. However, the likelihood of it passing before the end of Congress in January is slim, considering the timing and the balance of party control in both chambers.

With that in mind, the Ban Flock Act is more of a statement of intent and opinion than anything likely to become law in the near future. There are in fact already two similar bills sitting at the committee stage that haven't made progress yet.

Those long odds of the bill's success are reflected in reaction online, though Redditors say future laws 'should go beyond ALPRs' and there is broad support for these camera systems being regulated more tightly or banned outright.

The accompanying press release leans heavily on privacy. "We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state," says Sanders, with the text pointing to past misuse of the cameras and data they collect — including police officers using plate readers to track wives, girlfriends, and exes.

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