Senator Hawley Invites Tech CEOs to Discuss License Plate Surveillance Issues
On Friday, Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri announced his invitation to technology CEOs to testify before Congress about growing concerns surrounding Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) and their implications for mass surveillance.
Hawley is currently investigating Flock Safety cameras, particularly focusing on their handling of Americans’ data. He pointed out several notable incidents in which individuals were wrongfully accused of crimes due to the way Flock cameras processed their information. He reached out to Flock CEO Garrett Langley, as well as the leaders of Axon Enterprise, Motorola Solutions, and Verkada, to appear before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, although they were not compelled to attend.
“I’ve invited the CEOs of Flock Safety, Axon, Motorola, and Verkada to testify in front of my committee NEXT WEEK. Americans deserve answers,” Hawley expressed.
A spokesperson for Verkada indicated to the Daily Caller News Foundation that their CEO would be unable to attend the upcoming hearing. They clarified that while they would be supporting the committee’s preparations by sharing relevant information, none of their clients have access to a national database because such a network does not exist. Customers can only view data from their own systems.
As highlighted in Hawley’s letter to Langley, a Flock camera in Florida recorded information about a woman who spent 13 days in jail and faced serious felony charges, including three counts of vehicular homicide, for a crime she had not committed. Additionally, in Milwaukee, a police officer was charged for inappropriately accessing his girlfriend’s license plate data multiple times as well as her former boyfriend’s, all of which was discovered not through Flock’s system but by a private citizen.
Another instance involved an innocent driver in Wisconsin who was held at gunpoint in August due to a camera’s erroneous read.
Motorola Solutions, along with its subsidiary Vigilant Solutions, is confronting a significant class-action lawsuit claiming they violated California’s privacy laws regarding vehicle tracking data. The lawsuit alleges that their automated surveillance information was shared improperly with out-of-state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities without appropriate oversight or consent.
In a separate incident, hackers accessed Verkada’s system by exploiting publicly available credentials, allowing them to take control of over 150,000 cameras globally in March 2021. This breach enabled the hackers to view live footage from various sensitive locations, including psychiatric hospitals and schools.
Neither Flock, Motorola Solutions, nor Axon Enterprise responded to inquiries regarding whether their CEOs planned to testify.
Notably, no legislation has been introduced in Congress to completely ban Flock cameras or similar ALPR systems. In July, Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna from Florida stated she was developing a bill to ban Flock Safety cameras, though no draft has yet emerged. Meanwhile, Republican Representative Tim Burchett from Tennessee has put forth the “Protection Against Mass Surveillance Act,” which aims to prevent federal entities from using Flock cameras or any automated systems that identify, track, or document individuals. Similarly, Representative Thomas Massie from Kentucky has proposed legislation to deny federal funding to local governments and police departments that utilize Flock and ALPR systems.
