A pigeon perches on a Flock Safety camera, mounted high on a traffic signal pole at the intersection of Chapman Avenue & Harbor Boulevard in Garden Grove, Calif., on Aug. 14, 2026. | Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
By Elizabeth Elkind, Alex Miller | Fox News
There’s a new frontier in the national privacy debate that’s uniting people on the right and left, and it’s a tool that millions of Americans encounter every day without even realizing it.
Automatic license plate reader (ALPR) companies have been brought under scrutiny by lawmakers in Washington as privacy hawks warn that the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI) technology is testing the bounds of what ALPR devices can legally learn about drivers on the road.
One company in particular, Flock Safety, has been taking hits in the media and political sphere as news of Flock cameras’ misuse — and occasional success — dominates headlines.
“There’s cameras everywhere, people know that, but if law enforcement has the ability to monitor the comings and goings of citizens, I think that’s wrong. I mean, we’re not the CCP, we’re not 1984 and an Orwellian society, and Americans have rights,” Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital.
LICENSE PLATE CAMERAS ARE TRACKING DRIVERS EVERYWHERE
He pointed to a recent incident in his district where a now-former Sarasota police officer was fired and arrested after being accused of misusing Flock camera technology, using it to spy on one particular license plate over 300 times.
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“I don’t think you’re gonna be able to stop these cameras from being out there, but at the very least, there should be some type of legal parameters put in place to protect people’s Fourth Amendment rights,” he said.
ALPRs automatically capture and analyze vehicle and location data on public roads without drivers’ consent. Supporters have argued that it’s a critical tool for public safety that only collects minimal information, while opponents labeled it an alarming expansion of the mass surveillance state.
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Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital, “These cameras are well beyond an automated license plate reader today. AI has made them so capable that they are now capable of facial recognition, of seeing what you’re doing inside your car. So it’s well beyond the license plate reader…that’s the problem. Technology has moved these beyond just looking at the back of a car.”
On the other side of the aisle, a spokesperson for progressive Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., pointed Fox News Digital to her recent comments responding to news that Flock was updating its oversight standards. Ramirez wrote on X, “Private tech companies have amassed record-breaking profits off our pain and the use of technology for mass surveillance is a threat to our democracy, civil liberties, and privacy. Congress must stop the ever-expanding surveillance state.”
The debate even exploded onto the campaign trail ahead of November’s midterm elections, where ALPRs join AI data centers as Big Tech’s big boogeymen.
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