Republican Florida congressman introduces bill requiring warrants for Flock Safety cameras
Greg Steube’s Flafo Act would require federal agencies to obtain warrants before accessing or sharing data from networked license plate readers
TL;DR
- Republican Greg Steube introduced the Facilitating Liberty and Accountability for Flock Observations (Flafo) Act.
- The bill mandates that federal agencies must obtain a judicial warrant to buy, operate, access, or share data from networked license plate readers.
- It also proposes making US Department of Justice grants conditional on local police adopting similar warrant requirements.
- The legislation targets surveillance company Flock Safety, which operates a significant portion of the market's license plate readers.
- Concerns about misuse of Flock's databases by law enforcement have been highlighted in investigations across several states.
- This is the third bill introduced in a month to limit the use of such surveillance technology, with bipartisan support for some proposals.
- Despite opposition from some, including Donald Trump, the trend shows a growing national displeasure with widespread surveillance, leading to contract cancellations by numerous cities and states.
- Florida's transportation department and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have already taken steps to restrict or halt funding for these cameras.