The debate over Flock cameras and license plate readers took center stage at a U.S. Senate hearing, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle undermined the need for privacy and spoke about the risks the technology poses.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, held the hearing to examine the growing use of the surveillance technology. They have concerns about who can access Americans’ data and how long it is being kept.
“The truth is you have probably been scanned and surveilled and tagged and logged multiple times this week alone,” Hawley said.
He invited the CEOs of Flock Safety, Axon, Motorola and Verkada to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism on Wednesday, but none of them appeared.
The committee did hear a personal story that underscored the risks of the technology.
“I woke up frantic. My parents were at my door, multiple troopers were outside and an impound truck was taking my Dodge Durango away right in front of me,” said Lindsey Isaacs, who was wrongfully accused of a crime in Florida.
Troopers showed up at Isaacs’ door to arrest her last year. She was charged with a crime she didn’t commit and placed in solitary confinement. It all started after she said a Flock camera captured her SUV a few miles from a deadly crash.
Durbin said he does see the benefits of license plate readers, such as using them to catch people who avoid paying Illinois tolls.
“This has been around for a long time. It’s been used to locate people who’ve gone missing, cars connected to crimes and stolen vehicles. That all sounds good, and then you hear the story of Miss Isaacs,” Durbin said.
A Chicago attorney told the committee his nonprofit is tracking hundreds of similar cases.
“We’ve seen these cameras placed in front of attorney’s offices, medical facilities, churches, mosques, other places of worship. To allow government officials all over the country to access that information and potentially track where somebody has been going and what they’ve been doing is concerning,” said Alasdair Whitney, legislative counsel for the Institute for Justice.
Whitney is calling for federal limits on how long the data is kept and tie federal funding to similar rules at the state and local levels. He is also urging Congress to pass legislation that would require federal agents to get a warrant before they are able to search someone’s location data.
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