Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Merkley introduce Ban Flock Act to curb AI-powered license-plate surveillance
2026-10-02
On October 2, Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Senator Jeff Merkley introduced the Ban Flock Act, which would bar federal agencies from using automatic license-plate readers (ALPRs), cut federal funding to state/local governments using them, and let Americans sue the federal government over ALPR rights violations. The announcement cites 404 Media's reporting that local police shared Flock lookups with ICE and used Flock data to monitor immigration and 'No Kings' protests. Separately, Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Stop Flock Abuse Act (per-search approval, 10-day data deletion, a facial-recognition ban), also citing 404 Media's reporting, and Representatives Greg Casar and Shontel Brown wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel questioning the agency's plan for nationwide ALPR data access.
Significance 3: Cross-partisan federal legislation targeting an AI-powered surveillance vendor, directly traceable to investigative reporting, is a meaningful policy development, though it is early-stage legislation rather than enacted law.
Implications · machine-drafted, not owner judgment
Cross-partisan legislative action against an AI surveillance vendor shows regulatory appetite for curbing AI-enabled government surveillance is broadening beyond the usual frontier-model debates — a possible bellwether for how Congress eventually approaches agentic AI deployed by government functions more broadly.
- Committee hearings or markup on either bill
- Flock's public response or further product changes
- Additional cross-party cosponsors
Sources
- press Lawmakers Introduce Multiple Laws to Curb Flock After 404 Media Coverage retrieved 2026-10-06