Hawley: "If you haven't heard of Flock … Flock's probably heard of you"
The short version: A Republican senator's blunt line about Flock surveillance shows ALPR concerns are breaking through on Capitol Hill, across party lines.
Our Take
When a sitting U.S. Senator stands up in a Judiciary subcommittee hearing and cracks a line like "if you haven't heard of Flock, Flock's probably heard of you," it's worth paying attention. Credit to C-SPAN for capturing Sen. Josh Hawley putting this on the record in a formal setting, because it signals that the automated license plate reader issue is no longer confined to local city council meetings and privacy advocacy circles. It's reaching the floor of Congress.
We've said it before: the scariest part of Flock's network isn't any single camera, it's the scale and the silence. Most Americans have no idea how many cameras are logging their movements, who has access to that data, or how long it's retained. A senator from either party pointing that out publicly matters, because surveillance infrastructure tends to expand fastest when nobody in power is asking hard questions. This is a rare moment where someone with subpoena power is asking them.
Don't wait on Washington to map what's already in your neighborhood. Check our camera map to see what's been documented near you, and if you want to push back locally, our take-action page has concrete steps for getting answers from your city council or police department before the network grows any bigger.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of C-SPAN, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.