Sanders Vows to Introduce Legislation to Stop Flock’s “AI Mass Surveillance”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has pledged to introduce legislation aimed at reining in the mass adoption of AI-powered video surveillance via companies like Flock Safety, as the camera networks being erected in communities across the U.S. face fierce backlash.

Sanders said that the widespread adoption of AI-powered Flock cameras that monitor peoples’ every activity outside of their homes is edging the U.S. closer to a system of totalitarianism. The company says that its cameras are already in place in over 6,000 communities across the U.S.

“You may not know it, but you may already be being tracked by artificial intelligence,” Sanders wrote on Monday. “Flock, a surveillance company backed by Big Tech oligarchs like Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel, has installed more than 120,000 AI-powered surveillance cameras across America.”

“What does that mean for you? It means that if Flock is in your community, every time you leave your house, a Flock camera records and tracks you,” Sanders went on. “If you are dropping your kids off at school, Flock knows. If you are going to a doctor, Flock knows. If you are going out on a date, Flock knows.”

Sanders said that he is soon introducing legislation to “stop Flock and AI mass surveillance.”

Flock cameras are marketed as tools that help policing with a network of automated license plate readers. The cameras work by recording video of cars passing by, then using an AI algorithm to add information like the make, model, and license plate details to its database about the vehicles. Police departments and other law enforcement agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol can then use that data to track people and conduct arrests.

The company insists that their system “only captures vehicles,” and not information on individuals like biometric data. But reports have found that Flock’s technology goes far beyond just cars and license plates. The system also has the ability to identify and track individuals and their “associates” based on vehicles’ movement patterns, as well as personal information like their home addresses when used in combination with existing police databases.

When Sanders spoke out against the issue earlier this month, the company’s CEO, Garrett Langley, responded, saying that the cameras “do not track people’s every movement.”

However, there has been evidence in numerous cases showing that law enforcement officers are using Flock data to track individuals, even if it’s not capturing “every movement.” This includes cases in which police used the technology to stalk romantic interests, as well as cases where people were reportedly wrongly detained or jailed due to errors by the cameras. The cameras often get things wrong; for instance, according to the ACLU, Flock’s technology misidentifies the state that a license plate belongs to 10 percent of the time.

“Newer Flock cameras do not just record vehicles. They record people. Flock’s AI system can combine images of you and your vehicle with databases of phone numbers, relatives and court records to find out who you are, where you’re going and why,” Sanders explained. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Sanders’s statements come amid backlash against the cameras in both major political parties. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterrorism chair Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) recently launched a probe into the extent of Flock’s data collection efforts.

Meanwhile, more than 100 cities and municipalities have cancelled or not renewed their contracts with Flock and other license plate reader companies since the beginning of 2025 — though some communities that have done so have reported that they are still being watched.