Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and Merkley Propose Federal Ban on AI-Powered License Plate Readers

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Jeff Merkley on Oct. 2 released the Ban Flock Act, a proposal to bar federal agencies from using automatic license plate readers and cut certain federal grants to state and local governments that keep using them. The bill targets Flock Safety by name in its title but is written to cover ALPR systems broadly, putting AI-assisted camera networks at the center of a national privacy fight.