Senate hearing: 120,000-plus Flock cameras log drivers for any contracting agency, warrant-free. Hawley: "Flock's probably heard of you."

A vast and growing network of AI-driven Flock cameras could violate constitutional privacy rights, senators said at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Iowa Capital Dispatch reports via KWQC. Flock cameras record every vehicle that comes into view, including plate number, make, model, bumper stickers and color, and can capture images of people. The data goes into a database that any law enforcement agency contracting with the company can access without a warrant. There are more than 120,000 Flock cameras across the country, according to the ACLU. "If you haven't heard of Flock, all I have to say is Flock's probably heard of you," said Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the subcommittee chair. Flock's CEO was invited but did not appear, and the company did not respond to a request for comment. Senators heard from a Florida woman arrested on three counts of vehicular homicide after a Flock camera captured her vehicle about three miles from a fatal crash. Her Dodge Durango was the same make and model as the car involved, but hers was black, while a witness described the crash car as maroon. She spent 13 days in jail before prosecutors dropped the charges. Democratic Sen. Cory Booker asked whether the cameras could track women seeking abortions, and Hawley raised gun-show attendees. "When you have this amount of data available, the temptations to use it are going to be absolutely incredible, if not irresistible," Hawley said. My view: license-plate readers can help police solve real crimes, and that deserves saying plainly. But a warrantless database of everyone's movements treats every driver as a suspect. When Josh Hawley and Cory Booker worry about the same database for different reasons, pay attention. My standard doesn't change with the party: who holds the data, who can see it, and for how long? Get a warrant.