Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has called technology leaders before Congress to offer insight into rising surveillance concerns.
“I’ve invited the CEOs of Flock Safety, Axon, Motorola and Verkada to testify in front of my committee NEXT WEEK,” Hawley wrote on X. “Americans deserve answers.”
Hawley previously sent a letter to Flock CEO Garrett Langley, requesting that he submit documents related to the company’s collected information. “Americans do not surrender their privacy rights when they drive to work, drop their kids off at school, or go to church,” he wrote in August. “The Supreme Court has recognized that a comprehensive, retrospective record of a person’s movements is different in kind from ordinary observation in public. Congress never authorized the network your industry has built. Your company’s internal policies are, in practice, the only safeguards for hundreds of millions ofAmericans. People across the country are now discovering that fact and demanding answers from their elected officials.”
Meanwhile, President Trump has said he “sort of” likes Flock cameras. A reporter asked President Trump aboard Air Force One, “Speaking of AI- Flock cameras. You haven’t talked a lot about these Flock cameras. A lot of law enforcement say they really help them, would you be willing to back that?”
Trump responded, “I sort of like them because of that, because of law enforcement, but some people don’t. They think it’s an infringement, but I like them.”
Flock recently changed its system after receiving widespread backlash due to concerns of data retention and misuse. Its new changes include the rollout of “Evidence Mode,” which will “preserve specific data for active investigations when needed,” the company said, as well as adjusting its data retention to seven days instead of thirty days.
