Sept. 18 (UPI) — Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Friday invited the chief executives of four surveillance companies, including Flock Safety, to testify about their industry’s potential threats to privacy rights.
Flock has been under fire in recent months due to a series of incidents involving its AI-powered network of cameras.
In one incident, police were found to be tracking a woman who had an abortion. In another, cops were discovered tracking people who were not suspected of any crimes.
At least 50 law enforcement officers have been charged for using the technology illegally, including to stalk women, an analysis by The Washington Post revealed.
Hawley is bringing the CEOs to his Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism as he expands his investigation into the companies.
“Every month, AI-powered cameras take 20 billion snapshots of cars in America,” Hawley wrote on Daily Wire. “In almost every case, these photos capture drivers who did nothing wrong.”
“These are regular folks on their way to work, picking up kids at school, or driving to church,” he added. “Now, they are understandably asking what happens to the data captured by a network of more than 120,000 of these Flock cameras nationwide.”
Included in the invitation are CEOs Garrett Langley of Flock Safety, Greg Brown of Motorola Solutions, Filip Kaliszan of Verkada and Rick Smith of Axon Enterprise.
Verkada spokeswoman Virginia Ramsey told Politico her boss will not be at the meeting but “we are in communication with the subcommittee and are providing information … as they prepare for the hearing.”
It is unclear if the other executives will attend the invitation.
On Thursday, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Ron Wyden., D-Ore., demanded answers from Flock following reports of police abusing “license plate readers, camera network, and sensors to carry out extensive, unauthorized surveillance.”
“Despite a professed public commitment to responsible governance, Flock has repeatedly failed to implement the safeguards necessary to protect Americans’ civil liberties,” the senators wrote in a statement.
Following reports of abuse, Flock last month announced new measures to safeguard user data after its CEO admitted the company took too long to implement policy changes.
The company said it would reduce the number of days most data is retained in its servers from 30 days to seven.
“I hope the company will commit to resolving these questions,” Hawley wrote on Daily Wire. “But even if it does, Congress should not just take its word at face value; we should write protections into law.”
“These safeguards must apply to every company and endure longer than the tenure of current CEOs,” he added. “More fundamentally, the rules protecting Americans should be set by law and by the people, not by venture capital funds, AI executives, or big tech companies.”
Source: U.S. News
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