Lawmakers Push Curbs on AI Plate Readers After Officer Queried 1 Plate 300 Times
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 25
Lawmakers Push Curbs on AI Plate Readers After Officer Queried 1 Plate 300 Times
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 25
Summary
House lawmakers from both parties are escalating pressure for federal limits on AI-powered license plate readers, arguing the systems now enable mass surveillance beyond simple plate scans.
More scrutiny followed a Sarasota case in which a former police officer was fired and arrested after allegedly using Flock cameras to track one license plate more than 300 times.
Rep. Keith Self, Rep. Greg Steube and other Republicans are drafting or weighing bills, while Steube also threatened Sarasota with lost federal funding unless it adopts tighter restrictions.
The backlash has spread into 2026 campaigns and local governments, with critics from Michigan races to New Mexico and Lansing challenging Flock and similar systems on privacy and civil-liberties grounds.
Flock says its cameras have helped recover missing children and that it does not use facial recognition, while supporters in policing and policy circles back regulation rather than an outright ban.