Sen. Josh Hawley is introducing legislation to impose strict new limits on AI-powered surveillance cameras made by Flock Safety and its competitors, devices that track vehicles and create what the Missouri Republican calls “digital footprints of everyday Americans.” The bill, titled the Stop Flock Abuse Act, would govern how data from automated license plate readers can be stored, searched and shared, and it arrives after months of scrutiny that began with a Hawley investigation in August and culminated in a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing last week at which not a single invited surveillance company executive agreed to testify.

The technology at issue is already embedded in law enforcement operations nationwide. Flock Safety’s website says the company maintains a network of 120,000 cameras across 49 states, devices capable of recording a vehicle’s make, model, color and license plate as it passes. That data is then searchable by police and other authorized users, creating what critics describe as a vast, AI-powered tracking network with few safeguards to prevent abuse or misuse.

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From Breitbart:

Under the measure, local governments would be barred from selling or sharing vehicle data gathered by the cameras. Agencies would have to permanently delete driver data within 10 days unless a criminal investigation is underway. Surveillance networks would also be banned from using facial recognition technology. Searches would require written approval, and an audit log would have to be preserved to guard against unauthorized or rogue searches. The bill further requires that data be encrypted and kept within the United States.

“AI-powered cameras produced by Flock and its competitors are tracking and creating digital footprints of everyday Americans, a nightmare for individual liberties unless Congress enacts meaningful rules and accountability,” Hawley said in a statement to CBS News. “That’s why I’m introducing the STOP Flock Abuse Act to establish basic safeguards for AI-powered cameras and protect Americans’ fundamental constitutional rights. Law-abiding Americans should not be treated like criminals.”

“I was terrified I was facing the possibility of spending the rest of my life in prison for a crash that I knew I had not been involved in,” Isaacs testified.

Hawley opened his investigation into Flock and other surveillance technology companies in August, and the subcommittee hearing last week laid bare the consequences of leaving the industry largely unregulated. Executives from Flock, Axon, Motorola and Verkada were all invited to testify and all declined to appear. Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley instead sent the panel a written letter describing safeguards the company has put in place and arguing that effective regulation should “preserve law enforcement’s ability to use an important public safety tool while requiring accountability, oversight and responsible data practices.” Langley has previously called for a “compromise” between safety and privacy, framing the question as a national challenge: “How do we have our safety, and how do we balance privacy?”

One witness who did appear was Lindsey Isaacs, a Florida woman who was wrongfully accused of fleeing a fatal accident after her Dodge Durango was misidentified on a Flock camera. She was jailed in solitary confinement as a result. Her testimony put a human face on the risks of automated surveillance systems that operate at scale with minimal oversight. Hawley described what the hearing revealed as a “threat,” and the legislation he is introducing reflects that urgency. The bill would prohibit local governments from selling or sharing vehicle data, require permanent deletion of driver data within 10 days unless a criminal investigation is active, ban the use of facial recognition technology, mandate written approval and audit logs for searches, and require that data be encrypted and stored within the United States.

The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures, a safeguard that assumes government power will be exercised with restraint and subject to accountability. A surveillance network that tracks the movements of millions of law-abiding citizens without a warrant, stores that data indefinitely, and allows searches without oversight is difficult to square with that protection. Proverbs 29:2 says that when the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. A government that treats its citizens as suspects by default, tracking their movements through a network of AI-powered cameras, is not ruling righteously. Romans 13:1-4 establishes that governing authorities are ministers of God, accountable to Him for how they wield power, and that accountability includes the limits placed on surveillance, search and seizure.

Let’s pray for members of Congress considering this bill, that they would prioritize constitutional protections over the convenience of law enforcement agencies and the commercial interests of surveillance companies. Let’s pray for police departments across the country using these systems, that they would exercise restraint and pursue accountability rather than expand surveillance networks without public consent. Let’s pray for Lindsey Isaacs and others who have been wrongfully accused because of misidentified data, that they would find justice and that their stories would prompt reform. And let’s pray for a culture that increasingly accepts constant surveillance as normal, that believers would insist on the dignity and liberty Scripture assumes every person deserves.

How are you praying about this issue? Share your prayers and scriptures in the comments below.

(Excerpt from Breitbart. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Josh Hawley, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=127058628).