Cybersecurity Policy Report, Access to License Plate Images Would Require Warrant Under House Bill, (Sep 25, 2026)
Federal authorities would have to obtain a judicial warrant before collecting evidence from automated license plate recognition (ALPR) systems under legislation introduced yesterday in the House.
The Facilitating Liberty and Accountability for Flock Observations (FLAFO) Act (H.R. 10606, 119th Cong. (2026)), authored by Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.), responds to concerns about the systems provided by Flock Safety and other ALPR vendors being used for mass surveillance.
“Automated license plate reader technology, including those provided by Flock Safety and other similar enterprises, have expanded from systems initially designed to identify vehicles associated with criminal activity into large-scale surveillance mechanisms capable of collecting some of the American people’s most sensitive location information,” according to the bill’s text.
“It is evident that such technology encroaches upon every American’s right against unreasonable searches and seizures as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, and the right to peaceful assembly and free exercise of religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment,” it says.
In addition to requiring warrants for federal authorities’ access to ALPR data, the bill would require state and local governments to adopt similar requirements for their use of ALPR systems or lose some federal funding.
“Commercial operators and government entities have deployed networked ALPR systems across multi-jurisdictional databases with limited safeguards, allowing users to conduct historical searches across jurisdictions and track vehicles based on visual characteristics beyond license plate numbers. Federal agencies should not provide support or authorization for surveillance practices that infringe upon constitutionally protected civil liberties,” Rep. Steube said in a news release.
“The Fourth Amendment is not optional. Americans should not be tracked everywhere they drive without a warrant,” he said. “Flock Safety’s surveillance network is expansive, and we have seen several instances across the country where this technology is too easily abused. The FLAFO Act limits warrantless surveillance by ALPR systems because the government has no business tracking law-abiding Americans.”
Witnesses told a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday about misuses of ALPR technology and recommended that Congress require authorities to obtain warrants before collecting evidence from ALPR databases (CPR, Sept. 24).
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