Ben Cline urges Virginia localities to stop using Flock cameras

U.S. representative (R) from Virginia's 6th District running for reelection

“Any Virginia municipality using this technology should stop Americans have a constitutional right to live their lives free from unchecked government surveillance. New technology does not strip citizens of that right.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Cline Calls on Virginia Municipalities to Halt Use of Flock CamerasSecond paragraph
Open the original interview (opens in a new tab)6th District Q&A: Ben Cline, Beth Macy

Source and context

Reporting

Cline Calls on Virginia Municipalities to Halt Use of Flock Cameras (opens in a new tab)Second paragraph

About this source

Freedom Caucus Daily report on Rep. Ben Cline's call for Virginia localities to stop using Flock Safety cameras after a WIRED investigation.

Archived copy (opens in a new tab)

Interview

6th District Q&A: Ben Cline, Beth Macy (opens in a new tab)

About this source

Candidate survey published by Virginia's public media stations (VPM, WAMU, WHRO, WMRA and Radio IQ).

Before the quotation

Freedom Caucus Daily reports that Cline spoke after a WIRED investigation found Flock had built an artificial intelligence tool capable of identifying and tracking individual drivers.

After the quotation

The article reports that Flock told WIRED the tool is a separate product from its plate-reader technology and that it plans new safeguards by the end of the year. VPM later reproduced the statement in its candidate survey after Cline did not answer its question on plate readers.

How this statement is classified

Condemned

Case context: Should Flock-style license-plate surveillance networks exist?

The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.

Why this label?

The reference point is whether networked license-plate readers such as Flock should exist and be used. Cline says any Virginia municipality using the technology should stop, citing a constitutional right to be free from unchecked government surveillance. That is a call to end local use, so we used Condemned.

Recorded on
Published here
People and groups discussed
Flock Safety
A close view of a green Flock Safety automated license-plate reader mounted beside a street.
Credit: Bruxton

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