Ben Cline
Role at the time: U.S. representative (R) from Virginia's 6th District running for reelection
Condemned
Statement summary
Ben Cline said any Virginia municipality using Flock's technology should stop, and that Americans have a constitutional right to live free from unchecked government surveillance.
“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
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)Why we used 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.