Jim McGovern
Role at the time: U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 2nd district, in an emailed statement from his office
Statement summary
Rep. Jim McGovern said in a statement sent by his office that Flock cameras "are awful" and that he does not support them at all, citing abuse by law enforcement, encroachment on privacy rights, and big tech companies tracking people with AI and selling the data.
“Flock cameras are awful and I don’t support them at all. This is the United States of America—we’re supposed to be a free country.”
Read the full email
Flock cameras are awful and I don’t support them at all. This is the United States of America—we’re supposed to be a free country. We should be very concerned about the abuse of these devices by law enforcement and the severe encroachment on our privacy rights that they enable. People don’t want to live in a surveillance state and they sure as hell don’t want big tech companies tracking our every move using AI and then auctioning it off to the highest bidder.
Press Secretary Ryan Waterman Aldana sent this quote by email, attributed to Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), in reply to a Dispute Index request about license plate readers. The link is to the congressman's official website; the statement itself is not published there.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The reference point is whether networked license-plate reader systems such as Flock should exist and be used. McGovern says he does not support Flock cameras at all and calls them awful, which rejects the systems outright, so we labeled it Condemned with the Ban or remove step.