Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation on Friday that would crack down on artificial intelligence-powered Flock cameras increasingly used—and abused—by law enforcement agencies across the United States to track and log vehicle data.

Sanders (I-Vt.) said in an interview with The Washington Post, which was first to report on the new legislation, that the US is “moving toward a surveillance state where a handful of giant companies make huge profits by giving the government, by selling to the government, the power to track our every move.”

According to a summary released by Sanders’ office the Ban Flock Act would bar the federal government from using automatic license plate readers (ALPR) or accessing the information that they gather. The legislation would also halt federal grant funding to state and local governments that use ALPRs and allow Americans to “sue the federal government for violation of their rights through the use of automatic license plate readers.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who joined Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in sponsoring the legislation, said in a statement that the maker of Flock cameras, Flock Safety, is “selling its cameras nationwide, laying the groundwork for a surveillance state while enriching corporate executives.”

"Your right to privacy includes the freedom to move around your community without every move being monitored,” said Merkley. “No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips, which is why I’m teaming up with Sen. Sanders to rein in this dangerous technology.”

Ocasio-Cortez warned that “across the country, Big Tech companies like Flock Safety have built a mass surveillance system to harvest Americans’ private and personal data without their consent.”

“AI-powered cameras are keeping track of our every move and weaponizing this data against working people to make record profits. The widespread integration of this technology into American society is unconscionable,” she added. “I am proud to introduce the Ban Flock Act with Sen. Sanders to enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

The new bill comes after President Donald Trump and his FBI director, Kash Patel, defended Flock cameras as useful tools for law enforcement, even as investigations showed significant abuses. One such investigation, published by the libertarian Institute for Justice in August, “identified well over 100 incidents of ALPR abuse, including romantic stalking, wrongful stops and detentions, non-law enforcement use, and other types of misconduct.”

Trump nevertheless told reporters in September that “I sort of like them… because of law enforcement, but some people don’t.”

“They think it’s an infringement,” said of the cameras’ critics. “I like them.”

According to the ACLU, Flock operates more than 120,000 ALPRs nationwide.

“Flock’s ALPR cameras aren’t like your normal traffic cameras,” the group noted. “This surveillance technology records and tracks every car that comes into view, and then an AI algorithm catalogs the make, model, color, license plate number, bumper stickers, and even scratches. This personal information is then uploaded into a nationwide database that any law enforcement agency with a Flock contract can search—with few regulations or oversight on how they use what they find.”

Sanders said in a statement Friday that “at a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent.”

“Going to the doctor? Flock knows. Dropping your kid off at school? Flock is tracking you. Flock is always watching,” the senator said. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

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