Miami
US Senate calls four CEOs to testify over AI camera use and privacy concerns
A Senate judiciary panel has asked the leaders of Flock Safety, Axon, Motorola Solutions and Verkada to appear at a hearing on automated surveillance. Lawmakers are focusing on access to the data and how it is used.
A U.S. Senate panel has summoned the chief executives of four technology companies to testify next week at a hearing focused on artificial intelligence-powered cameras used to track vehicle movements.
Fox News Digital reported that the invited executives are Garrett Langley of Flock Safety, Rick Smith of Axon Enterprise Inc., Greg Brown of Motorola Solutions and Filip Kaliszan of Verkada.
The hearing will be held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism on Sept. 23 under the title Always Watching: Flock’s Nationwide AI Surveillance Network.
Subcommittee Chairman Josh Hawley said, in remarks reported by Fox News Digital, that he wants to determine who has access to data on hundreds of millions of Americans and what is being done with that information. He framed the inquiry around privacy rights and warrantless surveillance.
The cameras at the center of the debate use artificial intelligence to automatically identify vehicles and license plates for local law enforcement purposes. According to Fox News Digital, about 120,000 Flock Safety cameras are operating across the United States, in every state except Alaska.
Lawmakers and governors have raised concerns about alleged privacy violations involving the handling of images and data generated by the systems. Fox News Digital said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the removal of all license plate reader cameras from state roads, while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies to stop spending public money on Flock Safety cameras.
Fox News Digital also reported that Donald Trump voiced support this week for the cameras because of their value to law enforcement.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
