1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

While it is heartening to see belated bipartisan pushback against Flock surveillance technology now that many instances of its misuse by police officers are coming to light, it is worth returning to a more fundamental problem with this technology. Flock surveillance technology, also used by Axon and other companies, blankets our communities with networks of license plate readers and cameras that allow anyone with access to these networks to surveil Americans in their communities *without a warrant*. All of us have been subject to this warrantless surveillance without our consent, many of us without our knowledge, and all of these violations of our civil liberties have been sold by our local, state, and federal governments as though we should/would be grateful for the violation. This is not what a free society looks like. While the police misuse of this surveillance technology is garnering righteous indignation right now, the stated purpose of the technology—-to surveil entire populations without a warrant and without us opting in to a private space or service—-is antithetical to a free society. The misuse is inevitable when the technology’s premise is that we have no right to move freely without government tracking. End blanket surveillance of our communities.