The vibes are bad for Flock in Washington

Flock is in the hot seat in Washington, even if its CEO declined to actually face senators at a hearing about its “AI Surveillance Network” on Wednesday.

“There’s many players in this industry, but there’s one name that really stands out above the rest, and that is Flock,” Senate Judiciary crime and counterterrorism subcommittee chair Josh Hawley (R-MO) said. “If you haven’t heard of Flock, all I have to say is, Flock’s probably heard of you.”

Though the CEOs of Flock and peer companies Axon, Motorola Solutions, and Verkada declined to testify, according to Hawley, seats in the hearing room were in high demand. A standby line stretched down the hallway even after they were filled. Instead of the CEOs, the hearing featured testimony from cybersecurity and legal experts, a sheriff whose department ended its Flock contract after allegedly receiving slippery answers about its AI use, and a Florida woman who said she spent 13 days in jail after her car was incorrectly identified by Flock cameras as being connected to a crime scene.

Verkada spokesperson Virginia Ramsey said the company provided information to the subcommittee to assist in preparation even though its CEO could not attend. “As we’ve explained to the Subcommittee, none of our customers can search a national Verkada network – because none exists. Our customers can only access the data in their own systems,” Ramsey said. Representatives for the other companies invited did not immediately respond to The Verge ’s request for comment.

“If you haven’t heard of Flock, all I have to say is, Flock’s probably heard of you”

The federal hearing shows just how much the conversation around Flock has escalated, from concerns within individual police departments about reported abuse by cops, to raucous city council meetings and testy state capitol hearings — and now, a Congressional hearing. Less than two months before Election Day for the midterms, lawmakers across the aisle appeared largely aligned and even chummy over their unease about automated license plate readers (ALPRs) that hoover up location data for Americans who haven’t been accused of crimes, and can store that information, in many cases, for an entire month.

Lawmakers expressed concern about how securely Flock is able to store its vast trove of images, which cybersecurity engineer Benn Jordan said he was able to access with minimal technical maneuvering , in an incident Flock has said it’s since addressed . Jordan said he’s more recently been granted greater access to Flock to evaluate it, and said its security has improved from a year ago, but broader industry-wide issues persist. The lawmakers also took issue with how easy it appears to be for officers to access Flock data, and said it’s distinct from traditional license plate readers, whose systems don’t construct the same dossier of connected information on individual vehicles.

Democrats like Sens.