MID-HUDSON – Amid concerns about the use of Flock type street license plate cameras to monitor public activities in communities including the cities of Newburgh and Poughkeepsie, federal lawmakers are now joining the debate.

The Newburgh City Council wants to scrap the program when the contract expires, and members of the Poughkeepsie Common Council are also calling to shut the system down.

Residents maintain those cameras are spying on everyday residents are sharing the information with federal authorities.

Now, US Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer has asked the CEO of Flock Safety what it does with the data it collects o Americans and he demanded personal data not be ties to a crime be deleted from Flock servers.

“There’s a private company putting cameras on street corners across the county, and it doesn’t just track your license plate. It log where you’ve been in a database police across the country can search, and its software can link your car to your phone number and your family,” said Schumer. “Americans have no idea who’s looking at that information, or why it has to be collected in the first place. They deserve to know.”

Meanwhile Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY-14) has introduced legislation to ban federal agencies from using automated license place readers – Flock cameras.

In a statement with Senators Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley, she said, “Not only does our right to privacy need to be enforced and protected, but there needs to be forms of surveillance that are not allowed. The idea that Flock cameras even exist is unconscionable.”



Original article