BURLISON: American Liberty Was Purchased By Blood; Don’t Sell It For Surveillance

Interesting 119th congress, eric burlison, flock safety, foreign intelligence surveillance act, missouri admin September 9, 2026 0 Comments

BURLISON: American Liberty Was Purchased By Blood; Don’t Sell It For Surveillance

Mass surveillance is intrinsically insulting and dehumanizing. As an American, such a concept immediately evokes George Orwell’s 1984, or even Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Minority Report — a dystopian future in which the state determines your guilt before you even commit a crime. In such popular media, the presumption of innocence becomes inverted: “Guilty until proven innocent.” Individual liberty, to the extent that it still exists, comes second to public safety.

Likewise, in the American zeitgeist, no name for a mass surveillance tool could be as apt as “Flock.” It perfectly describes exactly who you are in this relationship between private companies engaged in mass data collection and the government entities on the other side of the ledger: sheep — to be watched, herded, and sheared for profit.

Already, Flock Safety has installed more than 120,000 cameras across 49 states, capturing 20 billion license plates per month. It’s impossible to drive anywhere without seeing one on the way to your destination — and that’s the point.

Defenders of Flock try to convince you that the new watchtower at the entrance to your neighborhood is of no concern and is in no way different from the other privacy abuses you’ve tolerated your whole life. “It’s just a license plate reader, like on the toll roads,” they say.

But that’s not reality.

Flock Safety’s Condor cameras can go far beyond the capabilities of standard automated license plate readers (ALPRs). Placed on public sidewalks, Condors use artificial intelligence to pan, zoom in on, and track individuals who move across the camera’s line of sight. In a particularly concerning case, an independent report uncovered how the camera was able to zoom and focus on the content displayed on an individual’s phone.

Flock’s Condor cameras, coupled with its standard ALPRs and any commercially available facial recognition software, allow authorities and whoever else is on the other side of the surveillance environment to ascertain incredible details about your life at the click of a mouse.

“But if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about,” right? Wrong.

A Washington Post report detailed nearly 50 cases in which police officers used Flock’s database to stalk ex-wives, girlfriends, and people of personal interest. With Flock, officers could track their victims’ visits to the doctor and even dates they didn’t approve of.

Criminal or not, warrant or no warrant, anyone who passes the camera is in the system. Your license plate is searchable, and your daily habits are recorded.

Already, Flock has led to Americans being falsely accused of crimes. In Denver, Chrisanna Elser was accosted by a police officer on her front porch, accusing her of stealing a package. The sergeant bragged about the surveillance tools at his disposal, including the Flock ALPR that led him to her. She was issued a citation there and then. To prove her innocence and avoid court, Ms. Elser had to pull video from her own car showing her whereabouts at the time of the crime.

In the modern surveillance state, your guilt is presumed, and innocence must be proven to your accusers — now a faceless network of cameras and AI tools.

Despite the documented abuses and violations of constitutional rights, many remain adamant that Flock cameras are only to catch the bad guys. But how is the average American supposed to believe such a ubiquitous surveillance state is for their personal benefit?

Democrats in Washington spent the Biden years using the Department of Justice to pursue and punish law-abiding citizens while local police stood down, letting rioters burn whole cities to the ground during the “Summer of Love.”

As Governor JB Pritzker marched shoulder to shoulder with thousands of protesters in the streets of Chicago in the midst of the pandemic, pastors across the nation were being fined and arrested for hosting church with more than 10 people.

Just over a year ago, 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on the Charlotte light-rail train by a three-time convicted felon released just months before.

What’s the point of surrendering our privacy to catch more criminals in a two-tiered system of justice? What’s the point of identifying the career criminal the judge has already deemed too insane to serve time?

When the abuses come, and the innocent American stands accused, what legal remedy will they have?

Americans have been watching the walls of the surveillance state rise around them for years. We’ve seen firsthand how readily the state, private corporations, and America’s tech oligarchs sell our constitutional rights in favor of safety, security, and public health.

Just in the last year, select Republicans joined Democrats to argue against warrant requirements under FISA Section 702 — allowing federal agencies, like the NSA, to spy on Americans with impunity. Likewise, so-called conservatives voted against an amendment that would have inhibited a Biden-era rule requiring new cars to be built with a “kill-switch.” In 2027, your right to drive your own car will be determined by rules set forth by the state — subject to change.

Flock is just one of the many tools being integrated into a larger surveillance state insisting on the dissolution of your liberty. It may be to your benefit today, but what recourse will you have when it isn’t?

When the Flock cameras go up around your home, on the state line, and outside the gun store, what are you to the leviathan but a criminal possessing a magazine with one round over the state limit made illegal the day before?

The surveillance state must not be allowed to persist. I’ve fought it since coming to Congress — advocating for warrant requirements under FISA Section 702 and introducing legislation to stop automakers from selling your vehicle data without your consent. Flock cameras, ALPRs, and other biometric surveillance tools are no different. That’s why I’ve co-led the introduction of the Flock-Off Act with Congressman Thomas Massie.

This legislation cuts off all federal funding for AI-augmented automatic license plate readers and biometric surveillance cameras. No installations, upgrades, or data-sharing arrangements regarding these devices will be paid for with federal taxpayer cash.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, American liberty was purchased by blood; we are not interested in selling it for surveillance. If big tech and Flock want to build a digital dossier on America’s citizens, they’re not going to be sending the bill to the American taxpayer.

Congressman Eric Burlison represents Missouri’s seventh congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Rep. Burlison serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.