When Bernie Sanders and Ron DeSantis agree, the surveillance state is in serious trouble

Surveillance tech vendors had a pretty rough summer filled with negative media coverage, protests, and, as at least one line of T-shirts put it, attempts to “Cull the Flock.” Apparently, the proles don’t like it when police team up with Big Tech to keep notes on when they take their kids to school, visit a gun range, or stop at Buc-ee’s. Now politicians look like they’re going to be spending the fall acting on their behalf.Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) ended his summer by launching an investigation into Flock Safety, one of the country’s leading surveillance tech vendors, best known for monitoring the path you take to work each morning through its state-of-the-art line of automatic license plate readers. A week later, he expanded the investigation to three of Flock’s competitors: Motorola Solutions, Verkada, and Axon Enterprise.Additionally, during the time it took Hawley to expand his investigation, Govs. Greg Abbott (R-TX) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) made their own efforts to rein in the proliferation, use, and abuse of ALPRs. Abbott ordered state agencies to halt funding for Flock’s license plate readers as news came that the Texas Tribune was preparing a piece on a state grant program that funneled approximately $30 million to local police departments to establish an ALPR-based vehicle surveillance network across Texas.Days later, DeSantis announced a memo from the Florida Department of Transportation demanding ALPRs be removed from state highways while also revoking previous ALPR approvals and stating that FDOT would not greenlight future requests to install new devices.In a press conference, DeSantis cited concerns about misuse and Florida becoming a “digital AI surveillance state.” Several counties across Florida were soon reported to follow their governor’s lead and pull the plug on their own ALPR systems.However, as positive as these blows to the ALPR industry are (at least in the minds of those of us who would like to once more live in a free country), it is important to note they are far from decisive victories. As enviable of a situation as the people of Texas and Florida may find themselves, the actions of Abbott and DeSantis are by no means outright bans. Texas law enforcement is still allowed to find alternative funding sources for its Flock surveillance network. FDOT’s memo applies only to state highways and can be reversed by DeSantis’ successor in January. In the end, the citizens of Texas and Florida need legislation to protect them from the government’s ever-peeping eyes, as do the residents of the other 48 states. Fortunately, for Pennsylvanians, such a bill may soon be introduced in their state House. Even more notably, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has tweeted about introducing ALPR legislation at the federal level.AI CAMERAS ARE SPYING ON MILLIONS OF AMERICANS: STOP FLOCKING AROUND WITH PRIVACYHowever, it remains to be seen whether there will be sufficient political will to push through this kind of legislation. Most serious state-level legislative attempts to rein in ALPRs have failed, seemingly due to opposition from law enforcement and a sense of inevitability among lawmakers. Just ask the people of Illinois, Colorado, and North Carolina.Yet, then again, a lot has changed in just a few short months as ALPRs went from being a sort of boutique concern to a widespread source of outrage apparently shared by politicians as politically diverse as DeSantis and Sanders, suggesting perhaps there may be sufficient political will to hit surveillance tech vendors with a fall, winter, and spring even rougher than their summer. Perhaps there’s even room for cautious optimism that there may even be enough political will to seriously “Cull the Flock,” as the T-shirts say. Daniel Nuccio is an independent journalist and a spring 2026 College Fix fellow. He is a regular contributor to the College Fix and the Brownstone Institute. He earned his doctorate in biology in 2025.