To the Editor:
Stopping at a red light prevents accidents. More trouble than an accident may result if subsidizing local law enforcement with federal grants for Flock cameras to take your picture and record your license plate, then automatically send them to the cloud.
Flock technology gathers information about law abiding citizens and the criminal minded alike and lumps them together in a database. The same obligation for citizens to obey the law is required of those who administer the law. Your personal information under the control of a faceless bureaucrat compromises citizen inherent rights and promotes government above the law. Giving an unelected administrator unconstitutional power to violate your liberty sacrifices the God-given inherent right of unlawful search without probable cause our Founders wisdom secured.
Representative Thomas Massie on September 2, 2026, provided a solution with H. R. 10221, accurately called the Flock-Off Act and co-sponsored by Representatives Eric Burlison (R-MO), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Victoria Spartz (R-IN), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Chip Roy (R-TX), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO). If we want liberty to continue, we have a citizen obligation to oppose this threat to our liberty secured by the Fourth Amendment. If Technology is permitted to circumvent this right, a dangerous precedent will be set that poses the question: which one will be the next to be taken away?
The Flock-Off Act will stop federal funding to purchase, lease, install, deploy, maintain, operate or upgrade these cameras systems and associated hardware, software, algorithms, databases, cloud services, and data-sharing agreements. Rep. Burlison comments: “That Technology may change, but our constitutional rights do not...” It’s encouraging that news networks, such as Newsmax, are airing these concerns about this technological threat to individual liberty to get the word out.
Liberty first, no exceptions. This is a bipartisan issue. Help encourage our NH delegates to vote for liberty. Contact your Senators and House Representatives and tell them to support Thomas Massie’s Flock-off Act H. R. 10221. Take Action at https://jbs.org/alert/support-the-flock-off-act/
- Russ Payne,
Merrimack
A New Hampshire Press Association member