Federal surveillance of Illinois drivers sparks state crack down on license plate data

ILLINOIS (WCIA) — Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias has “immediately ordered” the largest automatic license plate reader (ALPR) system in the U.S. to shut off access to a federal agency. Giannoulias said this comes after an audit by his office found that a federal agency had accessed Illinois license plate cameras to “surveil drivers.”

On Monday, Giannoulias said his office had recently learned that U.S. Customs and Border Protection gained access to Illinois’ license plate camera data. Giannoulias added that this violates a state law his office initiated.

Flock Safety operates the largest ALPR system in the nation. In June, Giannoulias’ office announced it would audit Flock Safety data sharing practices with several law enforcement agencies.

According to Giannoulias, the audit revealed that Flock did not have proper safeguards in place for data sharing. His office also said the company was running a pilot program with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Some of the Flock leadership, Giannoulias added, was unaware of the pilot program.

“This sharing of license plate data of motorists who drive on Illinois roads is a clear violation of the state law. This law, passed two years ago, aimed to strengthen how data is shared and prevent this exact thing from happening,” Giannoulias said. “I take my responsibility as Secretary of State seriously. It’s why we spearheaded this legislation, which now gives us the tools needed to hold Flock accountable for its actions.”

But, Flock said there’s more to the story.

As of last week, all ongoing federal pilots have been paused, according to Garrett Langley, Flock CEO. Langley added that Flock does not have a contractual relationship with any U.S. Department of Homeland Security agencies. But, they do have limited pilots with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Flock said these limited pilots were designed to assist agencies in reducing human trafficking and fentanyl distribution. 

“We clearly communicated poorly. We also didn’t create distinct permissions and protocols in the Flock system to ensure local compliance for federal agency users,” Langley said in a statement. “I appreciate the sensitivities surrounding local and federal cooperation on law enforcement matters, and I understand that in order to allow communities to align with their laws and societal values, these definitions and product features are critical.”

Giannoulias is also urging local police departments make a change by re-examining their agreements with Flock and reconsidering the level of access they grant.

Flock, for its part, emphasized that it does not own or control access to customer data — agencies control who can access their system, their sharing permissions and under what conditions they share that data.

Langley said the company is already pivoting to work on creating features that ensures further compliance with local laws, regulations, and community norms.

“All federal customers will be designated within Flock as a distinct ‘Federal’ user category in the system. This distinction will give local agencies better information to determine their sharing settings,” Langley said. “Moving forward, federal users will not be added to Statewide or Nationwide lookup. Any sharing request, audit or display of these agencies will clearly delineate that an organization is federal.”

Langley also said the company will focus on training, to support agencies in following local laws. His full statement can be found here.

In Illinois, the Trust Act restricts local law enforcement in Illinois from working with federal authorities – including ICE – on immigration enforcement without a court warrant.