BRAZOS VALLEY, Texas (KBTX) - State Sen. Lois W. Kolkhorst is calling for a ban on automated license plate readers, arguing the technology used by Flock Safety cameras threatens Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

In a Facebook post titled "Get the Flock Out of Texas!" Kolkhorst wrote that the Bill of Rights, and specifically the Fourth Amendment, "stands as the foundational bedrock of our freedoms" and argued the protection matters "even more" in an era of digital surveillance and AI."I believe the growing uproar over Flock cameras is born from the same fears that spawned the Fourth Amendment in 1791," Kolkhorst wrote.

She said Flock's nationwide network of more than 120,000 automated license plate readers has been "quietly assembled and sold as a modest tool" for tracking stolen cars or missing persons, but that the cameras represent "a frightening new web of warrantless mass surveillance."Kolkhorst raised concerns that ALPR data could be merged with other personal information using artificial intelligence, including financial accounts, health records, purchasing preferences or religious affiliations.