The vibes are bad for Flock in Washington

Flock walked into Washington this week without its CEO taking a seat at the table. The company was the main target of a Senate Judiciary crime and counterterrorism subcommittee hearing on Wednesday about its “AI Surveillance Network,” but the people leading Flock, Axon, Motorola Solutions, and Verkada all declined to testify, according to Senator Josh Hawley.

Hawley, who chairs the subcommittee, made it plain that Flock was the company drawing the most heat. “There’s many players in this industry, but there’s one name that really stands out above the rest, and that is Flock,” he said. He also added a line that captured the mood in the room: “If you haven’t heard of Flock, all I have to say is, Flock’s probably heard of you.”

That’s a nasty place to be in front of senators, especially when the whole hearing is framed around surveillance. Flock may not have shown up in person, but it still ended up as the company most closely associated with the issue being debated.

And the demand to be in the room was real. Hawley said seats at the hearing were highly sought after, and a standby line stretched down the hall, a small sign that this was not some sleepy oversight hearing getting ignored by everyone else in the building.