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.