Mass surveillance is expanding and enabling warrantless tracking of all of our motions as we go about our daily lives. Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), like those made by Flock, take taxpayer dollars to spy on everyone. The Safety Over Surveillance Coalition in Palo Alto is fighting for removal of all ALPRs from our community, and calls on the city of Palo Alto to cancel its contract with Flock.

This letter campaign is a follow up after our successful mobilization on Monday, August 24 at Palo Alto City Council to build pressure to cancel the ALPR contract with Flock.

Flock ALPR cameras have been used to search for protestors expressing First Amendment rights, for police tracking down women seeking healthcare, and by officers stalking former partners and romantic interests. Repeated false positives have resulted in innocent people being pulled over and held at gunpoint or mauled by police dogs.

Like many other cities in California, Palo Alto has seen violations of local policy and state law through their contract with Flock.

• Under state law, it is illegal to share data with out of state agencies, and Palo Alto implemented guardrails to try to limit access to our personal data.
• But, like many other cities in California, Palo Alto's ALPR data was accessible to and searched by hundreds of out of state agencies, including federal agencies like the ATF.
• Despite the severe breach of trust, city officials have tried to downplay the gravity of the situation by claiming no data was responsive to the searches. However, the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures applies "regardless of 'the quality or quantity of information' the government obtains" and that "whether something is a search does not depend on what it finds."

Rather than getting rid of ALPRs in light of the breach of contract and data leakage, Palo Alto chose to spend money on an independent auditor to analyze the system. The initially planned auditor had to recuse themselves for a conflict of interest since they also represented Flock.

Before Palo Alto City Council took a summer break, the Safety Over Surveillance coalition repeatedly mobilized to council to voice our opposition to ALPRs.

Council still needs to hear from us to cancel the contract and keep us safe. This letter writing campaign lets you send a message to city council.

Make your voice heard! No more ALPRs!