"ALPRs are marketed to promote public safety. But their utility is debatable and they come with significant drawbacks. They don't just track "criminals." They track everyone, all the time. Your vehicle's movements can reveal where you work, worship and obtain medical care. ALPR vendors like Flock Safety put the location information of millions of drivers into databases, allowing anyone with access to instantly reconstruct the public's movements."
"Communities are saying enough is enough. Just last week, police in Mountain View decided to turn off all of the city's Flock cameras, following revelations that federal and other unauthorized agencies had accessed their network. The cameras will remain inactive until the City Council provides further direction. Other localities have shut off the cameras for good. In January, Los Altos Hills terminated its contract with Flock following concerns about ICE."
Local leaders in several Bay Area jurisdictions have moved to reconsider or terminate automated license plate reader (ALPR) programs to protect communities from mass surveillance. ALPRs are marketed for public safety but lack clear utility and collect continuous location data that can reveal where people work, worship and obtain medical care. Vendors like Flock Safety centralize millions of drivers' location records, enabling reconstruction of movements by anyone with access. California law enforcement and federal agencies have accessed ALPR networks for immigration-related searches and through software vulnerabilities, despite vendor promises and legal limits. Mountain View, Los Altos Hills and Santa Cruz have disabled or ended Flock contracts; San Jose should follow.
Read at San Jose Spotlight
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