From: Kat Snyder
To: Council, City; Binder, Andrew
Subject: Use of Flock cameras, Item 11
Date: Monday, December 2, 2024 10:42:10 AM
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Dear Council and Police Chief Binder,
I have concerns about expanding our use of Flock cameras, particularly in the current political climate. When the Trump administration takes over, we will have more surveillance around women's doctor appointments and around immigrants living their lives. As a Sanctuary city and county, I worry that setting up the infrastructure for this surveillance can easily lead to it being used for purposes we didn't choose.
The ACLU warns against using Flock cameras - they note that the default use of Flock sets up a nationwide surveillance network that can be accessed by more than just law enforcement - in fact, private entities can make their own "hot lists." Flock wants to become the default surveillance system for law enforcement across the country and sharing data with their customers all across the country is part of their competitive advantage.
I'm grateful that we chose much more stringent data management than the default but I'm worried that it clashes with Flock's bottom line. How do we know that, when it comes down to it, they will respect our data privacy? I say this because a few years ago Palantir swore that their products were not used by ICE when, in fact, they were behind the largest immigration enforcement workplace raid in US history.
What verification systems do we have set up to make sure Flock is doing what they say? Once the cameras are in place, do we have a way to verify that the data they collect (license plate, make/model, color, bumper stickers) cannot expand beyond that to, for example, facial recognition? The company plans to enter into facial recognition and other AI/ML spaces, so this is not just an idle question.
There are many more concerns about Flock but in the interest of keeping this brief, I will just drop a link to the ACLU's white paper on Flock in case it is of interest:
https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/flock_1.pdf Take care,
~Kat Snyder
Palo Alto Resident