Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) are proliferating across the country and in our own community. The City of Palo Alto has a contract with Flock to operate AI-driven ALPRs on the streets where we drive to work, shop, and meet with friends and neighbors. Flock, along with other corporations in the surveillance industrial complex, is working to build **a new Orwellian reality in which government and private companies track and log our every move**.
Mass surveillance systems—like the one operated by Flock in Palo Alto—pose **a threat to our privacy, to public dissent, and to vulnerable populations targeted by the MAGA regime**. DHS and ICE have accessed ALPR data to track down, detain, and deport immigrants whose license plates appear in that data.
_During the week of August 16–22, Americans across the country will be observing a National Week of Action Against ALPRs._ They will be speaking out that week against Flock, against ALPRs, against unsafe surveillance, and against a growing police state.
_Please join us for a Safety Over Surveillance Rally at King Plaza_, in front of Palo Alto City Hall, on Thursday, August 20, from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM.
**What We Are Planning**
– Cold popsicles: Yes, popsicles for everyone! They melt in your mouth, and they don’t track your comings and goings.
– Hot takes: Speakers will share info on the dangers that ALPRs pose to our community.
– Live music: Because, when is it a bad idea to have good music?
**Why We Gather**
– Surveillance is _not_ safety: On the contrary, ALPRs cause harm—to our neighbors and to ourselves. And there is no evidence that they keep us safe from crime.
– Surveillance is not inevitable: This is our city, our community. We have the power to create a safe community here—_if we exercise it!_
– Surveillance is not who we are: Let’s call on our city leaders to _fire Flock_—and take those cameras down!
Every Thursday, Indivisible co-founders Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg host a participatory conversation on the week’s news, the state of our democracy, and our plan to defeat the authoritarian threats we face. This week we’ll be joined by Indivisible endorsed candidate Patrick Roath, who is challenging a 13-term incumbent in the MA-08 Democratic primary.
