Last week, Santa Clara County officials voiced growing distrust with Flock Safety, a manufacturer of license plate reading cameras.
There are concerns that the data is being shared with federal immigration authorities.
At a Board of Supervisors meeting on January 27th, District Two Supervisor Betty Duong initiated a month-long delay in the renewal of Flock’s contract.
“During that time my request is that the county council’s office and the administration work together to evaluate the issues with Flock and give us an overview of the investigation…in other words…my request is for us to understand what’s going on with Flock so that we can have a more informed discussion when this comes back.”
In January, Santa Cruz and Los Altos Hills became some of the first municipalities in California to sever ties with Flock.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union brought a lawsuit against the city of San Jose for its extensive use of Flock cameras. The lawsuit argues the city is violating the state constitution through warrantless searches of records.
Flock representatives say the company doesn't share its data with ICE without permission from local authorities. However, an investigation by the ACLU found that Flock's user agreement gives the company permission to share data with federal authorities, regardless of local restrictions.
