Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have filed a lawsuit against the city of San Jose, California, over its deployment of Flock’s license plate-reading surveillance cameras. The suit alleges that the city’s nearly 500 cameras create an invasive database of residents’ movements, violating California’s privacy laws and constitution. The lawsuit seeks to mandate that police obtain a warrant to access Flock’s data.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network and Council on American-Islamic Relations, California, and claims that the surveillance is a violation of California’s constitution and its privacy laws. The lawsuit seeks to require police to get a warrant in order to search Flock’s license plate system. The lawsuit is one of the highest profile cases challenging Flock; a similar lawsuit in Norfolk, Virginia seeks to get Flock’s network shut down in that city altogether.