The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have filed a lawsuit against San Jose, California, over its deployment of nearly 500 Flock surveillance cameras that track license plate data, arguing it violates privacy rights and California law. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of several advocacy groups, claims that the city’s extensive use of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) creates an invasive surveillance network that captures residents’ movements without meaningful oversight.
According to the legal filing, the city’s ALPR system retains data on drivers’ movements for an entire year, which the plaintiffs argue is far beyond what is necessary for public safety. This practice, they claim, enables the city to build a comprehensive database of people’s travel patterns, which has significant implications for individual privacy. The lawsuit seeks to require police to obtain a warrant before accessing the license plate records, emphasizing the importance of legal protections against unwarranted surveillance.
The case is part of a broader legal challenge to Flock’s technology, which has already faced similar lawsuits in Virginia. In Norfolk, Virginia, another lawsuit seeks to shut down the company’s network entirely.