Concerns about ALPRs (Item #67)

[Mike Siegel]

Dear colleagues,

As we heard at the Audit & Finance Committee on May 19, the City’s contract with Flock does not protect Austin residents from mass surveillance.

The City-Flock contract allows Flock to use our ALPR data, feed the data into its AI systems, and share the data with outside agencies. Nothing prevents the City from giving our data to ICE or the Texas AG every seven days.

We learned that APD mistakenly told Council on March 25 that it had not received any outside data-sharing requests, when in fact APD has complied with at least eight requests so far, including three during the period covered by APD’s internal audit (which had reported zero requests).

Big picture, we continue to learn how Flock is a bad actor. The headline in today’s news is, “ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows,” referring to ICE’s “side-door access” to Flock. This comes as the federal government is considering a massive spending bill that would add $150B or more in border/immigration funding over the next 4.5 years, dramatically increasing ICE capacity. And here in Austin, APD has already shared ALPR data with DPS for “human trafficking,” which under SB 4 includes giving rides to undocumented migrants.

Lawsuits show that Flock routinely breaks the law by placing cameras on public infrastructure without permission and using hacked data from breaches to develop a product that allows customers to “jump from LPR [license plate reader] to person, “allowing users to much more easily identify and track the movements of specific people around the country without a warrant or court order,” as well as additional people who are “associated with the owners of the vehicle through marriage or other associations.”

Long story short, there are tremendous potential negative impacts that arise from allowing our City to continue to collaborate with surveillance companies that are actively working with the federal administration to surveil Americans, capture immigrant workers and families, and retaliate against protected First Amendment activities.

At the same time, APD has not shown with specificity the benefits of this program.

I ask that you join me in ending the ALPR program next Thursday.

With respect,
Mike

Citations
1) Flock-City contract executed 6-21-23;
2) “Privacy Notice for Flock Safety,” noting that “Customer Data is captured in a location with no expectation of privacy,” and therefore “Flock devices do not capture any Personal Information” (https://www.flocksafety.com/privacy-policy);
3) “License Plate Surveillance Startup Broke the Law While Trying to Reduce Crime,” https://www.jalopnik.com/license-plate- ... 851289764/;
4) “ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows,” https://www.404media.co/ice-taps-into-n ... ata-shows/;
5) “House GOP budget adds $150 billion for Trump’s immigration enforcement,” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/house ... ngNewsSerp;
6) Flock ties to Peter Thiel, https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/15/found ... -spending/;
7) SB 4’s definition of “human trafficking,” https://www.ilrc.org/press-room/know-yo ... ration-law

[Krista Laine]

CM Siegel,

Thank you for drafting this analysis of our license plate reader program. While I understand the public safety function of these cameras, I also have serious concerns about implementation now that we have this data. Our residents have the right to privacy and freedom of movement.

Thank you,

Krista