SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — Flock cameras are continuing to cause concern among drivers. In San Jose, three residents are filing a federal class-action lawsuit over the city’s Flock Safety cameras on public streets.
Watch the full report from KRON4’s Amanda Hari in the video player above.
Flock Safety has become a controversial company that uses AI to track vehicle movements.
“Every day, San Jose is violating the rights of its residents, and this lawsuit is our effort to get that to stop,” said Institute for Justice attorney Michael Soyfar.
They argue the cameras violate citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights, which protect individuals from unreasonable searches or seizures.
Soyfar says the cameras are essentially everywhere. Flock has installed nearly 500 security cameras at San Jose intersections.
Photo: KRON4 News.
“Every year, they’ll snap hundreds of millions of images and convert those using AI into easily searchable data,” said Soyfar. “That data can be mined for insights into people’s habits, routines and associations.”
Soyfar claims the city is sharing that data with hundreds of government agencies across the state, and he’s concerned ICE could gain access to it.
He’s not the only one. One of the three San Jose residents filing the lawsuit, Tony Tan, says he fears for his safety.
“I’m especially concerned under the current federal administration because I also volunteer as a legal observer to protect immigrants’ rights, and I would not want to have the Flock system here in San Jose ready for ICE and other federal agencies to abuse,” said Tan.
The lawsuit is asking for two things: that the city declare the cameras violate the Fourth Amendment, and a court order requiring the city to delete images unless they have a warrant.
In response, San Jose City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood says the cameras have been used correctly and have helped make the city safer.
The law rightly protects the use of private information collected and stored by government agencies and the City of San Jose’s ALPR camera system was designed to follow the law, protect privacy rights, provide full transparency, and promote effective law enforcement,” said Alcala Wood. “The City’s ALPR cameras are only mounted in public areas and take pictures of vehicles as they drive on public streets and pass in view of the camera, and they have proven to be an invaluable tool in investigating and solving crimes in the City . The San Jose Police Department has robust, transparent policies in place to ensure that the information is not misused in any way, including policies that prohibit direct access to the data to private entities, out-of-state law enforcement agencies, or federal agencies. Access to our ALPR system is tightly controlled and limited to authorized SJPD personnel only. These policies are routinely reviewed and updated as was the case recently when the City amended its retention schedule reducing the length of time the ALPR data is kept from 365 days to 30 days. In all cases, access to ALPR data by SJPD employees is logged and auditable. Public safety in San José remains the City’s top priority, and ALPR is one of many tools used responsibly and lawfully to support that mission and we are actively defending the public’s interest to continue to utilize these important tools.
San Jose City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood
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