Stanford's cancellation of its Flock contract followed sustained pressure from the Safe Stanford coalition and the broader campus community's organizing efforts, including (but not limited to):
- An open letter signed by 1,100+ students, faculty, staff, alumni, & residents
- Direct engagement with the Provost's office
- Op-eds by professors David Palumbo-Liu & Stephen Monismith and Chemistry Ph.D. graduate Tim MacKenzie
- ASSU's engagement with Stanford Department of Public Safety, supported by discussions with Stanford ACLU and Tech for Liberation through a Senate Meeting Flock presentation
- Educational events on campus Flock cameras and mass surveillance, organized and supported by Stanford AAUP, Stanford ACLU, Stanford Decarceration Collective, Tech for Liberation, Students for Justice in Palestine, Stanford PIT Lab, Stanford Critical AI Group, and Indivisible Palo Alto Plus.
To our community:
With the new Genetec AI ALPR system, the inherent dangers of collecting, timestamping, and storing detailed information on every car that enters or exits the Stanford campus remain. Many community members, especially activists, journalists, undocumented & international students, and other targeted or marginalized groups, are still at risk of danger from ongoing dragnet surveillance.
In addition, ending Flock's presence on Stanford-owned property does not end Flock ALPR exposure. The City of Palo Alto still administers 30 Flock cameras under a contract expiring in December 2029. There is also additional private property deployment of Flock cameras in the Stanford Shopping Center. Especially with Flock's recent private investigator license (#190163) in California, the company is now legally allowed to gather background information about individuals, despite the cameras themselves being prohibited from tracking people (complaints about licensees can be submitted here).
As Stanford transitions to the Genetec ALPR system, we call on our community to continue holding strong against mass surveillance on campus, including by joining the Safe Stanford coalition. We will continue building our engagements with the university to keep every member of our community safe, and we hope that the university will carry on with openness with the campus community.
The Safe Stanford coalition includes:
- - ACLU Stanford University chapter
- - American Association of University Professors, Stanford
- - Stanford Tech for Liberation
- - Cardinal Courage
- - Stanford Derechos
- - Stanford Public Interest Tech Lab
- - Stanford Critical AI Group
- - Stanford Students for Workers Rights
- - Stanford Decarceration Collective
- - Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine
- - Stanford Education & Democracy United
- - Indivisible Palo Alto Plus
