The Raging Grannies say GET THE FLOCK OUT #gtfo #FlockOff
The short version: Palo Alto grannies and neighbors rally to kick Flock out after the city admits its ALPR data leaked to outside agencies, breaching its own contract.
Our Take
When grandmothers are showing up with protest signs outside city hall, you know a surveillance program has officially lost the room. Credit to Matt Schlegel for capturing the Raging Grannies and the Wolves in Palo Alto putting City Council on notice: Flock's own staff report admits plate-reader data was shared with outside law enforcement agencies in violation of the contract's plain language. That's not a hypothetical privacy risk anymore — that's a documented breach.
This is exactly the pattern we keep seeing nationwide: cities are sold on "it stays local, it's only for stolen cars," and then the data quietly flows to agencies with zero accountability to the people being surveilled. Mountain View didn't wait around for a second breach — they pulled the plug. Palo Alto now has the same paper trail and the same choice. A contract violation should mean contract termination, full stop, not a strongly worded memo.
If your city has Flock cameras, don't assume they're playing by the rules they promised. Check our camera map to see what's watching your streets, and head to take-action for tools to push your own council toward the Mountain View outcome instead of excuses.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Matt Schlegel, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.