A class action lawsuit filed in San Francisco County Superior Court Feb. 26 takes aim at the static license-plate-reader vendor the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department uses to track vehicles across the community. It cites Los Gatan reporting and an article published in sister newspaper Good Times Santa Cruz.
Oakland-based Gibbs Mura LLP and Beverly Hills-based Milberg PLLC are so far representing a San Francisco resident and a San Rafael resident against Atlanta company Flock Group, Inc.—aka Flock Safety—which recently lost multiple contracts in the Greater Bay Area after potential abuses by federal immigration authorities came to light.
“Flock has created an Orwellian mass-surveillance infrastructure that is practically impossible to avoid, particularly for anyone operating a vehicle in the towns and cities across this country where Flock has installed its cameras,” the complaint reads. “Flock violates California law by amassing and sharing data on California drivers with out-of-state and federal law enforcement agencies. Flock attempts to evade responsibility and shift liability for its violations by pointing fingers at its own customers.”
In a recent meeting with Los Gatan editors, LGMSPD Chief Jamie Field stressed that the local force retains data for 30 days, shares it only with agencies in Santa Clara County, and does not allow Flock access to investigative files. State law makes it illegal to share data with out-of-state entities, such as ICE, she added.
However civil liberties advocates argue the guardrails can be jumped too easily.
The lawsuit comes just days after the Trump administration booted AI start-up Anthropic from government agencies after it declined to allow its technology to be used to power autonomous killer robots or for mass surveillance of American citizens.
In the class action, Anthony Mayor of San Rafael accuses Flock of violating his rights while he drives his red Kia Niro around the Bay Area.
“Because Flock cameras scan and collect the license plate, vehicle and location information of every car passing by, Plaintiff Mayor’s license plate, vehicle and location data has been and continues to be collected and stored by Flock,” the suit reads, adding he “passes by 12 cameras on his daily commute to his job in San Francisco as a music teacher” and “dozens more Flock cameras driving to and from Napa County and San Francisco’s Castro District for a part-time job and his weekly commitments as part of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.”
Mayor’s data has been shared with out-of-state law enforcers, according to the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Daniel Javorsky of San Francisco drives around the city in his Audi A5 convertible to run errands and hit the gym—and across the bay to visit friends in Oakland, per the filing.
‘Given the pervasive nature of Flock’s broad data sharing agreements, Plaintiff Javorsky’s vehicle and location information data has been accessed by out-of-state and/or federal law enforcement agencies’
—from the complaint
“The Flock cameras in San Francisco and Oakland are situated such that Plaintiff Javorsky cannot drive for his regular activities without passing a camera,” it reads. “Given the pervasive nature of Flock’s broad data sharing agreements, Plaintiff Javorsky’s vehicle and location information data has been accessed by out-of-state and/or federal law enforcement agencies.”
The class action complaint includes a section of a Good Times article in which Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante describes how Flock’s “national search tool” was “activated in a way that improperly allowed out-of-state law enforcement agencies to search camera data from across the entire Flock network” and claims there wasn’t a “deliberate attempt by city staff to circumvent California law”.
And it also includes a reference to the Los Gatan article “Los Gatos officials debate license plate readers, after Santa Cruz, Los Altos Hills jettison Flock Safety service”, from January.
On Friday, Gibbs Mura—which recently secured a $27.5 million settlement against Thomson Reuters after it claimed the company’s CLEAR platform violated the privacy of millions of Californians—sent out an email looking for additional plaintiffs in Bay Area cities, including Los Gatos.
“Flock’s mass surveillance system threatens Californians’ privacy rights,” said lead attorney David Berger in the release. “License plate readers collect and store vast amounts of information about innocent people, and public safety cannot be a catch-all justification for overreach. We have filed this class action lawsuit to hold Flock accountable.”
On Feb. 26, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said it had suspended use of Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader cameras in Cupertino and Saratoga after the Board of Supervisors adopted a new Surveillance Use Policy.
“The suspension stems from concerns raised at the county level regarding Flock Safety’s data-sharing practices—not from any issues with how the Sheriff’s Office used, managed or safeguarded ALPR technology. The Sheriff’s Office reaffirmed that it has never shared ALPR data with federal agencies like ICE, and its ALPR policies continue to be viewed as industry leading,” it said in a blog post. “These tools have played a key role in public safety. Since 2022, West Valley deputies have located over 50 stolen vehicles, recovered 30 stolen license plates, made 66 arrests, executed 33 warrants, and aided in five missing-person cases.”
