LTV Studios in Wainscott will be the site of a forum on the controversial Flock Safety cameras as well as the proliferating use of drones and the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on Tuesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Jim Vrettos and Asma Rashid, who are co-hosts of the “Radical Imagination — Real Talk in the Hamptons” podcast, will host “The Growth of the Surveillance State in the Hamptons and Across the Country.” The two have previously hosted leaders from Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in an effort to promote healing and unity among the faith traditions.
The evening will feature as panelists Michelle Dahl, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, Eleni Manis, that project’s research director, Ali Winston, an investigative journalist, and Mac Muir, an expert on police oversight and co-author of “Cop Cop: Breaking the Fixed System of American Policing.” Each will open with a five to seven-minute presentation on their respective expertise, and there will be an ongoing opportunity to ask questions throughout the evening.
Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers operate across a cellular network, snapping still images of passing vehicles and using artificial intelligence to capture license plates as well as other attributes such as distinguishing markings. The data is instantly uploaded to a centralized cloud platform to form a searchable, nationwide investigative network.
There are more than 120,000 Flock Safety cameras installed across 49 states. They are deployed by more than 7,000 law enforcement agencies as well as private neighborhoods, college campuses, and businesses. The network processes an estimated 20 billion vehicle and license plate scans every month.
A backlash has grown, however. Dozens of police officers have been accused of misusing the data, often using it hundreds of times to track former romantic partners. Scores of municipalities and police departments have suspended, canceled, or rejected contracts with Flock Safety, citing privacy and surveillance concerns. Many installed Flock Safety cameras have been vandalized.
The company has responded by shortening the time it stores data and adding safeguards to flag inappropriate use. In an interview with CNN, Flock’s chief executive officer apologized to those who felt they’d been victimized by his company’s product.
“This is something that absolutely needs to have serious discussion,” Mr. Vrettos, a sociologist who taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice for 25 years, said this week. Technology such as the Flock Safety camera, he said, “is one of the tools of a totalitarian, authoritarian state used to control behavior. We need to have at least some sort of citizen input if there will be any sort of democracy, and protections, some control over this incredible infringement on our civil liberties, our right to privacy.”
Seating at Tuesday’s event, which is free and open to the public, will be limited to 60.