Flock Off! Ithaca demonstrators went downtown Saturday afternoon to cover up five Flock security cameras that were still up after the Ithaca Common Council unanimously voted to end Ithaca’s contract with Flock Safety at their March 4 council meeting.
The demonstration began with short speeches from Anne Johnson and Aaron Fernando, Ithaca residents and organizers for Flock Off! Ithaca, before they covered the first camera on the corner of Albany and Seneca Street. Demonstrators then moved down West Seneca Street to Liquid State Brewery and turned back down Green Street to cover five cameras in total.
Throughout the demonstration protestors played music, chanted and engaged with passersby.
The demonstration also took place during the Ithaca Festival, though it did not cross into any areas where the festivities occurred.
Flock license plate readers are cameras used to track license plate data for police investigations. The security company, Flock Safety, retains access to data for up to 30 days after it is captured, according to its website. Flock maintains that it does not have an official contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, however the Immigration Policy Tracking Report found that its license-plate reader cameras have been used for immigration tracking purposes.
“It was warrantless mass surveillance,” Johnson said in her speech, explaining why FlockOff! began campaigning to have the cameras removed. “So today we are here to simply cover them up, not to destroy or damage anything, but to cover them… to protect our community, to protect the members of our community who are more vulnerable to persecution.”
Fernando also explained that FlockOff! Ithaca, in partnership with Ithaca’s Immigrant Solidarity Group, Ithaca Catholic Workers and Tompkins County Showing Up for Racial Justice, sent a letter to the Common Council on May 18 asking for a timeline and plan for immediately covering up the cameras as well as permanent removal, and has yet to receive a response.
Despite a clause in the Common Council’s resolution requiring the cameras to be shut down and disconnected within two weeks of its passage, there has been no action, according to Fernando.
When asked about the Council’s response, Mayor Robert G. Cantelmo referred The Sun to the Ithaca City Manager.
“There’s no further action for [the] Council to take to effectuate this,” Cantelmo wrote to The Sun.
According to Alan Karasin, director of the Department of Information & Community Engagement and city clerk, the cameras are “no longer operational” according to the city’s knowledge. The city is still waiting to hear confirmation from Flock whether or not they are officially shut down.
“The city anticipates that hardware is being taken down as soon as possible, and we're going to look into options to remove the hardware if Flock is not able to get this scheduled very quickly,” Karasin said.
The city does not have a specified date for when the removal will happen.
Karasin explained the lack of action since the March resolution’s passage, stating that the city chose to wait until their contract with Flock expired on May 23 to end their relationship with the company. .
Fernando explained that both the Ithaca Police Department and Tompkins County Police no longer have access to the system and expressed concern that Flock is still collecting data independently using its systems.
“If this camera is running, it is doing so out of contract, and it is highly likely that it's running, because this is what Flock does,” Fernando said, claiming that there have been instances where Flock failed to remove cameras in a timely manner.
Karasin confirmed that to the city’s knowledge both Tompkins County Police and the Ithaca Police Department do not have access to the Flock camera data.
Josh Dolan, co-founder of Flock Off! Ithaca, explained the origins of the movement as a “loosely affiliated group of concerned citizens” that were “greatly concerned about some of the implications around privacy, as well as the safety of our immigrant community, and our trans community, and our queer community and people that are directly being targeted through rhetoric by [the current presidential] administration.”
Dolan also explained the group’s strategy for making change happen with the Common Council, citing “direct professional and personal relationships” with both Cantelmo and Common Council members.
Flock Off! played an integral role in passing the legislation through calls, emails and direct action, according to Fernando.
“The democratic process does work at the local level. It was really refreshing to see that when presented with information elected officials were like, ‘that's quite bad, and so we should do something about that,’” he said.
“They're kind of in a tough position where they don't have all the information, or they're not necessarily allowed to talk about certain aspects of operations,” Dolan said, explaining why he thinks the Common Council hasn’t taken down any cameras yet. “It wasn't anything malicious, or they're not trying to be transparent or anything like that. I just think it's a slow process.”
Two Common Council members, Kayla Matos, first ward alderperson and Hannah Shvets, fifth ward alderperson, were also present at the action.
“We just want the community to know that we hear their concerns about surveillance, and that we support the removal of Flock as soon as possible,” Shvets said.
“Yeah, we support them, and also that we're here on the ground with them, you know, speaking up and using any tools that we can to end that surveillance in our community,” Matos added.
This event is the first of its kind for the group, with Fernando calling it the “most spicy” of actions that they have taken, comparing it to other protests such as civic action at the Southside Community Center and rallies outside the Common Council.
There were no police present despite heavy security at the Ithaca Fest. The demonstrators received multiple honks of support from passersby, including one from a TCAT driver.
Fernando explained that a core element of Flock Off! was an aspect of fun.
“I think we were pretty intentional in trying to make it less serious and more fun and social, because surveillance is meant to intimidate. If you can get with the community and then find a way to not be intimidated, and feel connected and empowered then that is actually defeating the harms of surveillance in itself,” Fernando said.
Demonstrators carried a large speaker with them playing songs including “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell. A human-sized Flock camera puppet was also present.
The demonstrators covered up five cameras out of the reported 52 in the Tompkins County area according to a Google map made by Ithaca community members.
“If you ignore us, we will increase the pressure because the harm is active,” Fernando said.
He pointed to a camera that faces a Planned Parenthood building in Ithaca and referenced a documented instance of Flock cameras being used to track a woman across state lines after she self-administered an abortion.
“Potential harm is present in our community. It’s not just like passing the resolution solves the problem. The problem is solved when the infrastructure that is dystopian and oppressive is down,” Fernando said.
Flock Off! currently does not have any action or event plans according to a statement from Fernando, but he reported that more cameras have been covered since Flock Off!’s action by other groups in a statement sent to The Sun on Monday.
“I think it feels good for people to take matters into their own hands to do actual direct action,” Dolan said. “We're helping to empower ourselves and the people that joined us today, but we're also sending a visual message to all the other citizens and people that pass through that these cameras have been covered up and that we're that much safer now that we're not being recorded constantly wherever we go.”
Everett Chambala is an assistant news editor for the 144th board. He is working as the primary summer reporter for The Cornell Daily Sun through The Sun’s summer fellowship program.
Everett Chambala is a member of the Class of 2027 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is a staff writer for the News department and can be reached at echambala@cornellsun.com.
