San Francisco activists defend sanctuary status, demanding Lowe’s “Get the Flock Out” on its big shareholder meeting day

Dozens of people gathered with signs at Lowe’s San Francisco, raising awareness about the company’s contract with Flock, the notorious surveillance vendor with ties to ICE

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — On the same day as Lowe’s big shareholder meeting, dozens of San Franciscans gathered outside of the Lowe’s San Francisco location with a massive banner, signs, and flyers highlighting the company’s contract for Flock license plate surveillance technology that is being used to amplify racial profiling, assist in ICE immigration raids, and investigate abortion care.

Check out photos of the action here:

Fight for the Future’s Reem Suleiman speaks outside of Lowe’s in San Francisco.

Protesters call out the connection between Flock and ICE: that local police departments often share their Flock footage with ICE and run searches on their behalf.

Dozens of people took to the street outside of Lowe’s.

Protesters were calling for Lowe’s to cancel their contract with Flock and remove their hundreds of Flock cameras from stores nationwide, starting in San Francisco.

San Francisco is lauded as a safe-haven for vulnerable groups, such as immigrants, abortion seekers, or people seeking gender-affirming care. However San Francisco’s relationship with Flock jeopardizes the safety of all those who seek its refuge. Last year, San Francisco Police Department wasexposed for illegally sharing license plate data repeatedly with Immigration & Customs Enforcement, violating state law SB34 which prohibits license plate data from being shared with federal agencies. Since, more than 80 cities across the country have moved to terminate or pause their contracts with Flock as the collective risks of mass surveillance to privacy, human rights, civil liberties, reproductive care, and immigrant rights become undeniable. For example, documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation showed that police agencies logged hundreds of searches to Flock databases to target protesters including various 50501, No Kings, and Hands Off protests. And thanks to critical reporting from 404Media, ICE agents’ use of Flock’s database for the purpose of immigration-related investigations is known, as well as its use in prosecuting abortion seekers.

San Francisco is lauded as a safe-haven for vulnerable groups, such as immigrants, abortion seekers, or people seeking gender-affirming care. However San Francisco’s relationship with Flock jeopardizes the safety of all those who seek its refuge. Last year, San Francisco Police Department was exposed for illegally sharing license plate data repeatedly with Immigration & Customs Enforcement, violating state law SB34 which prohibits license plate data from being shared with federal agencies. Since, more than 80 cities across the country have moved to terminate or pause their contracts with Flock as the collective risks of mass surveillance to privacy, human rights, civil liberties, reproductive care, and immigrant rights become undeniable. For example, documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation showed that police agencies logged hundreds of searches to Flock databases to target protesters including various 50501, No Kings, and Hands Off protests. And thanks to critical reporting from 404Media, ICE agents’ use of Flock’s database for the purpose of immigration-related investigations is known, as well as its use in prosecuting abortion seekers.

Records requests from Johnson County, TX indicate that Lowe’s Flock camera data was accessible in the same jurisdiction under fire for using Flock data to investigate an out-of-state abortion. Evidence also surfaced of Lowe’s coordinating directly with Flock Safety reps to provide multiple law enforcement agencies access to Lowe’s camera footage. The documents reveal an open door policy for sharing data on customers with law enforcement without a court order. In response, Fight For the Future send a public letter to Lowe’s alongside 40 civil rights, racial justice, gender justice, and immigrant rights organizations last month. Lowe’s has refused to respond to the coalition and media requests.

“People are finally waking up to the fact that surveillance is a huge safety threat to the most vulnerable in our communities,” said Reem Suleiman, organizer of the action at Fight for the Future, (pronouns she/her). “As a Muslim-American growing up in a post 9/11 world, I’ve seen first hand the ways in which surveillance tears apart communities, opens people up to harassment and risk. Today, corporate and government surveillance—like Lowe’s partnership with Flock– is part of the digital infrastructure that enables ICE terror and fascist repression.”

“SFPD and Lowe’s have been contracting Flock for years now, putting our communities at risk and violating San Franciscans’ right to privacy. This action at Lowe’s SF is the first event in the city specifically against Flock surveillance, making it an even more significant milestone for the Deflock movement.” said Zachary Schwartz, Managing Director of DeFlock SF

“Any jurisdiction doing business with any ALPR vendor should not have the right to virtue signal and call themselves a sanctuary jurisdiction! There is no way to comply with CA Law while operating with ANY ALPR vendor, regardless of contract language or local “safeguards,” saidan anonymous, undocumented anti-Flock organizer of the action.

“Flock is anti-democratic infrastructure. Corporate surveillance is helping build an authoritarian enforcement network that puts San Franciscans’ movements into systems they did not consent to and, in many cases, aren’t even aware of. Indivisible SF is proud to join this action to make shareholders aware of the moral hazard and reputational risk that Lowe’s will incur for so long as it contracts with Flock,” said a representative of Indivisible SF.

###