Dear Menlo Park City Council Members,
In the context of your discussions regarding Flock cameras, I am writing to
urge you to expand your current focus on surveillance technology. Menlo
Park neighborhoods are increasingly being subjected to a troubling
intrusion. I’m referring to the cameras operated by Vale AI, which are
showing up in neighborhoods as part of a push to connect all Vale cameras
to form a private commercial surveillance network. That network can provide
continuous 24/7 video streaming of anything on the street or outside our
homes, for example of our walled front patio. Per Vale AI’s public App
Store description, “Neighbors opt into a connected network by sharing
outdoor, street-facing camera streams. This creates a continuous record of
activity directly outside homes.”
In fact neighbors most definitely do NOT opt in. Vale customers opt in, but
non-paying neighbors do not. Entire blocks are being subjected to 24/7
video recording without their knowledge, consultation, or consent. Unlike
Google Maps, non-users have no option to opt out, yet a private company is
collecting and aggregating data on you and me 24/7, monetizing your
movements and mine. Incredibly, upon address verification, other customers
can get access to the block’s shared camera feeds. This is outrageous.
Residents who are driven by fear or vigilantism are purchasing a commodity
–other neighbors’ comings and goings. Entryways, driveways, front patios:
all are treated as fair game! What was once idle gossip spied from a
neighbor’s window is now digitized, permanent, shareable data for sale,
mapping out everyone’s movements.
The lack of transparency from Vale AI is stunning: its website (withvale.com)
is a simple blank page. Similarly, there is zero accountability with
respect to installation standards, neighborhood opt-in or opt-out features,
data access or storage, or crime statistics.
Two MPPD members have expressed that they would be deeply uncomfortable
about those 24/7 surveillance cameras deployed outside their homes, and I’m
yet to find a neighbor who is comfortable with the idea of being recorded
24/7 in an extremely low-crime area. Yet we’re told that nothing can be
done because the cameras are installed on private property. (Our neighbor’s
cameras were actually in the public right-of-way and had to be
moved.) Residents should not be left powerless against the collection and
sale of public data by private companies to faceless end users whose
objectives have not been vetted.
I respectfully ask that the City Council take steps to:
-
Protect Menlo Park citizens by drafting a local ordinance regulating
data collection by private companies
-
Examine the possibility of a nuisance ordinance concerning this
continuous, non-consensual surveillance by private citizens
-
Audit the placement of existing cameras to respect the public
right-of-way and any breach of privacy
Thank you for protecting Menlo Park residents from unwarranted surveillance,
Catherine McMillan
