The announcement comes on the heals of a growing public backlash against increased government surveillance, and the abuse of this technology (for example, there have numerous documented instances of police around the country stalking their exes with these cameras). Citizens have turned out at city council meetings, and some even took matters into their own hands and destroyed six of Flock's nine cameras in Duluth. Similar waves of camera destruction have taken place in Winona MN and Milwaukee WI recently.
Back in July, after a similar community outpouring of opposition, the Minneapolis City Council opted not to sign a contract with the Israeli company Skydio. Skydio manufactures drones which can be used for surveillance, among other things. Skydio drones have infamously been used by ICE, as well as by the Israeli military for its ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The City of Duluth continues to use Skydio drones, and in fact has spent $1.9 million on them during at time when the city claims it doesn't have enough money to further address our affordable housing crisis and growing number of unhoused folks.
We salute the activists who have been working on this. Among them are the awesome folks at Northwoods Against Surveillance. If you're not already, be sure to follow their instagram page. But while we can celebrate these recent victories in Duluth and Minneapolis, a lot of work remains to be done. Now more than ever we need to remain vigilant and vocal as our rights and privacy are being whittled away by a government determined to persecute immigrant workers and activists.
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