OPINION: Now is the Time to DeFlock Medway!

On November 9, Medway residents will face a critical decision at the Fall Town Meeting: will we allow automated mass surveillance to become a permanent fixture in our community?

Earlier this fall, over 400 Medway voters signed a citizen’s petition to bring a warrant article forward that would ban the use of Flock Safety Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in our town. This grassroots effort, led by DeFlock Medway, is fundamentally about protecting our civil liberties.

Flock cameras are not standard security cameras. They are part of a nationwide, subscription-based network that continuously scans and records the license plates, locations, and timestamps of every passing vehicle. This builds a massive, searchable database of our daily movements. Because Flock shares this data across thousands of jurisdictions, out-of-town police agencies can track residents without a warrant or probable cause .

As the ACLU of Massachusetts has warned, this dragnet surveillance puts everyone at risk. We all have a reasonable expectation of privacy when driving to our doctors, places of worship, or political meetings. Because Massachusetts currently lacks comprehensive statewide guardrails on ALPR data, the responsibility falls on individual towns to draw the line.

While we deeply appreciate and support the Medway Police Department, we believe that surrendering our digital privacy to a private, for-profit tech company is a bridge too far. We are not alone in this concern; in recent weeks, over 40 other Massachusetts communities have canceled their Flock contracts or voted to remove the cameras entirely following similar public outcry.

We invite all Medway residents to learn more about this vital issue. Join us for a community standout this Saturday, October 10, at 10:00 a.m. at Holliston and Main to raise awareness about the upcoming vote. Additionally, on Monday, October 26, at the Cole Room, the Medway Public Library will host Gideon Epstein from the ACLU to discuss the legal and constitutional implications of ALPR mass surveillance. Gideon is the Technology for Liberty Policy Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and is helping lead the effort to DeFlock Massachusetts.

We cannot let surveillance erode our constitutional rights. Please learn more at the Library session with the ACLU and attend the Medway Fall Town Meeting on November 9 and vote to protect our privacy.

-- Michael Fahey

Deflock Medway