10/17/2026, 14:51

I was made aware that the specific cameras on UMBC's cameras are not Flock brand and have adjusted the language in the petition accordingly. The petition's goals are unchanged.


New petition description:

FlockLicense plate reading cameras have recently been installed on UMBC campus without any notice to the staff or students attending. These cameras allow massive amounts of data to be collected on the location and routines of all UMBC staff, students, and visitors. This is a tool of mass surveillance which violates our right to privacy, and it was implemented without the consent or even knowledge of those it impacts. These cameras should be removed and no such devices should be erected in the future.

Results of this petition will be shared with President Sheares Ashby as evidence that the UMBC community opposes these cameras and wants for them to be removed.

UMBC currently has 8 FlockRekor ALPR cameras installed on campus, covering every entrance and exit to Hilltop Circle. These cameras collect information in the name of "helping to locate stolen vehicles." A question: Why do we need Flockthese cameras when we already have round-the-clock license plate verification for parking permit compliance? How many people steal a car and then immediately register for a permit with the school they attend to avoid being fined and towed? How many people steal a car and bring it somewhere mere yards away from a county police station?

These cameras do nothing but contribute to the creation of a surveillance state where our right to privacy is eschewed so that law enforcement can amass data on our whereabouts "just in case." Not to mention, the private companies who build these also have access to this massive amount of data. And if our private health information, credit card information, and social security number can all be compromised in these massive data breaches, why should we expect our location and habits to stay secure?

The answer is, we shouldn't. We should not be forced to subject ourselves to constant monitoring and the fear that we are being watched at all times. UMBC should be a place to work, study, and develop skills to make society a better place. Instead, these cameras turn it into a panopticon and a place to fear stepping out of line and giving the all-seeing eyes a reason to look at you.

FlockSimilar cameras like those owned by Flock have already been used to track down people for reasons unrelated to auto theft, including by ICE to find and detain suspected undocumented migrants, and to prove a woman traveled out of state for an abortion in a circumstance where abortion was prohibited by that state's law.

Please join me in petitioning to remove these cameras from the campus grounds, and encourage UMBC to ban their usage in perpetuity to protect our civil liberties and right to privacy.

Further information on the harm of FlockALPR cameras is available from the ACLU.