Stop the Surveillance (with Erin Stockdale and Dave Thomas)

This week on the pod, we were joined by two of Katie's neighbors: Erin and Dave. Along with a few other members of their community in Shaker Heights, Ohio, they've been working together to stop the AI surveillance company Flock from sharing their data with ICE.

It's a complicated issue! First, on the technical side -- how exactly does Flock work, and how are they sharing data with ICE and Border Patrol? It's also tricky on the advocacy side -- how can we know if Flock is sharing our data with ICE, and what can we do to stop it? 

But Erin and Dave broke it all down and explained what we can do if we're worried about Flock in our own community. A great place to start is https://deflock.org/,  a  crowdsourced website where people have been sharing where cameras are located all across the country. 

From there, you can find people in your community who are also concerned about this issue and push for change on the local level. It's important to advocate on the federal level for changes to ICE and Border Patrol, but you can actually have a conversation with your local city council member or chief of police. After all, they're part of your community too.

Erin, Dave and Katie all agreed that as scary as everything feels right now (with ICE, surveillance, and AI high on the list of concerns), it's actually been empowering to talk to their local leaders about Flock... and, of course, become better friends along the way.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

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