Public comment: Eugene is violating Oregon statutes, constitutional rights

Presenter: In honor of Constitution Day, here is public comment to the Eugene City Council Sept. 8:

Dru Winters: My name is Dru Winters. I’m not a resident of Eugene, I’m a resident of Noti. I just wish to share how horrified it is to learn that Eugene, a city that I thought shared my values, would institute an Orwellian mass surveillance system. That’s all I have to say is the utter horror that when I drive into Eugene, I’m subject to mass surveillance. Thank you.

[00:00:36] Seth May: My name is Seth May, I will be reading portions of a letter from Marianne Dugan, senior civil attorney director at the Civil Liberties Defense Center, addressed to the City Council and mayor.

[00:00:46] Civil Liberties Defense Center has been reviewing the Eugene Police Department’s recent rollout of the use of Flock technology.

[00:00:52] This surveillance technology is an unconstitutional dragnet that violates the Fourth Amendment right to privacy as well as the First Amendment protections for assembly, political organizing, and expression without spying eyes of government monitoring those activities.

[00:01:05] We want to specifically point out that the Eugene Police Department’s use of Flock almost certainly violates Oregon Revised Statute 181A.250. The statute prohibits all law enforcement agencies from collecting or maintaining information about the political, religious, or social views, associations, or activities of any individual or group unless such information directly relates to an investigation of criminal activities, and, there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject may be involved in a criminal conduct.

[00:01:36] In other words, it’s illegal for Oregon law enforcement to collect or maintain any data about people’s activities without reasonable suspicion of a crime.

[00:01:45] Flock technologies conducts a fast and ongoing data grab of information about people’s comings and goings, their license plate numbers, the make and model vehicles, and other detailed information.

[00:01:54] Much of this information is highly sensitive, giving rise to concerns about political targeting. This information is collected and maintained regardless of any connection to an investigation of criminal activities and regardless of whether there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct.

[00:02:12] Therefore, it is our opinion that when EPD as a law Oregon law enforcement agency implements Flock, it is violating Oregon law. Springfield is currently reconsidering the use of Flock.

[00:02:24] We urged Eugene City to immediately halt the use of Flock technologies to avoid further violation of the U.S. Constitution and Oregon statutes and expensive and protracted litigation to uphold the constitutional rights of everyone living in and traveling through Eugene. Thank you. I will also be providing you with full printed copies of the letter.

[00:02:45] Justin Burns: I’m Justin Burns. I was here earlier this year talking about a fascist regime, you know, getting in office here to basically take control and, you know, subjugate its people. Like, we have a pedophile as a president? Release the list, we want to see the list. Why? You know, we have a pedophile as a president, and he’s declaring war on Chicago? I mean, isn’t that treason?

[00:03:18] So, you know, it’s been said before you guys are our guardrail, and you’re here, hopefully, to protect us. There’s an absence of voices as our politicians and I don’t hear anything about you guys coming to protect us.

[00:03:38] This is a pretty white city, in a pretty white state, you know, there’s not that many brown people here. I would love to see more brown people here. I hope you guys would too, have a more diverse, you know, society, eat better food.

[00:03:56] But how is that going to happen? How are we going to do that? I would love for you guys to talk to me and we can talk about how we could figure this out because they’re not going going to come if there’s Gestapo ICE agents kidnapping you know people

[00:04:11] Even little kids, you know how sad that is? There’s little kids in school right now being bullied by kids that have parents that are MAGA and are racist. And there’s also kids that are scared right now going to school that they don’t know if they’re going to get out of school and their parents are going to be in jail.

[00:04:33] I don’t know if you just heard our corrupt Supreme Court, if you’re brown and in public, if I go to a Flockin’ Home Depot, and I can just get arrested because of that. I mean, where’s my Fourth Amendment rights? Where’s our Constitution? I think all of you, you all gave your oath to the Constitution. We need to see you guys stand up for us. It’s very important. Please. Thank you.

[00:05:02] Archer Boyd: Hello, my name is Archer Boyd and I’m here to speak against the use of mass surveillance in Eugene. I am a middle school teacher in our local public school district and as a knowledgeable source of state standards, I feel compelled to remind our council that Oregon students are required to learn about the Constitution in eighth grade.

[00:05:22] Since some of us have clearly been out of school for a while, I will remind you of our basic laws, structures that protect our civil liberties as citizens of the United States.

The Fourth Amendment protects people from unlawful search and seizure depending on the intrusion of individual rights and public safety.

I cannot imagine a greater intrusion on individual rights and public safety than mass surveillance. Eugene, Oregon proclaims itself a sanctuary city, and yet there has been an undemocratic decision made that directly contradicts that claim and stance.

[00:05:57] In this time, when pigs wearing masks, so-called ‘ICE agents’ are dragging neighbors from their homes, carrying out state-sanctioned violence in our communities and terrorizing our families, you have decided to curtail our civil liberties and partner with a private company using public funds, potentially enabling these federal powers to exploit this data to carry out further violations and harm.

And if the words of these people here tonight don’t convince you, I invite you to sit in my classroom and look at the faces of the people who will be impacted most by your decision. And for their sake, I hope you begin to understand the Constitution as well as they do. Thank you.

[00:06:36] Will McCauley: My name is Will McCauley. I’m a substitute teacher here in the 4J School District.

I’ve come tonight to ask you to end EPD’s contract with Flock AI. There are three main reasons I believe you should do this.

First is fallibility. Automated license plate readers like Flock are often wrong. Normally this might result in a toll bridge failing to charge a driver because it misreads their license plate. Flock routinely misinterprets these incorrect reads as stolen cars or cars with false plates, flags them to law enforcement who then wrongfully arrest the occupants.

Aurora, Colorado just paid a $1.9 million settlement over a case just like this. Make no mistake, though. When Flock makes an error like that here in Eugene, it will be the city, not Flock, who pays the settlement. Let’s avoid the settlements of the future by saying no to Flock today.

[00:07:21] Next is vulnerability. Flock collects massive amounts of data on everyone, not just criminals. Where you go, when you go there, what car you drive, when you leave for work, what stores you shop at, Flock can be used to track it all. All that data is stored somewhere, held by people totally unaccountable to the American public.

All it would take is one careless Flock employee clicking the wrong link, and suddenly, all this data about the citizens of Eugene would be leaked, used in unthinkable ways by hackers, stalkers, or criminals. Let’s avoid the data breaches of tomorrow by saying no to Flock today.

[00:07:55] Finally, and I think most importantly, I believe EPD is blatantly violating the Fourth Amendment rights of every citizen of Eugene through this system of mass warrantless surveillance. Every person in the U.S. has the right to privacy and freedom from surveillance, period.

But our rights are not only taken away by constitutional amendments. They’re whittled away piece by piece slow enough that you won’t notice if you’re not paying attention.

[00:08:18] Let’s send a message to Donald Trump, Peter Thiel, Mark Andreessen, and every other creep that longs for a surveillance state in America. Let’s tell them that in Eugene the Constitution and the Bill of Rights still mean something. Thank you.

[00:08:30] Presenter: With a few words about Constitution Day, Eugene City Councilor Mike Clark:

[00:08:34] Councilor Mike Clark: I just wanted to mention and say as well: Sept. 17 is a special day because it’s Constitution Day, first of all, but it’s also, for those that may remember our former colleague, it is Betty Taylor’s 100th birthday on the 17th of September. So if any of you have any contact with her, please be sure and wish her a very happy birthday. Thank you.

[00:08:58] Presenter: On Sept. 17, 1787, delegates concluded the Constitutional Convention by signing their names.

[00:09:04] Public comments tell Eugene’s mayor and council that by installing Flock surveillance equipment, the city is violating Oregon statutes and our constitutional rights.