Lowe’s: Protect Women. DROP FLOCK!

The petition to Lowe's Home Improvement CEO Marvin Ellison, Executive Vice Presidents Seemantini Godbole and Juliette W. Pryor, and all of Lowe’s leadership reads:

As a group of women and allies, we are terrified that Lowe’s is one of Flock Safety’s biggest commercial customers. The negative impacts of Flock’s mass surveillance system are staggering, particularly at this unprecedented moment in our country’s history in which people across the U.S. — namely women seeking reproductive healthcare, immigrants, protesters, journalists, and people simply looking out for their neighbors' safety — are increasingly being monitored and attacked by federal agents and other bad actors. 

Flock’s dystopian license plate readers are supplying the data needed to carry out these attacks. And that’s not all: these systems are often wrong and are regularly used to stalk women. It’s estimated that 1 in 10 license plates scanned by Flock automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) get the state wrong, and there are countless reports of law enforcement agents wrongfully misusing Flock databases to stalk women, including ex-partners. 

Women are disproportionately at risk of violence and deserve safety, but it’s clear that this massive network of surveillance cameras is meant to monitor, control, and punish us, rather than actually keep us safe. As a coalition of women and allies, including Lowe’s customers, we demand that Lowe’s sever all ties with Flock and immediately shut off Flock cameras in Lowe’s parking lots. Doing so is essential to protect your customers — especially your women customers that make up about half of your shoppers — and take a stand against warrantless surveillance.

“Flock Safety” is a company responsible for deploying 120,000 cameras across the US that use artificial intelligence (AI) to read and track our license plates. The company has blown up since Trump took office last year, and is used extensively by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Companies and politicians say that these cameras are for safety …but safety for whom? 

So far, Flock cameras have been used to hunt women seeking reproductive care, pull over innocent people, track protesters, monitor a children’s gymnastics room, and terrorize immigrant families. Oh, and police are illegally using the Flock database in large numbers to stalk and harass their exes.

Women deserve real safety, not a mass surveillance tool that puts us at even greater risk. That’s why we’re going after the biggest companies responsible for deploying Flock cameras, starting with Lowe’s Home Improvement.

Please join us in calling on Lowe’s to sever all ties with Flock IMMEDIATELY.