Cal Poly Debates Campus Surveillance Tech
The introduction of new license plate readers and video cameras at Cal Poly has sparked a campus debate about the trade-offs between privacy and security. The discussion mirrors broader societal questions about surveillance ethics that computer science students are increasingly expected to address in both technical interviews and workplace discussions.
In March 2025, Cal Poly activated 10 Flock Safety automated license plate readers and seven live video cameras at all vehicle entrances and exits, a decision made with limited community input. The system cost an initial $42,500 with a recurring annual fee of $46,500, and it captures data including license plates, vehicle make, model, color, and even identifying features like bumper stickers. The technology is provided by Flock Safety, a company that has faced scrutiny for its data-sharing practices with law enforcement agencies nationwide. While Cal Poly Police Department (CPPD) policy, in line with California law, prohibits sharing data with immigration officers without a court order, Flock's own terms of service allow the company to share footage with third parties if it has a "good faith belief" it's necessary to comply with legal or security issues. Data from the cameras is owned by Cal Poly and is automatically deleted after 30 days. In response to community concerns, the CPPD recently opted into Flock's public-facing transparency portal, which showed 55,070 vehicles detected in a 30-day period and 21 searches by the department. From June 2025 to early February 2026, the CPPD conducted 406 searches of the collected data. Student opposition has been vocal, with concerns that the surveillance could be used to target marginalized communities or student activists. This mirrors a national trend where campus surveillance tools, including license plate readers and social media monitoring, are increasingly used to monitor student dissent. This debate directly intersects with the curriculum for aspiring software engineers. Cal Poly's own Computer Science department offers a Privacy and Security concentration, featuring courses like "Introduction to Privacy: Policy and Technology." The university also has an Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group, highlighting the growing importance of these considerations within the tech industry. For those targeting roles at Google or Meta, questions about privacy are now standard in technical interviews. Expect to be asked about the principles of 'Privacy by Design,' the differences between anonymization and pseudonymization, and how you would design systems to mitigate privacy risks, such as those posed by large-scale data collection.
