"The Road to Mass Surveillance” presentation outlines the threats that automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) pose to our freedoms and safety. Dr. Steven Keener is a leading researcher on ALPRs, board member at the Justice Forward Virginia Foundation, assistant professor of criminology at CNU in VA, and director of the Center for Crime, Equity, and Justice Research and Policy.

ALPRs are high-speed, AI-enabled cameras used to identify drivers and pinpoint their location. This digital dragnet captures license plate data and other images of every traveler. ALPRs feed billions of scans into centralized databases. These systems provide tremendous power to track our movements by the government agencies and private tech companies that use and abuse them.

Come learn about the proliferation of these cameras in Virginia and connect with community members in Roanoke pushing back against this harmful technology.

Following the presentation, social movement expert and educator Dr. Jack Leff will be discussing FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and how you can make your own FOIA requests as they pertain to mass surveillance, or any issue!

This event is hosted by: Roanoke Indivisible, DeFlock Roanoke, and Justice Forward Virginia Foundation