A group of neighbors working to try and limit the spread of surveillance tech in our rural Washington county. We figured sharing our documents and process could help you do the same, and not have to start from scratch.

Broad, unchecked surveillance doesn’t just catch “bad guys.” It creates detailed records of all our movements, and when no one is watching the watchers, those systems can be abused, misused, or used unfairly.

Find out what surveillance tech is being used in your area by visiting the Atlas of Surveillance. Though, it can be tricky to find updated data on rural areas, so try Deflock.me to see if there are ex: Flock license plate reader cameras near you.

It’s complicated. We’re not lawyers, so we advise reading up at Electronic Frontier Foundation and ACLU about the way this tech is asking some new questions about what should be legal, and how that might be different based on your state’s laws.

A rural area is typically a small town, farming community, or sparsely populated region located outside major cities and suburbs. These areas often have more open land, fewer public services, and small, tight-knit communities. You might define it a little differently, and we hope you’ll share what it means to you.

Again, just a small group of neighbors. We’re not a nonprofit or anything official. Everything from the web host to the domain came out of someone’s pocket. If you’d like to support the ongoing costs of keeping this library up, get in touch.