This is footage I recorded of the town meeting Tuesday night. Citizens attended to protest the purchase and installation of cameras in the town without their consent or any conversation leading up to it. The town acted under the pretense of “public safety” but it would appear that not all of the camera installations fit into that category.
Of particular concern is the camera in the town park at the top of the pavilion stage. Is this recording children playing in the park? Where is the data going?
Further information on the lead up to this can be found here: https://paoniatruth.site
The town contracted with a company called Verkada to the approximate amount of $50,000. Here is a summary from Claude AI when asked about Verkada’s data policy and any relationships to Palintir or other data aggregators:
Data Storage Policy
Verkada cameras include on-camera storage for 30 days of continuously recorded video and image data. Customers also have the option to enable cloud backup storage. Verkada Cloud storage uses Amazon Web Services (AWS), with customers able to select storage regions including the US, EU, Canada, Australia, or South Korea. Verkada Notably, if Canada or South Korea is selected for storage, data processing still occurs in the US. Verkada
So yes, data is stored in the cloud — the system is designed as a hybrid model. While cameras normally store footage locally and transmit only thumbnails and metadata to the cloud, cloud backup can be enabled for full video, and the cloud license offers unlimited archiving in AWS. Verkada Archived video clips are stored in the cloud for the lifetime of the Verkada account. Verkada
There’s also an optional data-sharing toggle: customers can choose to share camera data with Verkada itself, and can optionally share additional product data — including sensor events, access events, alarms, and badge-ins — to support Verkada’s development of new features. Verkada
Palantir Relationship
My search found no direct partnership or data-sharing relationship between Verkada and Palantir. Palantir operates separately as a government intelligence platform contractor. There’s no evidence that Verkada feeds data into Palantir’s Gotham or Foundry platforms.
Law Enforcement and Data Aggregator Integrations
This is where it gets more concerning for privacy-minded observers. Verkada actively markets to law enforcement and has built integrations with several platforms that facilitate data sharing with police:
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Fusus (by Axon): Fusus is a real-time public safety platform that integrates live video feeds and data for first responders and law enforcement. The Verkada-Fusus integration enables real-time license plate reads from Verkada cameras to appear directly within the Fusus platform. Verkada Fusus has drawn scrutiny from civil liberties organizations for enabling networked surveillance across jurisdictions.
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Axon Evidence: Verkada users can export video directly to Axon Evidence, ensuring law enforcement agencies have easy access to footage for investigations. Verkada
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NCIC Integration: Verkada offers NCIC integration in select states to automatically alert on watchlist vehicles Verkada — meaning its license plate readers can cross-reference against the FBI’s national criminal database.
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AI Analytics: Verkada promotes AI-enabled cameras with people analytics, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR), and the ability to search for vehicles by make, model, color, or freeform text descriptions across an entire camera fleet. Verkada
Major Security Breach & FTC Action
This history is important context for any government installation:
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In March 2021, a hacker gained access to over 150,000 live Verkada customer cameras, including feeds in psychiatric hospitals and women’s health clinics, as well as other customer information such as physical addresses and audio. Federal Trade Commission
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The FTC found that Verkada failed to require unique and complex passwords, adequately encrypt customer data, and implement secure network controls — despite publicly claiming to use “best-in-class data security tools.” Federal Trade Commission
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Verkada was required to pay a $2.95 million penalty and implement a comprehensive information security program with third-party audits. Federal Trade Commission
Bottom Line for a Local Government Context
While there is no documented Verkada-Palantir relationship, Verkada’s integrations with Fusus/Axon and its NCIC connectivity mean that footage and license plate data from a local government installation can flow into broader law enforcement intelligence networks — depending on how the system is configured. The data does live in Amazon’s cloud, and Verkada has a documented history of security failures and FTC enforcement. Any local government considering or evaluating a Verkada deployment would want to carefully examine the data-sharing toggles, the Fusus/Axon integrations, and what access law enforcement agencies may have to the feeds — particularly given the ALPR and people-analytics capabilities built into the platform.