The Northern Colorado Privacy Coalition is emerging as a leading community voice in Fort Collins’ growing debate over privacy, surveillance, and public oversight as residents raise concerns about how new technologies are shaping public life.
The coalition formed earlier this year through a network of residents who began organizing after attending Fort Collins City Council meetings and realizing how widespread and deeply felt concerns about surveillance had become.
“It had become clear that there was nobody watching out for the privacy rights of our residents,” said Ezriah Shteir, one of the coalition’s organizers.
From council chambers to collective action
The group’s origins trace back to early 2026, and since then, dozens of residents have spoken at City Council meetings about surveillance technologies used by the city. The volume and intensity of public comment stood out even to longtime participants in local government.
“I’ve never seen such an explosion of opposition to nearly anything in my entire life relative to an issue in city council,” said Tyler Davidson, a Fort Collins resident from District 5 and a member of the coalition. “It’s been a shock to me. Clearly, I’m not alone.”
Davidson said the reaction reflected more than frustration with a single policy choice.
“I came to the conclusion that a lot of people have a visceral response to this because we grew up learning about other societies in history who used mass surveillance techniques,” he said.
After those meetings, speakers and attendees began connecting with others who had been organizing online and within the community. Conversations quickly revealed a shared belief that surveillance decisions were being made without meaningful public participation or lasting safeguards.
Out of those discussions, organizers formed the Northern Colorado Privacy Coalition to focus on privacy, transparency, and democratic accountability.
Designed to outlast technology
Coalition leaders emphasize that their work is not focused on any one company, system, or device, but on creating principles meant to remain relevant as technology evolves.
The group has introduced a petition for a ballot initiative that would regulate surveillance technologies used by the City of Fort Collins.
“[The ballot initiative] doesn’t deal with any particular cameras or methods,” Shteir said.
“This is something that is intended to last no matter what technology we are talking about.”
Members describe the coalition as intentionally broad and nonpartisan, aimed at addressing structural questions raised by modern data collection rather than reacting only after technologies are deployed.
Transparency before deployment
At the core of the coalition’s advocacy is the belief that surveillance decisions should be transparent before technology is installed, not afterward. Organizers argue that residents should be able to understand how data is collected, stored, used, and shared.
“For transparency, it will require that all new installations of surveillance technology be accompanied by a report explaining where they are deployed, what they capture, how the data is stored, who the data is shared with,” Shteir said.
Shteir framed public review and voter involvement as a way to evaluate whether surveillance systems genuinely serve the community.
“All new installations must go to a vote of the people,” he said. “People will have a chance to see the report that’s been released, see what is being installed, and they will have a chance to determine if that is, in fact, the city’s best interest.”
“If, as it seems that the city thinks, a technology is clearly a net win, that the crime prevention benefits outweigh the cost, it should be easy to win those referendums,” he added.
Lessons from history
For Davidson, opposition to mass surveillance is rooted in historical examples of how data and power can be misused.
“One Lavrentiy Beria was his name,” Davidson said, referring to the Soviet security chief under Joseph Stalin. “And he famously said, or infamously, ‘Show me the man, and I will show you the crime.’”
Davidson said that idea illustrates the risks of large-scale data collection.
“And that’s exactly where this is happening,” he said. “If we give the information to whoever, they will find a way to use it against us.”
He pointed to modern cases in which surveillance data has contributed to wrongful police encounters as evidence that those risks are not theoretical.
“We have seen it before. We’re already seeing it in the headlines. We will continue to see it,” Davidson said. “This is an outrage not only to our rights, to privacy, but to our very freedoms.”
A broader issue
Coalition members argue that surveillance affects far more than those who believe they are being watched. Data collected about one person can reveal patterns about families, neighborhoods, and entire communities.
Organizers reject the idea that privacy concerns conflict with public safety. Instead, they frame their work as a call for evidence, oversight, and limits proportional to demonstrated benefits.
Looking ahead
While the coalition’s current focus is Fort Collins, organizers say similar debates are unfolding across Northern Colorado. They view the region as part of a larger national conversation about who decides how surveillance technologies are used in democratic communities.
In the coming year, the Northern Colorado Privacy Coalition hopes to expand public education efforts, encourage civic engagement, and keep privacy considerations part of local decision making.
“This isn’t about stopping progress,” organizers said. “It’s about making sure people still have a voice in the future being built around them.”
Residents interested in learning more can visit nocoprivacy.org or follow the coalition’s public outreach and events.