Tuscaloosa group plans public forum on data centers, surveillance tech

A data center and surveillance forum will be held 6-8 p.m. Aug. 27 in the Grace Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 113 Hargrove Road in Tuscaloosa.

Progressive grass-roots organization Indivisible West Alabama will lead the event, listening to concerns, and offering information collected on divisive data centers being proposed for communities around the country, and Flock Safety cameras that some fear are being abused for mass surveillance.

Ostensibly used to assist in crime and crime prevention, the cameras have drawn increasing complaints about abuse and misuse of the power, for more than traffic and crime assistance.

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Other concerns include that the systems can be readily hacked, and its imagery shared online, and that the data is being retained too long, and becomes accessible by too many.

Dozens of cities in the U.S. have canceled camera contracts due to widespread concerns.

The massive data centers, said to be needed to support Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, have raised concerns about pollution of air, noise and water, about excess power consumption leading to rising energy costs, and about the speed with which they seem to be spreading, especially in smaller communities around the U.S.

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The city of Brookwood, in east Tuscaloosa County, is under fire from citizens for a proposed 2 million square foot such usage on Brookwood Parkway, near Brookwood Middle School.

The local Indivisible chapter is part of the Indivisible Alabama network, which followed from the national Indivisible movement, which aligns with no political party. The national Indivisible coalesced in 2016 in response to the election of Donald Trump.

The local chapter formed in spring 2025, before the appearance of Trump on the University of Alabama campus, to hold a "Trump Grabs UA by the Diploma" event and march. Indivisible West Alabama plans to share its findings on data centers and surveillance with local and state lawmakers.

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This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa group plans public forum on data centers, surveillance tech