Tech Watch | North GA CAN

TECH WATCH
Know What Technology Your Local Government Is Buying Before The Vote Happens

Tech Watch investigates surveillance contracts, AI systems, and data center proposals moving through local government in North Georgia. When we dig into one, we let you know how to take action.

These Decisions Are Being Made Whether You Are In The Room Or Not

Your city council approves an AI intelligence platform as a consent agenda item. A data center gets rezoned at a Tuesday afternoon hearing. A sheriff's office signs a contract with a vendor most residents have never heard of.

None of it is secret. All of it is technically public. But it is buried in 300 page agenda packets, posted days before the vote, and written in language designed to be skimmed past.

Too often, by the time it makes the news, the contract is signed.

We Read The Agenda Packets

NGA CAN is a volunteer led civic collective serving Cherokee, Pickens, Bartow, Forsyth, Cobb, and Fulton counties and the cities inside them. Our members read the packets, file the records requests, and sit through the meetings that end at 11pm.

We don't guess. Every claim we publish is checked against the primary source document, and we link the document so you can check us.

We are volunteers, so we catch what we catch. If you see something we missed, send it to us.

What We Have Investigated

Every Tech Watch post is built from agenda packets, contracts, and open records requests. Source documents linked in every one.

Woodstock Scheduled a Silent Vote on a Contract That Had Already Been Replaced

Item 7.2 came off Monday's agenda, but it isn't dead. The city had scheduled a silent consent vote on a contract that had already been replaced by a newer version the City Attorney never reviewed. Two residents spoke. A third warned about data centers, which is where this data would actually live. And the City Manager has now promised in writing, to the full Council, that it returns as a regular agenda item with public comment.

7 days ago10 min read

Woodstock Is About to Sign a Blank Check to a San Francisco AI Surveillance Company. Nobody Can Tell You What Year Two Costs.

On the night of Monday, July 27th, Woodstock City Council votes on a three year contract connecting our police department's records to a platform run by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and built by Peregrine Technologies, a San Francisco company valued at $6.8 billion. The contract has no stated price for years two and three. The County sets it, with no cap and no Council vote. It renews itself automatically. It contains no retention limit, no audit requirement, and no d

Jul 2619 min read

The Data Center Fight Isn't Over: What Really Happened at Marietta City Council on Wednesday, July 8th

If you live in Cherokee County and think the Marietta data center fight is somebody else's problem, look closer. The company behind it already lists properties near Woodstock and in Holly Springs as candidates for the exact same treatment. What happened at Marietta City Hall on the night of July 8 is a preview of what is coming to the rest of us, so it is worth understanding exactly how it played out.

Jul 105 min read

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TECH WATCH Know What Technology Your Local Government Is Buying Before The Vote Happens