• The city I work at just ended their contract with them. Monday morning I get to send them a demand to remove them from our ROW within 30 days or we’ll have them removed and fine them $500/camera per day until they pick them up and pay us our expenses related to the removal.

    Our police are also bagging the cameras, including the solar panels (so they’ll shut off).

            • They did not.

              City Council is made of of people who were misled by the “they only read license plates” bullshit. When they realized what they truly are, they decided not to renew the contract. Then a few days ago they took it a step further and decided to suspend it early along with their right-of-way permits.

      • I wouldn’t go that far. It’s an enclave for the mega-rich. I don’t live there - literally every household is millionaires or better.

  • 4 days

    Woah woah, are you telling me that the surveillants don’t like being surveilled? I’m shocked, absolutely shocked I tell ya

  • also so they can get a snapshot of all the IP addresses/people signed into google who tried searching the map. which…surprise…where’s the map LOL

  • We NEED to Protect the Privacy of American Citizens! Innocent People! Corporations stealing BILLIONS of Taxpayer Dollars!

  • So is flock putting them up?

    Angie Nixon mentioned this case in South Florida on a recent interview: https://archive.is/my13H

    It really opens the door for any other third party to put up cameras and surveil without anyone noticing it.

  • My town uses the other brand, that might account for some of the difference

    • Flock is not the only brand of ALPR (Automatic License Plate Reader). Its the brand/company that is receiving the most negative press, which means other companies providing the same service are quietly sneaking into towns and cities.

      If you drive in an area covered by an ALPR-networked camera, your vehicle’s movements may already be in a searchable database. As the tools for building these systems become more widely available, the pressure for clearer rules about who may collect vehicle-location data, on whom, and for how long is unlikely to ea

      As always keep reaching out to your local city council to ask where are these cameras being installed, how long is the information being retained, who is accessing these systems, and who is keeping the individuals accessing these systems accountable?

      • Product placement? More like just reality.

        Axon is the maker of Taser, and like 90% of the body cams that departments use. ALPRs are simply the newest of many tools they offer, and adding Axon ALPRs to replace Glock is probably extremely easy since there is a 99.99% chance they already have Axon products, and an existing contract.

        Axon is not new by any means.

  • so has anyone figured out a reasonable way to block plates from being read?

    an adhesive layer, a clear coat, a plastic cover with the right spectrum blocking?

    • You know what? I really like Benn Jordan’s YouTube videos. Not sure what made me think of that. Guess I just wanted to share that fact.

    • 4 days

      The pretty common one is to have infrared LEDs shining on the plate. Humans can’t see the light but cameras can and it blinds them. It’s worth noting that it’s illegal, and if the police catch you doing it they’ll arrest you just for that. I’m not sure how much help that is, but then again, any technique that blocks the cameras from reading your plate is likely considered illegal.

    • The problem is that they don’t just read the plates. They look at everything on the vehicle. Window stickers, license plate frames, cleanliness, scratches/dents, etc. Trying to disguise your plate will just make your vehicle more readily recognizable, and notify authorities that you have something to hide.

    • I’m pretty sure there are laws that specifically say if you do something to prevent your plate from being read by these devices it’s illegal. But it wouldn’t matter anyway. They track you based on more than your plate. They even track pedestrians by looking at their clothing and such.

      • Think thats scary look up gait recognition. I remember reading a book in middle school almost 20 years ago, in the book they used gait recognition because facial recognition was deemed to invasive and was made illegal. Probably based on real life but I never looked into the legality of it. The original Punisher show on Netflix also brought it up, its how the hacker dude finds Frank Castle and kicks off the shows plot.

    • You cannot legally modify your license plate in any way, even if it leaves the number and stickers fully visible. I wonder if you couldn’t do something to the area surrounding your license plate though to make the AI detection ignore your car/plates…

  • If the map isn’t reporting any false information then they don’t have a legal grounds for the removal and this likely violates anti-slap laws.

    Flock is a private company with equal rights to everyone else: no more, no less.

    • Flock isn’t the only entity operating security cameras and plate readers. How many non-Flock devices are being reported as Flock units?

      • It’s a good question but given Flock’s cooperation with the ICE I don’t want to give them benefit of doubt. https://deflock.org/ isn’t currently listing the supposed 300,000 nor does it claim they’re all flock.

        • Oh, I don’t mean to give them any credit whatsoever. I’m just saying that it’s very likely that there is “false information” included this set. That doesn’t mean they actually have a significant case, just that the claims may need to be adjusted to the generic “Camera” or “ALPR” rather than “Flock” specifically.

  • I agree with the sentiment, but the deflock map also lists all automated highway tolls as ALPRs too. These aren’t flock based to my knowledge.

    There may be “secret” flock installations. But there are also likely other brands and systems included in the 300k.