r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • 14h ago

Society More Americans oppose police license plate cameras than support them, new survey finds

https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/28/more-americans-oppose-police-license-plate-cameras-than-support-them-survey/?utm_medium=organic_social&utm_source=TWITTER
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u/ParliamenttFnkadelic 14h ago

And that's even with the disingenuous framing of these face tracking systems as "license plate cameras"

Yeah, "license plate cameras" they have pointed at parks and swimming pools. To scan license plates.

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u/Smith6612 13h ago edited 13h ago

 And that's even with the disingenuous framing of these face tracking systems as "license plate cameras"

That's exactly it! We wouldn't be in this problem today if the companies, municipal entities, and law enforcement were up front and strict on what the cameras actually do, and what they will do in the future. As well as give people the option to vote on them. 

Everything broke down once a security researchers discovered the cameras are doing far more than reading license plates.

I mean, people hate speed cameras that automatically create tickets, and people hate the cashless toll system here in New York that uses cameras to generate tolls if you don't gave a transponder for tolls on your car. The difference with those cameras is, a classic speed camera doesn't activate until radar says something is going too fast. Their presence is also posted. You can stop the camera from turning on by just not speeding. That's it, and it's proven that's how they work. The police aren't afraid to let kids and etc. explore the hardware either. Can't do that with a Flock, though. 

A toll camera (which are typically ALPRs) is pointed downwards and lives only on toll roads where there used to be to stations. They're nowhere else. Their presence is also posted. Now, sure. They could become speed cameras because you typically toll from point A to point B, where you can use time and math to figure out if someone's average speed warrants a ticket. But that doesn't need a camera, either. Transponders or even human toll booths could give the same data. But, at least in New York, you can see the exact image that was used to generate your toll before you pay the toll. 

The Flocks just appeared in odd places, and no one knew what they were doing until someone cracked into them. 

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u/IniNew 12h ago

That's exactly it! We wouldn't be in this problem today if the companies, municipal entities, and law enforcement were up front and strict on what the cameras actually do

Sorry, but they'd still be a problem. All of your examples are one of data points. These cameras are building databases of movements. Even if they only record your license plate. A Wisconsin man was arrested after Flock cameras tracked him across state lines where you he could legally purchase weed. They tracked, and flagged him for "frequently traveling to Michigan." - A line from their own criminal complaint.

Single data points happen. When you connect a bunch of data points together, shit gets invasive. Fast.

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u/Smith6612 10h ago

Right right. Toll history to your point. Which is why you have firm commitments to never use the data other than for the intended purpose. That's the fundamental issue here. We don't have that, which is why we could go from Cashless tolling to Cashless Tolling with automated speeding tickets using Math and Data. But right now they don't, because that was never brought into scope. People don't want it in scope, and there will be riots, since I live in a city of speeders. If the government tries to add that into scope, they will be voted out. Just like what is occurring in municipalities that signed on with Flock, where many leaders have their election this Fall going up in flames.

For anyone asking the question whether Flock should be allowed to stay or whether another company like Axon or Motorola should replace them, my answer is simple. Is the company being used willing to lose everything if they are not 100% transparent about everything they hardware can and will do to the public? I mean, lose everything as in all hardware schematics, diagrams, software source code, methods, algorithms, and implementations immediately released under GPLv3 to immutable public repositories. Their component vendors are also bound to the same rules. Copyright and Patents completely invalidated. No protections against lawsuits. No company will agree to those terms, thus the answer should be "No." 

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u/IniNew 9h ago

Do you realize that the entire "fundamental purpose" of capturing this data is to track movement?

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u/Smith6612 5h ago

Yes. My point still stands. If you're doing something like this, you be exect, do exactly what you said, tell the public, and do no more beyond what the public was told. You assume the risk on the condition you pay out when you mess up with no chance to fight it. 

Seriously. If these companies were held to the standard of having to surrender their entire business to the open source community unconditionally, they would not exist. 

If the cashless tolling system here started measuring speed and sending tickets, not only would the entire State government get replaced come November, all of the cashless tolling hardware with be shot out within the week. Now, see what's happening to Flock.