The topic of Flock Cameras or ALPR (Automatic License Plate Reader) cameras has become of increased interest to a variety of people and groups concerned about privacy. The issue is increasingly controversial.
There are reports of false identification, wrongful stops, violations of civil liberties and abuse from police and government officials as they use the Flock camera resource network to trace and locate the travel of persons of interest. To continue putting scale to the transparency effort a crowdsourcing platform has been created where you can search for the Flock cameras near you.
[Interactive Website Here]
“DeFlock is an open-source, volunteer-powered project for identifying and documenting automated license plate readers. The map is powered by OpenStreetMap. Camera locations come from volunteers and the OpenStreetMap community, not a private company or government agency.” ~ Maps.Deflock.Org
I checked mine, I haven’t been read yet
Let us suppose for a moment, that is true. Your plate has not turned up in any search app you have used.
But rest assured, data is still being collected.
You even volunteered some data by association when you entered your plate number from your i. p. address.
Most newer vehicles can be tracked and tracked.
Once the reader picks up the vehicle it switches over to all the electronics already in the new vehicles.
When my son the Master Mechanic bought his Mustang EchoBoost some years back the first mod was to not change the chip in the car computer, but to remove the SIM card.
He has a larger. Computer Scanner the size of a cafeteria tray, and can download his own computer updates.
So car stays tuned and invisible.
New vehicles will not operate without the data connection now. Also, it voids all of the warranties of the vehicle if you disconnect it.
It’s no longer a simple task to stop the data transmissions.
I’ve opted out of Toyota’s, but I’ll bet a bundle that it’s still going on.
Do not connect your phone to these cars! That effectively allows your car to scan your phone, then steals the data on your phone and assumes ownership of it!
They sell our data to anyone they choose.
I use a GrapheneOS Pixel phone. It’s the most private and secure phone available.
Just wait until the RFID license plates are installed.
Current RFID technology has a read range of a few centimeters to ~30′. That would work in parking lots, but not highways.
The Illusion of Victory: Hidden Cameras Replace Flock Cameras
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2026/08/17/the-illusion-of-victory-hidden-cameras-replace-flock-cameras/
Your Car May Be Tracked Without You Ever Knowing
An Iowa policy tells deputies to avoid mentioning Flock license plate readers to drivers or in reports.
According to a report from 404 Media, deputies in Iowa’s Wapello County were instructed not to tell drivers when Flock cameras helped identify their vehicles. They were also told to leave the technology out of police reports unless it was “absolutely necessary.”
https://www.autoblog.com/news/your-car-may-be-tracked-without-you-ever-knowing
Deceit by LEOs who would have thought./s
LEOs in Wapello County are instructed dishonest and would bet this goes on in many law enforcement departments across the country. Until citizens raise hell on a constant basis they will use Flock and all the citizens will get Flocked.
i live in western iowa,and last week i was driving down a county road.closest town was 10 miles away.got to where i crossed into the next county and what do i see??a flock camera in the ditch pointing the direction i was going.i thought wtf is that camera doing out here in the middle of nowhere.
Looks like an opportunity for some target practice
Jeff Childers recently provided handy dandy purchasing links to various power tools suitable for chopping the dadgum things down.
This discussion board is a daily report on lying by the FBI, FED GOV, and IC.
So you think local police are immune?
government, in all its forms, main function is to lie.
Two in the parking lots of both Lowe’s and Home Depot by me
That is 8 out of 10 in the county.
I knew the Sag and Bourne bridges were covered, but I can’t believe that all the cameras on every intersection isn’t flocked.
Nice to see the dump, they happily invited in Hyannis has them. The people deserve what they voted for.
All law enforcement likes the assistance they are told the camera provides….Voting isn’t really in play here
Most of them in my city are near retail centers, hospitals, casinos, and other places where criminals tend to do their best work.
Yet little or no arrests.
there is only one reason.
to retroactively find dirt on a newly identified problem
Criminals?
And who else?
Have you checked children’s playgrounds or gun ranges?
There are documented sightings.
All of these cameras installed are by a group of volunteers ?
And police and other government agencies have access to them ?
Is the volunteer group China ?
Are all the cameras made in China and who is installing them?
Volunteers my ass
So, it is alright if we volunteer to take them down?
The website that shows where all the flock cameras are is run by volunteers. It’s an anti-flock website.
They’re installed by flock under contract with businesses & local gubmints.
They are mapped/reported by volunteers.
Except that one mayor said their town stopped the contract, and the cameras were still operational.
There are plenty of catchable criminals out there without flock. Just need some judges to send them to
prison.
Too true.
you can not and will never prevail.
once the nsa database was downloaded – exports documented in the reports provided on this website repeatedly, there is nothing but negotiations on fairness and judgement. there is no more law for anyone connected to the downloaded. they run the entire system and will never have an issue again
storage and access must be targeted. and full immunity to map out the blackmail would have be done to restabilize the world
Even the name of the camera system is a clue…
Herd was taken.
The map shows camera location but where do you search to see if you’ve been floc’d?
http://www.haveibeenflocked.com
Why would you have an expectation of privacy if you put yourself out in a public place where the guy on the corner, the gal in the park, the drugstore CCTV, or the cop in the cruiser can see you? Its nuts. Even me, walking through the crowd with my GoPro, can capture your image. Or at the ballpark where you can show up on the Jumbotron.
Sorry, but if you want privacy, stay home.
This misses the point by 10,000 miles. No government has the right to impose mass surveillance on an entire population. Free people don’t live this way. This is what happens in a police state like China or North Korea. The fact that stores have security cameras or you have a personal camera doesn’t change this. A store uses a camera in and around its store to prevent theft. It has no other purpose.
But these cameras are used by governments to unconstitutionally mass surveil the entire population. The mindset behind this whole idea believes that every single person is a potential criminal. They say it makes police work “easier.” But police work is not supposed to be easy – it is to be constrained by probable cause and the presumption of innocence – two things that these cameras completely disregard.
Do you think, the Founders or the Americans who ratified the Constitution would have approved of this? It’s beyond ridiculous. The 4th Amendment must be reclaimed in this country before there is no country left. Wake up.
Go back to first principles. If you don’t want to be identified by a government camera, don’t put yourself in front of one.
That’s true to an extent, but what if every time you left your private property, a police car or helicopter followed you and recorded you everywhere you went in public? Would that be legal? Possibly, depending on the local laws. Would you like it? I wouldn’t.
So when the government puts a camera pointed at all entrance/exit points to your house, then along every intersection between you and anywhere you need to go to .. say.. buy food… what then? “Have everything delivered, never leave the house.”
His point was that this makes a prison in effect, and you would agree apparently and are fine with it as your only suggestion was to not put yourself in front of a government camera. The only way to do that in this scenario is to never leave your house as that puts you ‘in public’.
I don’t want the government tracking my every move. There’s a difference between privacy and being followed. These cameras aren’t just license plate cameras. They track your license plate, your bluetooth devices, they build a profile of your car even if it doesn’t have a license plate based on bumper stickers, damage, etc. They track your face, they recognize who you are with facial recognition. In cities with more cameras, anyone with access can see you on the street, look you up on flock and track all of your movements through the city. It’s Orwellien and ripe for abuse.
Just imagine what they could’ve done with these during covid. No thanks.
you have a centralized government. until that is addressed there is no freedom and it will only get worse
Dr. Strangelove II: Or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Surveillance State
clown show. your devices in your homes can be used to kneel anyone we love if we are a problem
surf the site for fun
https://spybusters.blogspot.com/
You should move to China.
If you are comparing mass governmental surveillance with mobile phone cameras, or go pros, then you really are missing the central point of the debate.
The Supreme Court ruled that the essential tracking of people throughout the day for each day of their lives is unconstitutional, and should the police want to do that, they should deploy someone to do that and incur that cost. Having another company do it on behalf (or for the benefit) of the government should be similarly unconstitutional, because their contracts bind the company to act as an agent of the government.
Flock’s behavior, semantic games, deception, etc. demonstrates that they have no morals, and should be trusted as such.
People need to inform themselves, request FOIA data on all contracts, uses, capabilities, placements, etc. and then educate the public about what’s going on around them.
They (and similar companies) do more than read license plates, and identify vehicles by a number of visible attributes including bumper stickers, color of the vehicle, dents/damage, types of tires/rims, the TPMS sensors in your tires, any electronics that emit any kind of cellular, wireless or bluetooth signal, including those of your passengers or vehicle, and the bluetooth MAC address of people who have taken covid shots or been exposed to environmentally delivered nanotechnology. I think Flock is taking the most visible heat right now, but there are many other companies more surreptitiously doing the same and more than Flock.
Flock is also taking their tracking to the skies with drones. I’m betting other companies are doing the same. Google was caught mapping wifi hotspots with their cars. Cell phones with wifi turned on are constantly seeking out the wifi connections of all systems previously connected with. How much is that disclosing about you or your prior wherabouts?
If you click on a camera and then click on the “OSM” and view all the information some of these cameras have hundreds or thousands of traces where you can see they have tracked people beyond the camera locations.
This is not just controversial this is completely F+**ing bullshit that this is allowed to happen and it’s not by voluntary individuals.
Some of the screen names on these OSMs reads like something more sinister.
Ho Lee Sheet is just one winner OSM profile
Always remember observation is the first step to control. You can’t control what is not observed. At some point in the future, these cameras will be used to control our freedom of movement. It’s not a question of if.
no different than using a person’s smart watch and an air gap in their devices to spy on them. until the art of feeding misinfo is an app – there is no freedom
I think the main difference folks are sticking on is the government involvement angle here. Devices spying on us definitely sucks, and I minimize it as much as I can. Flock works directly with law enforcement to distribute the information they are gathering. I don’t think your Apple watch is doing that, they sort of famously resist giving up device access to the gov’t last I recall. My watches are all analog/mechanical, but I’m old and enjoy such things.
I definitely agree that it is worrisome that these devices are spying though. I have dumb appliances, a dumb tv and a dumb thermostat… none have networking abilities. Obviously I have an internet connx though and a computer in the house, but no cameras connected to it.
My cell phone surely is doing its level best to spy on me though for whatever marketing purposes as it sees fit. So yes, you’re never completely off-grid until you turn them all off and put them in faraday cages… b/c if you really trust the ‘off’ button to turn a device off, well… yeah… not so much.
November I will see a city referendum to exceed the state’s limit on property tax increases. They want to hire more police & fire fighters which we will pay for in perpetuity.
Why? The city (suburb of Milwaukee) has built so much high density housing which is required to have a percentage of “affordable housing” units that they need more fire coverage. The cops we have spend 85% of their working hours on the roads generating revenue for the city. The extra cops are for “fraud investigation”… never mind the crime that came with the “affordable housing.”
I think they’d love more cameras to generate revenue with less resources but so far, we only have them at interstate on/off ramps & high density retail corridors. Other suburbs that I drive through have many more. I’m learning to reroute my travels around them with DeFlock.
All those cameras and there’s still crimes committed everyday 🤷♂️
https://www.atlasofsurveillance.org/
In Alabama, the Flocks aee mounted on poles above traffic lights facing the driver.
They see the front of the car and windsheild.
In Alabama, we only have Rear Tags no front.
Hmmmmmm.
there is a youtube channel that did a couple videos that were enlightening (many have done videos but they are mostly the same thing) but the channed is called “Dad, the engineer”
he did a flock vid and then a follow up which showed how they can even track all phones in a car, earbuds, your car’s infotainment system, all the way down to the tire pressure sensors in your car. that’s the info they database and correlate together. they get pics of the car passengers, driver, stickers on the car, and all the aforementioned items.
leonardo is the software in the second video.
also, if people are not aware ring cameras are also tied to law enforcement whether you like it or not.
the whole construct around “safety” is a red herring. it’s about data, surveillance and control. don’t fall for the safety thing – you can’t have liberty and freedom in a surveillance state – full stop.
We have a 2023 Subaru Outback, and two generally active iPhones. There are CCTV cameras in all the stores and other places, not to mention motion cameras on porches and doorbells.
I expect anyone who wants to bother can track us all around eastern Massachusetts and wherever else we go. Who cares?
You should.
It’s not just Flock cams. GenLogs…a company that helps combat cargo theft and fraud by placing cameras on private and municipal poles along America’s highway. Bet it won’t surprise anyone here where that company’s founders used to work.
It’s not just Flock. Axon in partnership with Ubicquia offers Axon Lightpole and Axon Outpost which has the cameras installed in street lights and does the same job as Flock.
Crooks often use a stolen car to go out and commit serious crimes, then abandon or torch the car after. If so, reading the license plate isn’t going to do much good. Flocks might even lead to more car theft.
And a recent article in Chicago Contrarian, FTA:
“Here is what I have realized after three decades in this field: Most of the loudest critics of ALPR technology are not genuinely concerned about license plates. They are anti-police, and the camera is just their current target. If it were not for ALPRs, it would be body cameras, K-9 units, plainclothes officers, or bail policies.”
https://www.chicagocontrarian.com/blog/license-plate-reader-cameras-misinformation-campaign
My favorite story is one where a carjacker stole a car on the far north side, and using the various cameras the police followed him driving it to the far south side, park it in front of his house and go in the door. The police went and knocked on the door and arrested him.
“Why should boring old law-abiding me care?”
The real problem arises when they turn us all into criminals.
If anybody thinks those who promise to pack the court and nuke the filibuster won’t use this surveillance capability against US in petty, annoying, and also in vicious, liberty-violating ways; well then you’re not really thinking too hard.
Perhaps we have found our unifying moment?????
“The real problem arises when they turn us all into criminals.”
Show me the man and I will show you the crime………
I guess rhe flock cam is the backup for people smart wnough to leave their cellphone at home. of course, AI can make a video of you anywhere they want you to have been.
check out the I 81, I 95, I 10 and I 4 interstate routes
Looked at my neighborhood, all these cameras marked ” traffic” that don’t point at roads?
Roads are gonna get safer….. for a while.
(If you give up your privacy for a little security you will end up getting neither).
Regardless of what we think, I think civilizationally we are moving that way. So what has to happen is make hard barriers to whom can access data and allow only AI (of open source that can be audited) to use it.
Will the system be abused? If there are no harsh penalties, then yes, most definitely.
First thing I notice is data is being collected greatest in the red states. I’m suspicious.
This is Strange…..
I went to a Free license plate lookup by state and looked up a neighbors license plate number and it showed an
entirely different vehicle for that license plate number.
They’ve got the local Lowes hardware parking lot covered both entrance/exits for some reason.
We are being stalked by an abusive government that ignores the law so long as it keeps them dominant over the citizens they swore an oath to serve.