- Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) camera technology is getting smarter
- New company bridges the gap between cameras and connected technology
- Tools to Avoid ALPR Cameras Rapidly Gaining Popularity
According to an NBC News report, more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States use Flock security cameras to track billions of license plates every month, helping them build a huge database of the movements of ordinary people.
But Flock is just one company working on such technology, with hundreds of new cameras and automatic license plate reader (ALPR) devices appearing daily.
More recently, 404Media highlighted a new tech company that aims to add location data from phones, AirPods and Smartwatches to license plate readers to build a clearer picture of who was driving what… And When. Naturally, wayward drivers are now fighting back thanks to a new website called DeFlock.
Leonardo’s SignalTrace system is designed to scan waves for signals left by a myriad of Bluetooth and wireless connected devices in order to link them to a license plate as it passes, potentially placing a person in a vehicle at a specific time and location.
Leonardo says its technology uses “non-intrusive intelligence gathering” to detect publicly released device identifiers, feeding that data into an advanced algorithm so that multiple devices traveling together can link an individual to a vehicle and vice versa.
Police and other law enforcement agencies can then access this data, but concerns have been raised about the potential for hacking or misuse by authorities to track personal relationships.
Analysis: Privacy advocates resist
In an effort to give some control back to the individual, a website called DeFlock has surfaced. It allows anyone to plan routes that actively avoid Flock’s ALPR cameras and generally provide a more privacy-focused alternative.
Much like most digital route planners, users connect a start and end point to their trip, changing how aggressively they want the software to avoid cameras, according to Carscoops.
The site will then compare a normal route to the more private alternative, suggesting how many miles and minutes a detour would take.
The website’s user numbers are growing as organizations, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have warned that Flock’s surveillance camera systems are designed to enable “mass surveillance” and are susceptible to “serious abuse,” according to its own investigations.
Last year, EFF reported how more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies conducted hundreds of searches of Flock’s national surveillance data network in relation to protest activities over a ten-month period, for example.
The announcement that ALPR cameras could soon be linked to connected devices understandably has some sectors of the general public concerned, with one Reddit user commenting: “the only hope of anything is a digital civil rights movement.”
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