Remix.run Logo
Dezvous 2 days ago

They aren't just tracking license plates though. They're tracking people - let me explain. Their 'ALPR' cameras (purposefully misleading to call them ALPR btw) capture the footage and send it off to their servers where it's retained - building a long-term historical location history on every vehicle. Advanced analysis is performed on the data to provide features to their customers such as the ability to search for vehicles based on a description of its characteristics (no plate needed), real-time route prediction, location heatmaps, and identifying vehicles that travel together (convoy search). Here's the important part - data is also ingested into another service they run called 'Nova', which is essentially a people search tool that connects the vehicles they capture directly to people and their PII. Access to their platforms (Flock OS, Nova, etc.) is sold via a subscription to law enforcement where they can perform searches for individuals or vehicle whereabouts for any reason, without a warrant, and practically no oversight or regulations.

phendrenad2 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

So would you be okay with this is Flock demanded a warrant before showing police the information?

dghlsakjg 2 days ago | parent [-]

I, personally, would feel better about it.

Warrants (are supposed to) have judicial oversight and are limited in their scope. There's also a paper trail attached to information obtained from a warrant.

8note 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

retained data means they arent just tracking vehicles

as the ml improves, its tracking absolutely everything. they could rwll you the migration paths of the local racoons and coyotes, for instance