Flock license plate readers: Difference between revisions
added a section on denver's april 2026 camera lapse and the auto-theft data, with sources and screenshots |
added an industry-context section on alpr vendors moving to wireless device-identifier capture, covering leonardo's elsag signaltrace and noting it isn't a flock product |
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Privacy advocates note that this expanded tracking capability makes the term ''license plate reader'' misleading, as Flock systems create detailed vehicle profiles that persist even without readable plates. It turns any distinguishing feature of a vehicle into a tracking identifier.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stop Flock |url=https://www.stopflock.com/ |access-date=2025-08-23 |work=Stop Flock |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251222060644/https://stopflock.com/ |archive-date=22 Dec 2025}}</ref> | Privacy advocates note that this expanded tracking capability makes the term ''license plate reader'' misleading, as Flock systems create detailed vehicle profiles that persist even without readable plates. It turns any distinguishing feature of a vehicle into a tracking identifier.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stop Flock |url=https://www.stopflock.com/ |access-date=2025-08-23 |work=Stop Flock |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251222060644/https://stopflock.com/ |archive-date=22 Dec 2025}}</ref> | ||
==Industry shift toward device-identifier capture== | |||
The automatic license plate reader market has begun moving from reading plates toward capturing the wireless identifiers of the devices a person carries. Leonardo's [[Leonardo ELSAG SignalTrace|ELSAG SignalTrace]], a sensor add-on patented in 2024<ref name="leonardo-bw">{{Cite web |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240530567391/en/Leonardo-US-Cyber-and-Security-Solutions-receives-a-patent-for-their-new-electronic-signature-tracking-system-for-law-enforcement |title=Leonardo US Cyber and Security Solutions receives a patent for their new electronic signature tracking system for law enforcement |date=2024-05-30 |website=Business Wire |access-date=2026-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250810050941/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240530567391/en/Leonardo-US-Cyber-and-Security-Solutions-receives-a-patent-for-their-new-electronic-signature-tracking-system-for-law-enforcement |archive-date=2025-08-10 |url-status=live}}</ref> and marketed from 2025, clips onto existing ALPR cameras and captures the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RFID, and tire-pressure-sensor identifiers of nearby devices, correlating the devices that travel with a vehicle into an ''"electronic fingerprint"'' tied to its plate.<ref name="leonardo-spec">{{Cite web |url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28215440-signaltrace-us/ |title=ELSAG SignalTrace product sheet |author=Leonardo US Cyber and Security Solutions |date=2025-09-09 |website=DocumentCloud |access-date=2026-06-21}}</ref> Reporting for 404 Media, Joseph Cox wrote that the product: | |||
<blockquote>''would turn ALPR cameras from devices focused on tracking cars to ones that can more readily track the location of particular people.''</blockquote><ref name="cox-signaltrace">{{Cite web |url=https://www.404media.co/this-company-will-add-phone-airpod-and-smartwatch-trackers-to-license-plate-readers/ |title=This Company Will Add Phone, AirPod, and Smartwatch Trackers to License Plate Readers |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=2026-06-08 |website=404 Media |access-date=2026-06-21}}</ref> | |||
SignalTrace is made by Leonardo, a competitor to [[Flock Safety|Flock]], and is not a Flock product. Flock's own cameras identify vehicles by optical characteristics such as plate, make, model, and color.<ref name=":2" /> As of June 2026 no agency had been reported deploying SignalTrace, and coverage described it as a capability cameras would soon carry.<ref name="cox-signaltrace" /><ref name="drive-signaltrace">{{Cite web |url=https://www.thedrive.com/news/license-plate-cameras-will-soon-track-phones-wearables-infotainment-and-even-your-pets |title=License Plate Cameras Will Soon Track Phones, Wearables, Infotainment, and Even Your Pets |last=Ismail |first=Adam |date=2026-06-17 |website=The Drive |access-date=2026-06-21}}</ref> | |||
==Patent for person identification by race and physical characteristics== | ==Patent for person identification by race and physical characteristics== | ||