this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2026
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Flock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company, exposed some of the license plate cops were looking for and the reason for doing so.

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[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago (33 children)

Could you explain what you mean further?

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 34 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (10 children)

They don’t just read license plates. They analyze faces/pets/distinctive clothing to ID people, scan nearby WiFi and Bluetooth signals to track devices, scan distinctive features of vehicles (dents, scratches, bumper stickers, etc) to track them even without a clear license plate, etc… Calling it a license plate reader vastly downplays their capabilities.

It’s like someone calling a fully automatic high-powered machine gun “a rabbit-hunting gun”. Sure it could be used to shoot rabbits, but that’s vastly understating the capabilities.

[–] Doublenut@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Atlanta has them in the middle of parks too far from and facing away from parking lots to read any license plates.... they're there to use facial recognition on children playing on park equipment.

[–] cheesemoo@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

And they probably sold the people in charge on the idea that it's to "protect the children" 🤮

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