"What information are you driving around?" asks a pictorial warning widely shared by U.S. police departments.
asserted
warning → drive → departments
The advisory, which describes the sort of information that criminals could glean from the back of your car, suggests you might be endangering yourself and your family with stickers that reveal potentially sensitive details about your life.
uncertain
that → describe → life
Thanks to your careless exuberance, the illustration warns, bad actors may know the school your kids attend and the extracurricular activities in which they participate (an indication that you will be "gone most evenings and/or weekends for practices or games").
uncertain
you → warn → practices
They also may know your hobbies (which might suggest you have "expensive equipment" at home or in the car), the sort of dog you own (possibly a little, nonthreatening breed), your place of work, and your spouse's job (which might indicate frequent, prolonged absences).
uncertain
which → know → absences
By advertising your "baby on board," the advisory adds, you signal that you are "an easy target" because you will be "distracted" and encumbered when you arrive at your destination.
asserted
you → advertise → destination
Even your personalized license plate might be risky, because it is more easily remembered by a hothead you "unintentionally offend" or a creep who "wants to keep track of" your vehicle.
uncertain
who → remember → vehicle
"Always protect your personal information and limit what you share," the Schertz, Texas, police department advises in a typical Facebook post.
asserted
department → protect → post
"What could seem like a harmless decal could lead to an unsafe situation."
uncertain
seem → seem → situation
In other words, drivers should guard their privacy, meaning they should be aware of the facts their cars might be divulging.
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cars → guard → facts
Meanwhile, the law enforcement agencies offering that advice have access to all this information and more, thanks to a nationwide network of AI-assisted cameras that photograph vehicles billions of times a week.
asserted
that → offer → times
The information collected by automated license plate readers (ALPRs), 137,000 of which had been mapped as of late August, goes far beyond what someone might surmise from studying the back of your car.
uncertain
someone → collect → car
It allows police to track your travels, identify other nearby vehicles, and even predict your itinerary.
asserted
police → allow → itinerary
Police can search that database on computers or mobile phones, conducting sophisticated queries that specify vehicle characteristics and locations, generate travel maps and route predictions, and use "convoy analysis" to show which cars have been spotted in a target's vicinity.
asserted
cars → search → vicinity
Cops can supplement that information with details from other government databases and publicly available records.
asserted
Cops → supplement → databases
They can do all that without any sort of judicial oversight and often without meaningful internal supervision.
asserted
They → do → supervision
As the companies that install ALPR cameras and their customers see it, the benefits of that warrantless surveillance system are clear: It helps detect, investigate, and deter crime, offering an affordable "force multiplier" that lets law enforcement agencies stretch their resources in ways that were previously impractical.
asserted
that → install → ways
But the technological innovations underlying that development raise obvious privacy concerns that judges and legislators have started to address only recently, two decades after ALPRs began proliferating as a law enforcement tool.
asserted
ALPRs → underlie → tool
Flock Takes Off
asserted
Flock → take → ?
Glenn Bronson, an electrical engineer and networking specialist who began tinkering with roadside cameras in 2013 and took several stabs at starting ALPR businesses, understands the technology's potential benefits.
asserted
who → begin → benefits
But over the years, he has become increasingly worried by local governments' tendency to install ALPRs without public debate.
asserted
he → become → debate
Bronson's interest in the subject was piqued by a thief who kept stealing metal from his family's construction business in Connecticut.
asserted
who → pique → Connecticut
The burglar would show up before sunrise and walk through the woods to the back of the building, systematically removing and sorting machinery parts, fabrication steel, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, and brass.
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burglar → show → parts
Then he would carry his loot to the road in front of the building and load it into his pickup truck.
asserted
he → carry → truck
Although Bronson had installed security cameras all over the property, the thief apparently disabled one that was low enough to reach and managed to evade the others, sometimes crawling on the ground to stay below a camera's field of view while dragging material from the building.
asserted
that → instal → building
But it dawned on Bronson that the thief could still be caught after he returned to his pickup truck.
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he → dawn → truck
When Bronson researched the question, he discovered that it was perfectly legal to aim cameras at roads because it was taken for granted that people did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their public movements.
asserted
people → research → movements
Bronson set up his first roadside camera outside his family's business in October 2013, and the surveillance enabled local police to identify the burglar, who was arrested in 2014.
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who → set → 2014
The cops welcomed Bronson's assistance in nabbing that guy and other criminal suspects, which suggested a business opportunity.
uncertain
which → welcome → opportunity
Even a criminal who is careful to avoid detection by security cameras, Bronson realized, typically has to drive away at some point, exposing information that, with the help of ALPRs, can be used to apprehend him.
asserted
that → avoid → him
Bronson continued to experiment with roadside cameras, including DIY devices and off-the-shelf equipment.
asserted
Bronson → continue → shelf
He pitched them as crime-fighting tools to businesses, condo associations, police departments, and investors.
asserted
He → pitch → businesses
Bronson's efforts to commercialize the concept ultimately did not pan out.
asserted
efforts → commercialize → concept
But meanwhile, Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based company that another electrical engineer, Garrett Langley, launched in 2017 along with two fellow Georgia Tech graduates, made a go of it in a big way.
asserted
engineer → base → way
Langley, now Flock's CEO, tells an origin story similar to Bronson's.
asserted
Langley → tell → Bronson
"He was troubled by how easy it was to break into cars in his neighborhood in Atlanta," The New York Times reports.
asserted
Times → trouble → Atlanta
"When he asked police why they were unable to catch the thieves," Langley told the Times, they said "they needed the perpetrators' license plate numbers."
asserted
they → ask → numbers
Flock started with homeowners associations, then expanded to police departments, offering solar-powered, internet-connected cameras that it promoted as boons to overtaxed law enforcement agencies.
asserted
it → start → agencies
By 2025, Flock was reporting more than $300 million in annual revenue, and its self-estimated value was $7.5 billion, a number it later upped to $8.4 billion.
asserted
it → report → billion
The company, which says it has installed more than 120,000 ALPR cameras in 12,000 or so communities across 49 states, accounts for around 80 percent of the U.S. market.
asserted
it → say → market
It also offers camera-equipped drones that it says can respond to service calls "anywhere in your jurisdiction" within a minute and a half.
asserted
it → offer → minute
…and 163 more, not listed.
The Aporia
