Flock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company, exposed some of the license plate cops were looking for and the reason for doing so.

  • artyom@piefed.social
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    21 hours ago

    Im shocked that the company who was openly broadcasting live feeds to the public internet also exposed the details of searches!

      • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        18 hours ago

        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
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          15 hours ago

          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.

          • ironycanal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            15 hours ago

            Oh wow.this is just blatantly anti-police. You think cops shouldn’t get to masturbate, just because they’re cops?

          • cheesemoo@lemmy.world
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            15 hours ago

            And they probably sold the people in charge on the idea that it’s to “protect the children” 🤮

        • tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          18 hours ago

          It’s good to point this out, I don’t drive but I forget they could probably track my bike still based on it’s distinctiveness, calling them license plate readers really does obscure the insidiousness well. We’ve heard about automatic license plate readers for years, they weren’t like this so it is really disingenuous to call them such.

          • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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            17 hours ago

            oh yeah. like, if the police in town have figured out who i am from my trike, there’s no way the ALPR hasn’t. that thing is fucking distinctive. and i wave hi to everyone (the ALPRs with one finger)

        • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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          17 hours ago

          ground squirrels. we use the atf tag (it’s not mine, i don’t know what it’s called) machine gun to hunt ground squirrels. i mean you have to kill them for environmental regulation and agricultural control anyways, might as well have some fun.

      • extremeboredom@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        It uses machine learning algorithms to identify vehicles independently of the license plate. Leaked documentation has also shown they operate facial recognition tech, in direct contradiction to the lies they tell the public. Flock is fundamentally an evil company, delivering the infrastructure for totalitarian rule, wrapped in the alluring false promise of eliminating crime. They know exactly what they are doing, which is why they are so heartily embraced by fascists in government, from the top all the way down.

        • SnausagesinaBlanket@lemmy.world
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          19 hours ago

          So the people that like these don’t mind their own privacy being invaded? Perhaps they already know if caught doing something they will get a free pass?

          • extremeboredom@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            Generally the ones putting them in are on the side of the system that gets a free pass wherever they go. And the majority of the public that allows it to happen fall for the “nothing to hide, nothing to fear” fallacy.

            • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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              17 hours ago

              i mean, i can bow and scrape my way into free passes for the occasional thing (it’s usually in exchange for extraordinary services rendered years ago let’s be real), but don’t think for a second i want those flock fuckers in my country.

      • Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        On top of what everyone else saod, FLOCK can track your vehicle as you cross several plus states. I would say 90% if not more highways and freeways have them across the US.

        Cool tool for stopping real crininals, bad tool on a civil rights side.

        • Talcosis@lemmy.zip
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          11 hours ago

          Pretty much everyone is a real criminal, it’s just that most crimes are so minor that they are ignored (see: jaywalking, speeding, putting ice cream in your pocket). In some cases, the laws exist to provide a fig leaf for the powers that be when they want to fuck with someone.

        • IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet@reddthat.com
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          14 hours ago

          People don’t understand “real” criminal in deeply intertwined with regular people and regular cops and politicians. Most “regular” naive people think of criminals as some mythical thing but they are everywhere. It’s almost as if the “straight” legal life is mirrored 1 to 1 with the dark side. And that part of maintaining the “legal” side is to market that the dark side is a myth, even though is there, part of the “legal” sides politics, economy, and culture.

          • psx_crab@lemmy.zip
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            13 hours ago

            This is basically what happened when people whine about the authority only take action when crime are commited. So now everyone are being watched in every corner.

            • IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet@reddthat.com
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              11 hours ago

              Idk even know if it’s that. This system works people against each other. They create the barrel of crabs and profit off all the bullshit as people claw their way out to get to the rights that a human should naturally have.

              Everything is business. And suffering creates reason. It’s a system.

      • artyom@piefed.social
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        17 hours ago

        They’re just public cameras. They’re notoriously used to capture and record the locations of vehicles via their license plates but realistically they totally could flip a switch and start using them for things like facial recognition overnight.

        • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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          12 hours ago

          Dude, I think you’re misunderstanding. i really wanted to understand. Thankfully Lemmy is awesome, and now I do.