WASHINGTON, Aug 9 — A growing grassroots backlash against surveillance cameras that scan vehicle number plates is spreading across the United States, with privacy activists organising online campaigns and some even vandalising the equipment.
The surveillance start-up Flock has installed more than 100,000 licence plate reader cameras across the country in just a few years, with police departments, homeowners’ associations and businesses using them to track vehicles and investigate crimes.
But opponents say the technology gives authorities an unprecedented window into the movements of ordinary Americans and risks undermining privacy and civil liberties.
At just 20, a self-styled vigilante known as Nomark has become one of the movement’s most visible figures, using his Instagram account, which has about 500,000 followers, to raise awareness about Flock cameras.
After disabling about 30 cameras near his home in the Minneapolis area, he told AFP: “I’m not really as scared anymore.”
The backlash has grown beyond individual activists, with online groups mapping camera locations, sharing ways to block their lenses and celebrating people arrested for destroying them.
The Facebook group DeFlock America has more than 600,000 members and is gaining thousands more each day.
Flock cameras differ from traditional surveillance systems because they do not record video, instead taking still images that capture a vehicle’s make, model, colour, licence plate and other features such as bumper stickers.
That information can be stored for up to a month and shared among subscribers, sometimes across state lines.
Opponents argue the system allows police to build detailed records of where law-abiding Americans travel without obtaining warrants.
Jon Bridges, a police official in Virginia’s state capital Richmond, said that for “practically any crime that has a connection with a vehicle or a vehicle involved, we will at least query the database to see if there’s anything there.”
His department has used Flock since 2023.
Bridges cited a domestic-related double homicide in May, when police used Flock data to identify a suspect who had fled in his pick-up truck and alert officers in a neighbouring county, who later arrested him.
Potential abuses
Critics fear the technology could also be misused by officers to track people without warrants.
A Washington Post investigation found at least 50 police officers had been accused of misusing the Flock system, most of them to monitor romantic partners or former partners.
US media have also reported cases involving officers using Flock to track women who had abortions, which are illegal in several US states, while others allegedly shared data with immigration agents.
Flock chief executive Garrett Langley has accused some opponents of being “terrorists”, adding to tensions surrounding the technology.
“There is really an incredible grassroots movement against Flock,” said Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, describing its growth as “stunning.”
The campaign has attracted support from both the political left and right, including libertarians.
Former Fox News host and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has called the vandals “decent, patriotic Americans” who are simply “taking matters into their own hands.”
Across the country, local groups are also lobbying elected officials to end Flock contracts.
Steven Keener, a professor of criminology at Christopher Newport University in Virginia, said residents could meet city council members or mayors and push them to cancel agreements with the company.
Such campaigns have already produced results.
More than 70 municipalities, from Los Angeles to small towns in Virginia, have ended their association with Flock in recent months, according to an ACLU tally.
For Keener, the movement is notable because it has brought people together despite the country’s deep political divisions.
“Because decisions are at the local level, people realize that they can actually make a difference,” he told AFP. – AFP
