Axon

Police are using license plate reader networks, from companies like Flock Safety and Axon, to flag cars by travel pattern and pull them over. Gizmodo cites a California grandmother quizzed about casino visits and a Wisconsin-Michigan driver stopped for repeat trips. A Texas jury sided with a driver flagged after one overnight trip.

The thread's best argument was about whether any of this can be audited.

Engadget reports there are now over 100,000 Flock cameras in the US, running modified Android, feeding a searchable network where a Texas officer can query Massachusetts footage and ICE rides along through local police. Searcher Benn Jordan found 70-plus cameras streaming live, password-free, in December 2025.

Then an HN commenter who co-led the campaign that removed Flock from Eugene and Springfield, Oregon and helped draft state ALPR law said his team decompiled a device: the object-detection categories included 'cat,' 'dog,' 'person,' 'bicycle' — confirming from the binary what marketing implies.