Will Flock track THIS next!?
The short version: ReasonTV's Bess Byers digs into Leonardo's SignalTrace, showing ALPR networks are expanding beyond plates to sniff Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals from phones, watches, and earbuds.
Our Take
Credit where it's due: Bess Byers and ReasonTV keep pulling on the thread that most local news outlets won't touch. This time it's SignalTrace, a product from Leonardo (the same defense contractor name you'd expect on a fighter jet, not a pole on your street corner) that reportedly reads Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals bouncing off your devices. Plates were just the opening act. If your AirPods, smartwatch, or phone are broadcasting a unique identifier as you drive by, that's one more breadcrumb trail feeding into a system that was never built with a warrant requirement in mind.
This is exactly the mission creep we've been warning about since Flock cameras started popping up on every other intersection. Once the hardware and the data pipelines exist, the temptation to bolt on 'one more signal' is basically irresistible for a growth-stage surveillance company selling to police departments on subscription. Nobody voted for a rolling inventory of every device that passes a given camera, but that's the direction this is heading, one quiet firmware update at a time.
If you want to see how far this has already spread near you, check our camera map, and if your city council hasn't had a public debate about what these cameras actually collect, now's the time to make them have one. Our take-action page has the tools to get that conversation started.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of ReasonTV, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.