flock off Ulta! #flock #alpr #ulta #deflock

Our Take

Augusta Zawacki's quick, punchy video does what a lot of great ALPR callouts do: it makes you stop and ask why a beauty store parking lot needs a license plate reader at all. We don't know the specifics of this particular Ulta's data-sharing agreement with Flock Safety, but the broader pattern is well documented — retailers increasingly bolt these cameras onto their lots, often without clear signage or customer consent, feeding plate data into networks that can be queried by police and, in some cases, federal agencies.

That's the real story here. It's not just government checkpoints or highway cameras anymore — it's the drugstore, the mall, the strip mall lot where you just wanted to grab mascara. Every one of those scans gets timestamped, geotagged, and potentially retained far longer than most shoppers would ever guess. Creators like Zawacki doing on-the-ground spotting and calling out specific businesses is exactly the kind of grassroots accountability that keeps this issue visible.

If you want to see how far this network has spread in your own neighborhood — including retail lots — check our camera map, and if a story like this makes your blood boil, we've got concrete steps on how to push back, from public records requests to talking to store management directly.