FDOT orders removal of license plate readers from state rights-of-way, highways
The short version: Florida's DOT ordered ALPR cameras pulled from state rights-of-way, proving unauthorized Flock installations can be rolled back when officials actually enforce the rules.
Our Take
Credit WEAR Channel 3 News for catching something we hear about constantly but rarely see corrected: a state agency actually telling someone to take their license plate readers down. FDOT's order over cameras planted in highway rights-of-way is a reminder that a lot of this ALPR sprawl happens because nobody bothered to check whether it was legal in the first place. Flock and its customers move fast, bolt cameras to poles, and figure out the permission problem later — or never.
What's notable here isn't that Florida suddenly discovered a love for privacy. It's that right-of-way rules gave regulators a hook to act on, something most states don't have when it comes to the actual surveillance function of these devices. The law caught a trespass on pavement, not the dragnet tracking of every driver who passes by. That's the gap we keep pointing to: even when a camera gets ordered down, it's rarely because someone objected to the mass collection of travel data on people who've done nothing wrong.
Still, a forced removal is a forced removal, and it shows these networks aren't untouchable. If you want to see how dense this coverage has gotten in your own area, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not wait for a bureaucratic technicality to do the work, our take-action page has steps for pushing back directly.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of WEAR Channel 3 News, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.