100 county councils have cancelled flock cameras but now recording bluetooth from your phone

Our Take

Credit to the channel Digital ID, Mass Surveillance and Digital Currency for flagging a pattern we've long warned about: when communities push back hard enough to cancel an ALPR contract, the underlying demand for persistent tracking doesn't just evaporate. It often resurfaces in a different technical wrapper — in this case, Bluetooth-based sensors that can sniff the unique signals your phone, earbuds, and car infotainment system broadcast constantly, without ever needing to read a plate.

This matters because the public debate over Flock Safety and similar license plate reader networks has mostly been fought on the turf of plates and cars. But the same infrastructure — poles, power, backhaul networks, vendor relationships — can just as easily host Bluetooth and Wi-Fi probes that build a parallel map of pedestrians, cyclists, and anyone who leaves their phone's radio on. A council 'win' against one surveillance vendor can quietly become a rebrand if residents aren't watching the hardware itself, not just the press release.

We can't verify every claim in this video and encourage you to watch it with a critical eye, but the broader lesson tracks with what we see nationwide: surveillance infrastructure rarely disappears once installed, it diversifies. Check our camera map to see what's actually deployed near you, and if your local council or police department is 'reconsidering' Flock, ask pointed questions about what's replacing it before you celebrate — then head to take-action for tools to push back.