Tips on preventing your number plate being read splatter

Our Take

This video from the channel 'Digital ID, Mass Surveillance and Digital Currency' walks through various physical tricks people use to try to throw off automated plate readers. We get why the impulse is there — when a network like Flock Safety can log everywhere your car goes, people start looking for a workaround. Credit to the creator for putting a spotlight on how normalized plate-reading has become on both sides of the Atlantic.

But here's the catch: smearing, bending, or obscuring a plate is illegal in most U.S. states, and even where it isn't explicitly banned, it can get you pulled over, ticketed, or flagged as 'suspicious' — which ironically feeds more data into the same surveillance systems you're trying to dodge. A busted taillight trick doesn't fix the underlying problem, which is that thousands of these cameras are quietly logging the movements of ordinary people with no warrant, no suspicion, and often no public oversight of who can access the data or how long it's kept.

The real fight isn't about outsmarting a camera lens, it's about knowing where these systems exist and pushing for transparency and limits on their use. Check our camera map to see what's been documented near you, and head to our take-action page if you want to push back through your city council or state legislature instead of just your bumper.