License Plate Photo Blocker - you can make - works flock speed camera picture hider privacy

Our Take

Cult of DIY's latest project walks through building a homemade cover meant to throw off Flock's license plate readers and speed cameras. It's the kind of scrappy, hands-on response that keeps popping up as more drivers realize their daily routes are being logged by cameras they never agreed to. Credit where it's due: the channel is transparent that the trick only works 80% of the time, which says a lot about how aggressive and adaptive this camera network already is.

That 80% figure is really the headline here. Even a well-executed DIY blocker leaves a gap, and Flock's system is built to flag exactly the kind of anomaly a partially obscured plate creates — meaning these covers can draw more scrutiny, not less. It's also worth remembering that plate-obstruction laws vary wildly by state, so a privacy workaround can quickly turn into a ticket. DIY hacks are a symptom of a surveillance system that was deployed in thousands of towns with little public input, not a substitute for actually rolling that system back.

If you want to know whether these cameras are watching your own neighborhood, check our map for documented locations near you, and if you'd rather fight this at the policy level instead of the bumper level, our take-action page has concrete steps for pushing back on local Flock contracts.