Ulta Vallejo ALPR Violation
The short version: A law firm's investigation into Ulta Beauty's use of Flock ALPRs at a Vallejo store shows surveillance creep has moved from highways straight into strip-mall parking lots.
Our Take
Emery | Reddy, PC flags something we've been warning about for a while: ALPR surveillance isn't just a police tool anymore, it's a retail one. A beauty supply store scanning your plate when you pull in to buy shampoo is a different animal than a cop car on patrol, yet Flock has blurred that line by selling the same camera network to both. If Ulta really is logging plates at this Vallejo location, that's a private company building location data on customers who never agreed to be tracked just for walking in to shop.
This is exactly the kind of quiet mission creep that makes Flock's business model so unsettling. Once a retailer, HOA, or private security firm installs a camera, that data often flows into the same shared network police departments tap into, with few guardrails on retention, sharing, or consumer consent. A law firm digging into whether this violates privacy statutes is a healthy sign that people are starting to push back on commercial ALPR use, not just the government kind.
Credit to Emery | Reddy for putting a spotlight on this. If you want to see how dense the camera network is near you, check our camera map, and if you're ready to push back on surveillance creep in your own community, our take-action page has concrete next steps.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Emery | Reddy, PC Privacy Rights, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.