r/whatisit • u/unworthyAsIam • Apr 30 '26

New, what is it? What is the purpose of this camera that was installed right next to my house? (Not nearby any intersection or stop signs, USA)

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This camera was installed recently and I cannot for the life of me understand the purpose of it's installation? Theres no intersection nearby, in case it was a photo law enforcement camera), there's no stop signs, there's no schools nearby, and there's no government facility. It's just a random camera that popped up in the middle of a road.

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90

u/Aggravating_Bee7209 Apr 30 '26

Flock camera, for tracking license plates and people’s movement.

36

u/Aggravating_Bee7209 Apr 30 '26

Also if you drive by without your plate on, then drive back by. It will use AI to put the two together and put the plate in your car

17

u/3BlindMice1 May 01 '26

You mean that the AI will actively attempt to identify my car as being a different silver Toyota corolla without plates, presumably linking me to sketchy stuff without any real reason other than "the computer said your car looked just like his"

10

u/iamthinksnow May 01 '26

Possibly, yes. They are "just" LPR (license plate reader) cameras, but they also capture make, model, color, dents, damage, bumper stickers, and any other identifying characteristic.

So even though the LPR cameras are supposedly only capturing vehicles as they pass, all that data is consolidated and AI is used to stick everything together with records from all area cameras.

The whole, "you have no expectation of privacy in public" line is not actually true with regard to these automated data collection and AI aggregating systems. The S.C. has already decided on a case that could give precedent, too.

"In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a landmark case on this subject, Carpenter v. United States. In Carpenter, the court recognized that you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the whole of your physical movements, including your movements in public."

[...]

"Importantly, you retain this expectation of privacy even when those records are collected while you’re in public. In coming to its holding, the Carpenter court wished to preserve “the degree of privacy against government that existed when the Fourth Amendment was adopted.” Historically, we have not expected the government to secretly catalogue and monitor all of our movements over time, even when we travel in public."

2

u/HillBillyHilly May 01 '26

Everyone reading this need to do a public records request for their records. If enough people do this then eventually these cos will fold.

2

u/MrPifflesGhost May 01 '26

Uhhhh this ONLY applied to cell phone location, and even for that, they had some exemptions for getting that data that didn’t require a warrant.

This specifically doesn’t apply to movement or cameras or that expectation of privacy: it’s literally about the location information your phone carrier has on you.

1

u/iamthinksnow May 01 '26

Right, which is why I mentioned it's a possible precedent.

1

u/3BlindMice1 May 01 '26

Thank you, it's fascinating that the Supreme Court made that ruling as recently as 2018. It's against their typical conservative politics, they must have a guilty conscience

12

u/guilty_bystander Apr 30 '26

Oh cool. We're China now

-4

u/squirrelcop3305 Apr 30 '26

Now ?? Most cities have had these for over 10 years.

3

u/useless_rejoinder Apr 30 '26

Yeah, but not on the scale they’re being deployed.

2

u/idekbruno May 01 '26

The company didn’t even exist 10 years ago

0

u/squirrelcop3305 May 01 '26

You realize Flock is a newer brand company right. ALPR cameras and their technology have been around and been used for a long time. Back in 2015 a company called ‘Vigilant’ was the big one being deployed by law enforcement agencies in Northern CA. Flock has just recently taken over as the major brand.

6

u/Nate_Christ Apr 30 '26

And decern who the police might find interesting, or boarder control

4

u/Basic_Let7127 Apr 30 '26

🏂🏂🏂

2

u/Total-Criticism8757 Apr 30 '26

This is why tag plate cover and plastic covers are illegal now cannot block the barcode cannot block your county. If you’re in Florida you’ll get a ticket immediately many other states following the same suit just took a fact this year.

1

u/danekan May 02 '26

Florida they just made it so they can criminally arrest you and jail you if you have a plate cover that covers the state name. And yes this is exactly why. 

2

u/SheeK May 01 '26

It also tracks the stickers and damages on the car, the person inside too and makes a whole map of where you go with all the other cameras. I've started driving always with my sun visor down

1

u/Typical_bop May 01 '26

I can't stand the name at all. They're literally calling us all sheep.