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Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

(alpranalysis.com)
239 points sodality2 | 1 comments | 10 Dec 25 17:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.21s | source

Built this over the last few days, based on a Rust codebase that parses the latest ALPR reports from OpenStreetMaps, calculates navigation statistics from every tagged residential building to nearby amenities, and tests each route for intersection with those ALPR cameras (Flock being the most widespread).

These have gotten more controversial in recent months, due to their indiscriminate large scale data collection, with 404 Media publishing many original pieces (https://www.404media.co/tag/flock/) about their adoption and (ab)use across the country. I wanted to use open source datasets to track the rapid expansion, especially per-county, as this data can be crucial for 'deflock' movements to petition counties and city governments to ban and remove them.

In some counties, the tracking becomes so widespread that most people can't go anywhere without being photographed. This includes possibly sensitive areas, like places of worship and medical facilities.

The argument for their legality rests upon the notion that these cameras are equivalent to 'mere observation', but the enormous scope and data sharing agreements in place to share and access millions of records without warrants blurs the lines of the fourth amendment.

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yannyu ◴[10 Dec 25 20:28 UTC] No.46223289[source]▶
I've thought about this a lot as I see more and more reckless driving in the areas I live in. Surveillance is generally a net negative, but it's also bad when you see people speeding around schools, rolling through stop signs, and running red lights. We seem to have a worst of all situations where traffic is getting increasingly difficult to enforce, driving is getting more dangerous year by year, and we're terrified of government overreach if we add any automation at all to enforcement.

I don't know the solution, but I do know that in the US we've lost 10-15 years of progress when it comes to traffic fatalities.

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MisterTea ◴[10 Dec 25 21:29 UTC] No.46224145[source]▶
I live in NYC. People used to be afraid of double parking. Like you I regularly see the same bat-shit driving and no one seems to care to say or do anything. It's bonkers.
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cons0le ◴[11 Dec 25 01:21 UTC] No.46226496[source]▶
NYC should have been the model to follow. Instead of flock cameras, cities should have bounty systems: record a video of a speed violation with a plate, and get 10% of the ticket revenue. Enforcement would explode.

We could of had a system where we used the technology we already had in our hands to democratize speed enforcement, instead of corporatizing it

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barnas2 ◴[11 Dec 25 13:22 UTC] No.46231048[source]▶
NYC already tried Snitching as a Service during COVID, and it went terribly. I grew up with a neighbor who would constantly record people and call the cops over every little perceived infraction. Everyone in the neighborhood hated her, including the cops. I do not want to live in a society that encourages those people.
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cons0le ◴[11 Dec 25 13:57 UTC] No.46231416[source]▶
I definitely agree it can go too far. Maybe only allow bounties for active, dangerous crimes like speeding, drunk driving, and racing?
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1. salawat ◴[11 Dec 25 16:34 UTC] No.46233554[source]▶
No Stasi. No Salem witch trials. Thank you. Do not need to retread that ground.