Have I been Flocked? – Check if your license plate is being watched

[tptacek]

Besides the obvious privacy concern: at the very least in my state (Illinois), it's not lawful for public bodies to disclose the license plate numbers read from ALPR cameras, so this data set is necessarily incomplete.

But, give it a year or two, and you can replace this whole website with a black background and 72 point white bold text "YES".

[diydsp]

Rule 1. Do not comply in advance. Do not accept it as inevitable. Do not give away your power without friction.

[hopelite]

There is already case law that makes the records collected by government through these methods no different than any other public records, especially since they are publicly visible license plate numbers.

That has its own problems because it shields/deflects from the bigger issue of being treasonous, i.e., grotesque violation of the law of the Constitution, through mass surveillance that has also already been abused for various kinds of criminal acts by law enforcement.

[sp332]

In New Hampshire, we banned both public and private ALPRs. You can see on the map that the only ones are at toll booths. Those got explicit exemptions in the law.

[calvinmorrison]

Flock is a private company, right. That's the whole schtick. Like, Flock can retain records indefinitely for example, they may sell those records to the government but they're a private party.

[rahimnathwani]

  at the very least in my state (Illinois), it's not lawful for public bodies to disclose the license plate numbers read from ALPR cameras, so this data set is necessarily incomplete

It's not a dataset of license plate numbers read from ALPR cameras. It's a dataset of license plate numbers that have been entered into search tools.

  Enter a license plate to see if it's one of the 2,207,426 plates seen in the 27,177,268 Flock searches we know about.

[hibf]

You're right that the dataset is incomplete, but it contains searches done by police, not plates read by Flock.

The search logs are public record even when alpr data is not; quite a few come from IL.

[mycall]

* While our most recent data is from 12/4/2025, there may be significant historical gaps.

* Most agencies don't proactively publish audit logs Records requests can take months or years to fulfill Some agencies heavily redact their logs

* We may not have requested logs from your local agencies yet

[pilingual]

Put up billboards around metros with a license plate reader that queries this database with each passing car and announce "White Tesla Model Y XYZ-1234 You've been focked for: Inv"

What a sick society we live in.

[VoidWhisperer]

This unfortunately wouldn't work quite as well in states where cars arent required to have a front facing license plate (like florida)

[potato3732842]

That'd be a great place to test one's plate for legibility to the toll and speed cameras.

[venturecruelty]

How about we hold our leaders accountable?

[johnebgd]

Dystopian society.

[ifh-hn]

Since the page is currently down and I have no idea what flocked means in the context of license plates, can I assume this is US specific?

[KomoD]

"Flock Safety" is a company that makes "ALPR" cameras (automated license plate recognition, in reality they go far beyond just reading license plates), they've been getting a lot of attention recently because people are worried about privacy and abuse.

There's a bunch of articles about them here: https://www.404media.co/tag/flock/

[reactordev]

https://deflock.me

[iso1631]

ANPR cameras which the rest of the world (and apparently America) have had for decades have recently become big news in America, I believe because they're now being used for immigration purposes?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number-plate_recogni...

I'm not sure why these are so bad but generally everyone loves things like Ring cameras which do the same thing but with people rather than vehicles. I suspect there's something in the American Psyche and how they treat cars, and the inherent trust of the billionaires and distrust of "The Feds"

[nh43215rgb]

> You cannot access this site because the owner has reached their plan limits. Check back later once traffic has gone down.

> If you are owner of this website, prevent this from happening again by upgrading your plan on the Cloudflare Workers dashboard.

[xer0x]

Cloudflare making sites unavailable?

[habinero]

I love these kinds of sites, since they're indistinguishable from honeypots. Sure, have my license plate and the information that I'm worried about being watched.

[AdmiralAsshat]

With no other identifying info, though, what can they do with a license plate number in isolation?

[hopelite]

I totally understand your sentiment, but you could just check a random assortment of license plate numbers you collected while driving around, which also includes yours. At the very least that would effectively obfuscate your license plate sufficiently that it could not be attributed beyond other methods that likely already have done so.

[boomboomsubban]

They list their sources, if you care but don't trust them you could replicate it on your own.

[blitzar]

Reminds me of the (legit) form to claim compensation for a privacy leak.

Put in your name, address, phone number, dob, ssn and bank details - we will post you a cheque for $2.50

[MangoToupe]

Who isn't worried about being watched? I am certainly not confident the government can tell their ass from their face, so anyone could be suspect.

[RobRivera]

Lmao I got honeypotted in h.s. by one of those 'does your crush like you' astrology sites

[Simulacra]

Sounds like social media ;-)

[alilikestech]

Lol I actually tried it with my plate, i hope i don't get SWATed

[gotekom952]

Very problematic flock security video - how easy is to hack them https://youtu.be/uB0gr7Fh6lY?si=vC2Kyl_e30kVVmXT

[ourmandave]

Visit deflock.me/map to see if you live near a camera.

https://deflock.me/map

[iJohnDoe]

Holy shit! I had no idea they were everywhere!

Do they get permission or permit to install them?

[user3939382]

Can’t wait for the Flock Equifax/SouthParkWereSorry-esque breach announcement any day. I should start a betting pool w my friends.

[khannn]

Hello, we at Flock are very sad to announce that your data was leaked, but due to the fact that we operate in a legal grey area to get around laws and are nothing more than the domestic surveillance equivalent to a PMC operating overseas, we invite you get fucked

[Pikamander2]

No worries; after Flock gets breached, you'll be compensated with one free year of their services.

[bigbuppo]

I've got $10 on compromised six months before they had their first customer.

[pilingual]

If YouTube personalities can break into the hardware, I wouldn't be surprised if foreign intelligence has already figured out a way. Clownin

[kotaKat]

My breach compensation will be my choice of 3 Flock Cameras from any location in the US with a pole saw.

[GaryBluto]

Slashdotted within 3 hours.

[asveikau]

Now there's a term I haven't heard in a while

[opengrass]

Have I ran out of 100,000 requests?

[WalterSear]

Does your significant other know about your car collection? You may have a car hoarding problem.

[jmward01]

I wonder if I got a license plate holder that said 'I do not consent to selling my position information' if I could sue them.

[7e]

You have no right to privacy in public, at least in the US.

[bix6]

Interesting I can’t access this over VPN

[ccgreg]

Well, yeah. Clownflare

[dwoldrich]

Now imagine every other aspect of modern life is enshittified similarly to some extent and all being dialed up. Nothing is sacred, and talk to the contrary is laughable. Government is a scummy grift, every big (money) cause is full of unaudited scammers. I hope you are never passionate about a pet government policy!

You can buy local or do it yourself, but all of those are squeezed at the margins by enshittified inputs.

Before even seeking to fix the problem, I try to work on me.

First, I try (difficult) to not be sucked into useless wallowing, which keeps me exactly where the enemy wants me to be. I tend to skim 'news' headlines now, if that.

Second, in my career I strive to produce uncommon quality so as to not add to the problem.

I love to stand out and feel proud of my work. It makes me sad when coworkers are concerned/confused when I put in extra effort. I know where they're coming from. No one notices nor cares at $megacorp, and my work is internal and humble.

I do it for self-improvement and to make the time I spend working for them worthwhile to me.

[smackay]

You forgot to mention personal integrity and setting a good example to others.

[DivingForGold]

A met a guy once whom drives a PU truck, he lowers the tailgate and places an oversized piece of plywood in the bed as an excuse, he also places an opaque plastic cover over his front lic plate, which has been raised to a $300 fine in Texas, if caught. He now intends to place a series of bright strobe lights around his front plate to "bleach out" the sensors of these spy cameras.

[pxc]

> He now intends to place a series of bright strobe lights around his front plate to "bleach out" the sensors of these spy cameras.

Isn't this a safety hazard?

[morkalork]

Is his name Rusty Shackelford by any chance?

[DonHopkins]

Does he drive a hotdog shaped car?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLfAf8oHrMo

[CamperBob2]

How does he plan to trigger the strobe lights?

[The_President]

Flock creates a dossier that allows an individual to be stalked and framed. This permits rouge users clamoring for more power to consolidate their toolkit and expedite their rise.

People get framed and stolen from all the time and this will certainly make it worse.

[herpdyderp]

Are you talking about the linked website or Flock itself?

[amelius]

License plate numbers are old fashioned. Can't we get something more secure? E.g. plate numbers that change every hour would be a good start. I don't like to drive around with a giant cookie strapped to my car.

[nxm]

Great, more expensive electronic crap in/on the car to break...

[tjwebbnorfolk]

The whole point of plastering a giant UID on your vehicle is so that it can be identified. Security isn't the purpose here.

[hellothereworld]

You can search with „OUTATIME“. For any non-americans lurking in the comments.

[dieselgate]

Cool website, gave it a go. I am not a general advocate of license plate tracking but believe it’s a double edge sword. A former vehicle was stolen and recovered twice - likely due to tracking technology.

[beAbU]

Cars can have tracking devices installed that remain dormant until remotely activated by the owner in case of theft.

This is how Netstar and Tracker does it in South Africa. To massive success. So much so that a car without one of these installed is basically uninsurable.

There is no need for external 3rd party tracking.

[mfkp]

Seems like the website has ran out of cloudflare worker credits on their plan:

  Please check back later
  Error 1027
  This website has been temporarily rate limited

[supportengineer]

I believe that the full weight of the nations resources should come into play whenever there are missing or abducted people. CIA, NSA, satellites, all of it. I can’t fathom while we don’t do that already. But absent of that, Flock is the next best thing. Mainly because it reduces the friction to get this information in the hands of local law-enforcement officers. I have zero tolerance for crimes against children and fully support capital punishment for such.

[venturecruelty]

The vast, vast majority of child abduction cases are either a domestic dispute between parents, or someone the child knows (also usually a family member). This scaremongering needs to stop, especially when it's used to justify the rapid erosion of our liberties at the hands of an authoritarian government.

[analogpixel]

You guys really need to come up with at least ONE other reason to push every single policy besides "think of the children"; Just one to break it up a bit.

[slicktux]

I’m curious; what database are they using? Or does Flock allow queries to their database?

[hibf]

Whenever anyone does a search in Flock's database, Flock sends the metadata to the related customers.

I.e., if someone does a statewide lookup in Nebraska, all Nebraska-based Flock customers receive the search metadata. Ostensibly, to be able to track if "their" ALPR data has been queried. Those audit logs are public record.

This is also how IL discovered out-of-state agencies were using data from Illinois for immigration enforcement (after FOIA by a citizen, of course; apparently none of the IL law enforcement agencies audited their data for unlawful activity).

[dopidopHN2]

FOIA the records

[dev_l1x_be]

Have I been HNed? [Yes] No

[BlarfMcFlarf]

I mean, we already had PRISM, why is anyone acting like this is a big deal?

[basilgohar]

It's a big deal even if it's been happening for a while. It should not be something we shrug our shoulders to and move on. These are stepping stones to a greater police state.

[venturecruelty]

There can be multiple big deals at once.

[xboxnolifes]

Because prism is a big deal too.

[onetokeoverthe]

just enter 10 license numbers.

[kazinator]

Have I been flocculated? Check your social security number to see whether you are considered pond scum.

[chzblck]

Oh no my super secret license plate! definitely something that is normally hidden instead of being on the front and back of my car for anyone to see and photo.

[dietr1ch]

Sure, but now there's a highly vulnerable network of cameras that reports wherever you pass to everyone way beyond the few people that saw you go around.

[phyzome]

"Oh no, my super secret movement data, which is now being made available to a large number of people" would be more accurate.

[venturecruelty]

Oh no, my bad faith argument!

[chzblck]

Downvote all you want but adtechs like magnite, ttd, and applovin Have way more personal data on you and use it to influence. I'll take safety over ads any day of the week.