Issue 115: Public and Private Camera Networks

Issue 115: Public and Private Camera Networks

After
last week’s issue on digital privacy
, I thought I’d focus this week on government-sponsored or -enabled surveillance.
As I dug through my store of saved articles, though, I realized I had quite a number of a particular kind of surveillance: camera networks.
These are often municipal-sponsored systems of license plate readers, but there are also networks of private systems—and, of course, attempts to combine the output of all of these networks.
So that is the focus of this week’s
Thursday Threads
issue:
An investigation by a newspaper editor highlights privacy concerns and legal challenges in rural
Virginia’s use of license plate reading cameras
. (2025)
Debate over the privacy concerns and legal challenges of license plate readers is nothing new, as
this 2012 article shows
.
What happens when you put equipment not meant for the internet onto the internet? A security flaw in Motorola’s automated license-plate-recognition systems
exposes real-time vehicle data and video feeds online
. (2025)
A license plate reader in every tow truck? Privacy concerns of a
private surveillance network of 9 billion license plate scans
enable widespread vehicle tracking. (2019)
Similar to «the call is coming from inside the house», the surveillance is coming from inside your community. Privacy concerns emerge as
HOAs nationwide install Flock Safety’s license plate readers
, facilitating police surveillance. (2023)
How about we network all of these cameras together?
AI-powered surveillance system
spurs privacy concerns as adoption grows in U.S. (2023)
If we’ve got to have this tech, we might as well have some fun with it.
Artist’s Traffic Cam Photobooth
sparks controversy and cease-and-desist over creative use of NYC traffic cameras. (2024)
This Week I Learned
: The word «scapegoat» was coined in a 1530 translation of the bible.
This week’s cat
Also on DLTJ since the last newsletter was published:
My Public Archive of #TeslaTakedown Protest Signs
. Print one off and take it to
your
next protest.
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Privacy Concerns and Legal Challenges in Rural Virginia’s Use of License Plate Reading Cameras
The research for State of Surveillance showed that you can’t drive anywhere without going through a town, city or county that’s using public surveillance of some kind, mostly license plate reading cameras. I wondered how often I might be captured on camera just driving around to meet my reporters. Would the data over time display patterns that would make my behavior predictable to anyone looking at it? So I took a daylong drive across Cardinal Country and asked 15 law e…