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Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems have created a shadow network of tracking that spans across cities, highways, and even private properties.
Your plates used to talk to the DMV and the occasional traffic cop. In 2025? They're snitching to data brokers, repo firms and anyone with a $200 camera.
Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology is now embedded across public streets, private neighborhoods, and commercial parking lots.
When a License Plate Becomes a Target How High-Profile Individuals Can Be Tracked Using ALPR Networks ALPR systems weren’t built to track celebrities, activists, or executives. But they do it quite
ALPR vs. GPS: Why License Plate Tracking Is Surging Law enforcement has always had ways to follow
Opinion: Flock Safety is Surveillance Sold as Safety Garrett Langley, CEO of Flock Safety, wants the world to believe his billion-dollar network of cameras and drones is about “ending crime.” What he is really building is a surveillance machine and a billion dollar business model. Let’s be
The DRIVER Act claims to protect consumers but quietly expands access to sensitive vehicle data. Learn how location tracking, telemetry sharing, and surveillance risks increase.
Executive risk is changing. Digital exposure, symbolic grievance, and physical threats are turning C-suite leaders into new targets.
A county ALPR policy telling deputies to say "county resources" isn't a secrecy rule. It's an evidentiary one — and surveillance secrecy has three layers.
Your Car's Movements Are for Sale
An Institute for Justice database of plate reader abuse, officers caught tracking former partners, and a citizen site built from police search logs kept plate data in the news through 2026. This brief maps how a captured plate becomes a purchasable record of where a vehicle has been, who can buy it, and at which layer protection belongs. Built from vendor mapping, price lists and terms, and misuse reporting. For principals and security teams planning sensitive movements.
In August 2026 a public records request surfaced an Iowa sheriff's office procedure governing how deputies refer to license plate reader use. This brief asks what that procedure changes about the case record, and what it implies for anyone seeking to learn whether plate-reader data figured in a case. It reads the policy against the sheriff's stated rationale and the growing market for fixed and aerial readers. For principals and counsel facing matters that may rest on vehicle location records.
Two Hundred Cities Said No
By September 2026 the Institute for Justice was tracking hundreds of local governments that had dropped plate reader contracts, while other cities renewed or switched vendors. This brief asks what that wave shows about which surveillance ordinary political participation can reach, and where a principal should expect protection. Built from the cancellation database, council votes and contracts, vendor disclosures and federal action on bidstream brokers. For principals and advisors weighing whether local wins reduce their exposure.