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[ Automated Number Plate Recognition was initially sold as a
surveillance mechanism for traffic law enforcement.
[ It's also a tool on toll-roads, and at entrances to and exits from
parking areas, with plenty of reports of automated billing and finding,
generally without any tolerance for either exceptional circumstances or
outright error.
[ It looks like some corporations are gearing up for
surveillance-as-a-service (SurvaaS?), If they achieve adequate scale,
they can sell contracts into law enforcement agencies, and achieve even
more scale.
[ Roll on the corporatised state ... ]
Schools are next for Flock Safety’s automatic license place reader cameras
Suzanne Smalley
The Record
July 31st, 2025
https://therecord.media/flock-safety-raptor-technologies-schools-surveillance
The controversial automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company Flock
Safety is preparing to roll out its network of surveillance cameras to
schools.
School safety company Raptor Technologies says it will integrate Flock
cameras into a product designed to enhance dismissal procedures.
The announcement, made this week, comes as Atlanta-based Flock has drawn
attention from privacy advocates and other groups in recent months.
In May, Texas authorities reportedly performed a nationwide search
combing through images from more than 83,000 Flock cameras to track down
a woman they said had self-administered an abortion. The search
reportedly included a probe of footage collected in states where
abortion is legal.
A lawsuit filed by the nonprofit law firm the Institute for Justice
contends that Flock “maintains a centralized database with over one
billion license plate reads every month.” The lawsuit is seeking to
force authorities in Norfolk, Virginia, to stop using Flock cameras.
About 4,500 law enforcement agencies and 1,000 businesses across the
country have installed Flock cameras, which are used to track vehicles,
including by allowing police to conduct nationwide searches of where
they travel.
‘Safe corridors for student travel’
Houston-based Raptor partners with some 60,000 schools, providing
software as a service and mobile technologies.
A Flock website post announcing the partnership emphasized how its
“impact extends beyond the school gate.”
“By working with both schools and local law enforcement, Flock helps
create safe corridors for student travel — whether that’s monitoring
activity along walking routes, at bus stops, or on nearby roads,” the
post said.
In a press release, Flock and Raptor emphasized how easy it will be for
schools to begin using the surveillance technology, which it noted can
be “installed quickly and cost-effectively, without the need for
trenching, cabling, or complex infrastructure.”
Privacy advocates and civil libertarians are troubled by the development.
"There is a pattern when schools adopt such technologies: parents aren’t
consulted or asked for consent, vulnerable student populations are
impacted and already limited resources are diverted without actually
achieving the intended goal,” said Kristin Woelfel, policy counsel in
the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Equity in Civic Technology
division.
“Schools are meant to be places of learning, not expansion points for
police surveillance.”
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the ACLU, said it will be
important to understand if Flock and Raptor have plans to “make money on
the side of the data the system collects.”
Flock and Raptor did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected]
T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Visiting Professorial Fellow UNSW Law & Justice
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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