From Decrypt · By Decrypt Staff
In brief
MapQuest added a “Surveillance Layer” that shows known license plate readers from Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions’ Vigilant, Axon, Verkada and others.
A demo shows camera icons with cones marking which way each faces. MapQuest hasn’t said where its location data comes from.
The feature arrives amid bipartisan backlash against Flock, including a Texas funding freeze and a push by Sen. Bernie Sanders to ban the technology.
MapQuest, the mapping service many Americans last used to print driving directions, now wants to show drivers who’s watching the road.
The company announced on Bluesky that its app includes a “Surveillance Layer,” a toggle in Map Options that plots known automated license plate readers from Flock Safety.
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The layer also covers cameras from Motorola Solutions’ Vigilant, Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, Leonardo’s ELSAG, Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, Ubicquia, Verkada and other outdoor surveillance systems. “The Roads Have Eyes!” the company wrote.
A demo video showed a dense cluster of eye-shaped icons around Los Angeles’ Marina del Rey neighborhood, each paired with a red cone marking the direction a camera faces. MapQuest didn’t say in its post where the location data comes from.
License plate readers photograph passing vehicles and convert their plates into searchable data. Flock’s AI-powered cameras go further, logging details like make, model, color and even bumper stickers.
These surveillance cameras can be networked so agencies across the country share access, and critics say that allows warrantless tracking of ordinary drivers. Flock is also developing an AI tool that helps police track drivers without the need for license plate data or even a name.
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Also in late August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to stop funding Flock cameras after the Texas Tribune found that a state agency had steered at least $30 million toward the network.
In response to the mounting public backlash, Flock CEO Garrett Langley asked Americans to compromise on privacy in exchange for safety. President Donald Trump, breaking his silence on the topic in mid-September, has praised the company’s cameras.