Slate Daily Feed What Next: TBD | The Surveillance Interstate
Nov 23, 2025
Joseph Cox, co-founder of 404 Media and investigative reporter, dives into the world of license-plate tracking. He explains how ICE utilized a license-plate tracking app and the widespread use of automatic readers across the country. The conversation reveals the legal tensions surrounding warrantless searches and how data from surveillance is being used in controversial cases, including a self-administered abortion. Cox also discusses public pushback and practical privacy steps for drivers in this era of increasing surveillance.
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License-Plate Apps Enable Real-Time Tracking
- Automatic license-plate apps let officers photograph plates and add them to massive, searchable databases.
- That enables near-real-time vehicle (and by extension person) tracking across jurisdictions without warrants.
Merging Plates With Identity Data Raises Stakes
- Combining plate scans with commercial identity data links vehicles to names, addresses, and associates.
- That marriage of movement data and identity dramatically raises surveillance power for enforcement uses.
A Nationwide, Consumer-Facing Camera Network
- Flock sells ALPRs to neighborhoods and creates a nationwide searchable network for police.
- That network lets a cop in one state query cameras in distant states, often without warrant or local consent.