Ben Snyder
@benjaminhsnyder.bsky.social
I write about technology run amok, capitalism, and other depressing things while also envisioning a world beyond them.
Reposted by Ben Snyder
A Flock rep *claimed* that the cameras are 93% accurate, but as the NBC report points out, if Flock scans 20 billion plates a month, that’s a whole bunch of false positives.
Alarming rise in mistaken vehicle stops tied to automated license plate readers
Controversial cameras like Flock and automated license plate readers are mistakenly flagging more cars. NBC News’ Dana Griffin spoke with one woman who was stopped multiple times.
www.nbcnews.com
September 22, 2026 at 10:21 PM
A Flock rep *claimed* that the cameras are 93% accurate, but as the NBC report points out, if Flock scans 20 billion plates a month, that’s a whole bunch of false positives.
I was surprised to see no mention of the Spy Plane in this article. A big part of the legal case against ALPRs comes from Baltimore's own failed experiment with aerial surveillance (Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle v BPD). Journos: don't forget this history!
baltimorebeat.com/baltimore-po...
baltimorebeat.com/baltimore-po...
Baltimore Police add 200 Axon license plate cameras as part of $153 million deal
This story was first published in Technical.ly. The Baltimore Police Department purchased more than 200 Axon Enterprise automated license plate readers, public records show. In May, the Board of Esti...
baltimorebeat.com
September 17, 2026 at 3:53 PM
I was surprised to see no mention of the Spy Plane in this article. A big part of the legal case against ALPRs comes from Baltimore's own failed experiment with aerial surveillance (Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle v BPD). Journos: don't forget this history!
baltimorebeat.com/baltimore-po...
baltimorebeat.com/baltimore-po...
Reposted by Ben Snyder
For Mythos, for example, Anthropic doesn't tell us the number of false positives their tool returns, i.e. the number of times their tool says that something is a vulnerability and it ends up not being.
September 3, 2026 at 11:14 PM
For Mythos, for example, Anthropic doesn't tell us the number of false positives their tool returns, i.e. the number of times their tool says that something is a vulnerability and it ends up not being.
Reposted by Ben Snyder
“Schools are adopting AI surveillance tools, from weapon-detection cameras to bathroom listening devices, often w/o evidence [it’s] reliable. Research shows surveillance tech is deployed disproportionately in schools w/more low-income & minority students.”
www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-...
www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-...
AI surveillance in schools raises safety and equity concerns | Brookings
Rashawn Ray and Rebekah Boitey explore how AI surveillance in schools shapes safety, trust, and racial equity.
www.brookings.edu
August 30, 2026 at 11:26 AM
“Schools are adopting AI surveillance tools, from weapon-detection cameras to bathroom listening devices, often w/o evidence [it’s] reliable. Research shows surveillance tech is deployed disproportionately in schools w/more low-income & minority students.”
www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-...
www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-...
Tech people are reading dumbed down Erving Goffman and Herald Garfinkel. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/30/o...
Opinion | How a ’70s Improv Book Became Silicon Valley’s Required Reading
It can be useful to see reality as malleable.
www.nytimes.com
August 30, 2026 at 9:58 PM
Tech people are reading dumbed down Erving Goffman and Herald Garfinkel. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/30/o...
Yes, even auto theft clearance rates… atlpresscollective.com/2026/07/28/f...
28,000 cameras and counting, but Atlanta's clearance rates aren't rising
Despite the eight-fold growth of surveillance cameras directly accessible by Atlanta PD officers, crime clearance rates haven't increased.
atlpresscollective.com
August 2, 2026 at 12:41 AM
Yes, even auto theft clearance rates… atlpresscollective.com/2026/07/28/f...
Reposted by Ben Snyder
🧮 We did the math: 7 mistakes for every 100 scans adds up fast when license plate readers scan 20 BILLION plates a month.
View IJ's List of Known Incidents here:
https://ij.org/dozens-of-innocent-motorists-have-been-pulled-over-detained-at-gunpoint-or-jailed-due-to-ai-license-plate-camera-errors/
View IJ's List of Known Incidents here:
https://ij.org/dozens-of-innocent-motorists-have-been-pulled-over-detained-at-gunpoint-or-jailed-due-to-ai-license-plate-camera-errors/
July 27, 2026 at 10:07 PM
🧮 We did the math: 7 mistakes for every 100 scans adds up fast when license plate readers scan 20 BILLION plates a month.
View IJ's List of Known Incidents here:
https://ij.org/dozens-of-innocent-motorists-have-been-pulled-over-detained-at-gunpoint-or-jailed-due-to-ai-license-plate-camera-errors/
View IJ's List of Known Incidents here:
https://ij.org/dozens-of-innocent-motorists-have-been-pulled-over-detained-at-gunpoint-or-jailed-due-to-ai-license-plate-camera-errors/
This is such an important project. www.wired.com/story/the-ac...
The ACLU Is Arming Lawyers to Expose State Surveillance Secrets
A new toolkit for attorneys in Massachusetts targets the technologies police use—and conceal—to build criminal cases, from facial recognition to AI-written police reports.
www.wired.com
July 20, 2026 at 2:48 PM
This is such an important project. www.wired.com/story/the-ac...
Technology is hyped -> police buy it -> experiment on people -> technology harms people -> audit confirms what we already know -> cancel contract -> move on to next technology
www.404media.co/lapd-regular...
www.404media.co/lapd-regular...
LAPD Regularly Pulled Over Innocent People Because License Plate Readers Flagged Their Cars As Stolen
The Los Angeles Police Department let its Flock contract expire over the weekend in part because it was regularly "investigating" and surveilling innocent people.
www.404media.co
July 17, 2026 at 2:41 PM
Technology is hyped -> police buy it -> experiment on people -> technology harms people -> audit confirms what we already know -> cancel contract -> move on to next technology
www.404media.co/lapd-regular...
www.404media.co/lapd-regular...
🪃
NEW: Meta is testing facial recognition for its smart glasses using software built by a Pentagon and police surveillance vendor with deep ties to the US intelligence community.
My latest w/ @dmehro.bsky.social
My latest w/ @dmehro.bsky.social
Meta Tapped a Pentagon Supplier to Prototype Face Recognition for Its Glasses
Rank One, whose board includes a former CIA deputy director and a former FBI science chief, supplied face recognition to Meta for internal development of its smart glasses app.
www.wired.com
June 16, 2026 at 12:51 AM
🪃
Flock, palantir, facial recognition—it’s all just cognitive offloading for cops.
June 9, 2026 at 2:14 AM
Flock, palantir, facial recognition—it’s all just cognitive offloading for cops.
Reposted by Ben Snyder
I am begging people to realize that police do not use this technology is not a "jumping off point" or an "investigative lead"--the computer spits out a name and police arrest that person without follow up. How many people have to spend months in jail "by accident" before we consider the danger?
A Flock license plate reader linked a San Diego man to a violent crime. He was five miles away.
A San Diego man spent one month in jail for a crime he didn't commit, after San Diego Police misinterpreted a hit from a license plate reader.
timesofsandiego.com
June 8, 2026 at 11:37 AM
I am begging people to realize that police do not use this technology is not a "jumping off point" or an "investigative lead"--the computer spits out a name and police arrest that person without follow up. How many people have to spend months in jail "by accident" before we consider the danger?
Reposted by Ben Snyder
NEW REPORT: After Chicago shut down ShotSpotter in Sept. 2024, CPD response times to priority 1 calls improved by an average of 4.2 minutes. Read more here:
uchicago-justice-project.github.io/chicago_crim...
uchicago-justice-project.github.io/chicago_crim...
May 27, 2026 at 12:02 PM
NEW REPORT: After Chicago shut down ShotSpotter in Sept. 2024, CPD response times to priority 1 calls improved by an average of 4.2 minutes. Read more here:
uchicago-justice-project.github.io/chicago_crim...
uchicago-justice-project.github.io/chicago_crim...
Aaaaaand there it is…
New from 404 Media: the FBI says it wants to buy nationwide access to license plate readers. This would likely mean the FBI could track vehicles, and by extension people, without a warrant. FBI offering $36m. Only really two companies could do it: Flock and Motorola www.404media.co/the-fbi-want...
The FBI Wants to Buy Nationwide Access to License Plate Readers
Only a couple vendors could likely fulfill what the FBI is after, namely Flock and Motorola.
www.404media.co
May 18, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Aaaaaand there it is…
Reposted by Ben Snyder
I had the pleasure of reviewing @benjaminhsnyder.bsky.social's Spy Plane: Inside Baltimore’s Surveillance Experiment. The book is about surveillance technology. But is also about the question of who is empowered to experiment, and who is to be experimented upon?
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/HGM4V...
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/HGM4V...
Spy Plane: Inside Baltimore’s Surveillance Experiment - Rahim Kurwa, 2026
journals.sagepub.com
May 13, 2026 at 9:08 PM
I had the pleasure of reviewing @benjaminhsnyder.bsky.social's Spy Plane: Inside Baltimore’s Surveillance Experiment. The book is about surveillance technology. But is also about the question of who is empowered to experiment, and who is to be experimented upon?
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/HGM4V...
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/HGM4V...
Reposted by Ben Snyder
“What’s going on at the border is just extremely expensive theater,” EFF’s @maassive.bsky.social told @azfamily.com. “Border surveillance technology has a pattern of failure” and this is “the same thing plus AI — as if AI has actually deserved to win anybody’s trust.”
New AI surveillance towers at US-Mexico border raise privacy concerns
New AI-powered surveillance towers spreading across the U.S.-Mexico border are raising privacy concerns.
www.azfamily.com
May 7, 2026 at 8:47 PM
“What’s going on at the border is just extremely expensive theater,” EFF’s @maassive.bsky.social told @azfamily.com. “Border surveillance technology has a pattern of failure” and this is “the same thing plus AI — as if AI has actually deserved to win anybody’s trust.”
Reposted by Ben Snyder
Every day brings a new AI product, use case or outcome. But one method endures for knowing what these systems actually do and to whom: auditing. Thrilled to share my new coauthored book, Auditing AI-a roadmap for accountability across this dynamic terrain #openaccess mitpress.mit.edu/978026205172...
April 22, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Every day brings a new AI product, use case or outcome. But one method endures for knowing what these systems actually do and to whom: auditing. Thrilled to share my new coauthored book, Auditing AI-a roadmap for accountability across this dynamic terrain #openaccess mitpress.mit.edu/978026205172...
“‘No. Flock does not work with [ICE].’ But in practice, the public records show…thousands of agencies around the country were sharing their camera data with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, which was then regularly performing lookups for ICE.”
www.404media.co/floridas-wil...
www.404media.co/floridas-wil...
Wildlife Conservation Police Are Searching Thousands of Flock Cameras for ICE
Ron DeSantis has empowered hundreds of Florida conservation police to work directly with ICE.
www.404media.co
April 6, 2026 at 2:19 PM
“‘No. Flock does not work with [ICE].’ But in practice, the public records show…thousands of agencies around the country were sharing their camera data with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, which was then regularly performing lookups for ICE.”
www.404media.co/floridas-wil...
www.404media.co/floridas-wil...
Reposted by Ben Snyder
Another story on abuse of mass #surveillance data! 😩
"in 'one month‘s time,' the sheriff queried his wife’s license plate number approximately 152 times. His stated purpose was to assess the system’s reliability before a contract decision."
Ban ALPRs! 🚫
#deflock #alpr
"in 'one month‘s time,' the sheriff queried his wife’s license plate number approximately 152 times. His stated purpose was to assess the system’s reliability before a contract decision."
Ban ALPRs! 🚫
#deflock #alpr
Jerome County sheriff used Flock cameras to search for wife’s vehicle, documents show
Documents obtained by KMVT revealed the sheriff was under investigation leading up to his announcement.
www.kmvt.com
April 1, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Another story on abuse of mass #surveillance data! 😩
"in 'one month‘s time,' the sheriff queried his wife’s license plate number approximately 152 times. His stated purpose was to assess the system’s reliability before a contract decision."
Ban ALPRs! 🚫
#deflock #alpr
"in 'one month‘s time,' the sheriff queried his wife’s license plate number approximately 152 times. His stated purpose was to assess the system’s reliability before a contract decision."
Ban ALPRs! 🚫
#deflock #alpr
This is something that has always bothered me about object-based surveillance. A car (or phone or license plate or whatever) is a proxy for a person, but assumptions are always made that object = person. Seems ripe for mistakes and false positives.
oaklandside.org/2026/03/23/a...
oaklandside.org/2026/03/23/a...
Sheriff’s deputies thought they'd stopped a criminal. But license plate cameras led them to the wrong person
An Oakland woman's license plates were stolen off her car and replaced with ones associated with a 'serious crime' leading to her getting pulled over by sheriff’s deputies.
oaklandside.org
March 24, 2026 at 1:44 PM
This is something that has always bothered me about object-based surveillance. A car (or phone or license plate or whatever) is a proxy for a person, but assumptions are always made that object = person. Seems ripe for mistakes and false positives.
oaklandside.org/2026/03/23/a...
oaklandside.org/2026/03/23/a...
Reposted by Ben Snyder
Book launch day! “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self Surveillance” is out.
Bluesky friends, I would be so grateful if you would buy a copy. And if you can’t afford it, could you at least share this announcement. Thank you. #BookSky
politics-prose.com/search?q=You...
Bluesky friends, I would be so grateful if you would buy a copy. And if you can’t afford it, could you at least share this announcement. Thank you. #BookSky
politics-prose.com/search?q=You...
March 17, 2026 at 11:45 AM
Book launch day! “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self Surveillance” is out.
Bluesky friends, I would be so grateful if you would buy a copy. And if you can’t afford it, could you at least share this announcement. Thank you. #BookSky
politics-prose.com/search?q=You...
Bluesky friends, I would be so grateful if you would buy a copy. And if you can’t afford it, could you at least share this announcement. Thank you. #BookSky
politics-prose.com/search?q=You...
🎯 “The real question in Schmidt is not whether police can observe a car on a public street. It is whether the government can build a persistent, searchable database of everyone’s movements without judicial oversight.”
secure-justice.org/blog/alprs-a...
secure-justice.org/blog/alprs-a...
ALPRs and the Fourth Amendment: What Schmidt v. City of Norfolk Gets Wrong — Secure Justice
(by Pegah K. Parsi) In Schmidt v. City of Norfolk , No. 2:24-cv-621 (E.D. Va. Jan. 27, 2026), a federal court upheld Norfolk’s citywide automated license plate reader (ALPR) program against a Fourth...
secure-justice.org
March 16, 2026 at 4:42 PM
🎯 “The real question in Schmidt is not whether police can observe a car on a public street. It is whether the government can build a persistent, searchable database of everyone’s movements without judicial oversight.”
secure-justice.org/blog/alprs-a...
secure-justice.org/blog/alprs-a...