The FBI wants to track every vehicle in the US without a warrant – AI-powered camera system
In accordance with the tender documents FBI analyzed by 404 Media, law enforcement agencies report a need for automatic license plate readers (ALPR) — no longer just for individual communities and local police, but for federal agencies. Moreover, this news comes at a time when protests and opposition to the ALPR system have spread across the country.
“The FBI has a critical need for available LPRs, to provide diverse and reliable data coverage across the United States. This data should be accessible from highways and in a variety of locations for maximum utility to law enforcement agencies,” the statement of work describes what data the FBI wants access to.
“The system must offer opportunity searching for license plate information and other data descriptive, such as information about the vehicle description,criteria dates and times and criteria geolocation” wrote the FBI. “Additionally, the system must provide notifications about search results. The contractor's system must be able to access and/or query the cameras throughout the United States and its territories. The contractor's system must be capable of delivering these data in almost real time“
Contractors must be able to share/create representational maps camera coverage (i.e. heat maps and providing the FBI with sources of information (i.e. red light cameras, speed cameras, vehicle repossession companies, etc.),” the FBI said. The FBI said it needed database search capabilities for partial or full plate numbers, registration states, addresses, locations where the plate was scanned, and vehicle makes and models.
An officer using Flock Safety
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Flock Safety
The FBI is looking for a supplier that provides Software-as-a-Service, a cloud-based software delivery model in which applications are hosted by a third-party provider and allows users to log in to the system via the Internet.
The FBI says it seeks ALPR coverage in the following areas: all states including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and dependent and external territories such as Guam, US Virgin Islands Whether tribal territories. In practice The FBI is looking for ALPR data covering the entire country and beyond. The attached pricing template shows that FBI is willing to pay in total $36 million.
ALPR cameras work by continuously scanning the color, make, model and license plate of passing vehicles. This creates a record of where a particular vehicle was at a given time, which law enforcement can then search – effectively allowing them to see exactly where someone has been driving over time.
Alone the technology has been around for decades. Initially, it was sold mainly as a solution for surveillance of residential areas in small townsused to combat crimes, such as car thefts or searching for missing persons.
ALPR poles from Flock Safety installed just outside Tohono O'odham Nation land in Arizona
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EFF
However, in recent years it has developed enormously and become more common. Especially in combined with AI poses a huge threat to citizens' privacy and resembles the level of surveillance in China. The contract specifically targets the FBI's Intelligence Directorate, which oversees the agency's intelligence mission. The FBI is not only a law enforcement agency, but also part of the Intelligence Community.
Flock Safety and Motorola
There are a small number of companies that could provide the type of data the FBI is looking for. One of them is Flock Safetywhose ALPR cameras are placed in communities across the country. According to reports, cameras Flock are present in 5 thousand towns and currently there are approximately 80,000 cameras (over twice as much as two years ago) connected to its nationwide AI system to search and analyze photos and videos.
Number of towns with Flock Safety cameras
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https://theflocknetwork.com/
Flock Safety tracking camera
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Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Contrary to the assumptions of the system, at some point Homeland Security Investigations Agency (the principal federal investigative agency within the Department of Security), Unit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Secret Service and Navy investigative division they already had access to the nationwide Flock network as part of a pilot program.
Community protests against Camera Flock in Flagstaff
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https://azdailysun.com/
As revealed by 404 Media, local police also conducted searches in the nationwide Flock database on behalf of and at the direction of ICEand even using cameras she followed and surveilled the protests liveillegally providing federal law enforcement (repression) agencies with direct access to a tool for which there is currently no formal contract.
Protesters are demanding the removal of Flock Safety cameras and a stop to ICE
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jackcentral.org
The second such company is Motorola Solutionswhich already has a huge database of ALPR information built using cameras installed in police vehicles.
Mobile automatic license plate reader
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Mike Katz-Lacabe / EFF
One of the company's departments selling solutions to the private sector outsourced the collection of images to debt collectors involved in collecting vehicles. The 404 Media portal reported last year that ICE invited employees to a presentation of Motorola's mobile application, which allows ICE officers to scan a license plate and add it to a database of billions of records showing where else a given vehicle has been spotted.
