In the United States, growing opposition to Flock, a network of 120,000 cameras that identify cars

In the spring, Nick Rabb, a 32-year-old American living in Pasadena, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, discovered that his city of 135,000 inhabitants was meshed with 61 license plate detection cameras, marketed by the company Flock Safety. And, above all, that these were connected to a gigantic database, which integrates information from 120,000 Flock cameras scattered throughout the country.

This database, available to local police agencies who have subscribed to this service, is a powerful tool: it makes it possible to reconstruct the journeys of a car, whether within a city or over a long distance, once it has passed in front of one of the cameras. To date, Flock cameras scan 20 billion plates each month.

“By its scale, it is a tool worthy of an authoritarian fascist regime. Its potential is dangerous, especially when placed in the hands of ICE, the immigration police.believes Nick Rabb. With a little knowledge, this computer researcher created a website, Pasadena Privacy, intended to inform the residents of his city, as well as accounts on social networks. He organized local meetings, posted videos online, prepared speeches to the municipal council.

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