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highplainsdem

(63,497 posts)
Mon Jun 8, 2026, 10:03 PM Monday

This Company Will Add Phone, AirPod, and Smartwatch Trackers to License Plate Readers

Source: 404 Media

A surveillance company plans to add sensors to automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) that would mean the devices, as well as capture the license plate of passing vehicles, would also sweep up unique identifiers of mobile phones, wearables, and other Bluetooth-enabled devices in those cars, potentially letting law enforcement identify specific drivers or passengers.

The technology, called SignalTrace, would turn ALPR cameras from devices focused on tracking cars to ones that can more readily track the location of particular people. ALPR cameras have become a commonly deployed technology all across the U.S.; SignalTrace would make some of those cameras capable of collecting much more data.

SignalTrace “bridges license plate recognition data with sensor-captured device identifiers—such as those from mobile phones, Bluetooth wearables, and vehicle systems—to create a unique, trackable ‘electronic fingerprint’ for investigative use,” according to a product sheet describing the tool, written by surveillance company Leonardo, which advertises SignalTrace.

The sort of data Leonardo says SignalTrace can sweep up includes the RFID tags in key cards and pet microchips; devices with Bluetooth such as wireless headphones, fitness trackers, and mobile phones; components of a car like tire pressure sensors and infotainment systems; and Wi-Fi sources such as vehicle hotspots and laptops, according to the product sheet.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.404media.co/this-company-will-add-phone-airpod-and-smartwatch-trackers-to-license-plate-readers/

8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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This Company Will Add Phone, AirPod, and Smartwatch Trackers to License Plate Readers (Original Post) highplainsdem Monday OP
C'mon...you KNEW that border wall wasn't... ret5hd Monday #1
Kick dalton99a Monday #2
Straight up espionage purr-rat beauty Monday #3
yup, you wouldn't even have to be part of fascist Facebook Skittles Tuesday #6
If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. BWdem4life Monday #4
Bluetooth? ShazzieB Tuesday #5
"Surveillance companies" shouldn't exist (home security is its own animal), and the fact that there are now so many is Karasu Tuesday #7
Gotta put all those data centers they're building to use. WestMichRad Tuesday #8

Skittles

(173,423 posts)
6. yup, you wouldn't even have to be part of fascist Facebook
Tue Jun 9, 2026, 12:47 AM
Tuesday

they'll just sweep up your data using other methods

ShazzieB

(23,015 posts)
5. Bluetooth?
Tue Jun 9, 2026, 12:43 AM
Tuesday
devices with Bluetooth such as wireless headphones, fitness trackers, and mobile phones


Does this include hearing aids with Bluetooth? I have one of those. How bizarre that anyone would be tracking my fucking hearing aid!.

Karasu

(2,253 posts)
7. "Surveillance companies" shouldn't exist (home security is its own animal), and the fact that there are now so many is
Tue Jun 9, 2026, 01:01 AM
Tuesday

symbolic of the rot of American capitalism into outright fascism.

When people’s privacy is now just something to be sold, how many rights do you even have left?

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