ALPRs

ALPRs — Automated License Plate Readers — are surveillance cameras that quietly capture your license plate every time you drive through a parking lot, past a gas station, or down a roadway. That data builds a detailed picture of where you go, when, and how often — and it doesn’t stop there. Companies now cross-reference plate data with other personal data sources, linking your movements to your identity, your devices, and your life.^[1]

That data doesn’t stay with the company that collected it. It flows into massive databases, gets sold to data brokers, and is shared with law enforcement including ICE — with little to no oversight.^[2] Innocent people have been flagged, detained, or denied financial services based on inaccurate or misread plate data.^[3]^[4] Beyond government agencies, ALPR data has been weaponized for stalking,^[5] sold to untrustworthy third parties, and leaked to the dark web where scammers and criminals thrive.

As this technology spreads, so do the ways corporations exploit it. Here’s what major companies are doing with your plate data — and what they claim about it.

Resources

DeFlock

DeFlock is a free, open-source tool that does something beautifully simple: it maps exactly where ALPR cameras are lurking along your routes. Built by a privacy-minded software engineer, DeFlock lets you see the surveillance network around you — and then route around it. The app overlays known ALPR camera locations on a map, lets you set a buffer zone, and helps you find a path that keeps your plate out of the database. No ads, no tracking, no data collection. Just you, your route, and your privacy.

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EFF — Electronic Frontier Foundation

The EFF has been fighting ALPR overreach since 2012 — through lawsuits, public records battles, and legislative advocacy. They’ve already won a major legal victory forcing transparency on how law enforcement shares your plate data across state lines, and they’re not stopping there. Their research documents how ALPR surveillance threatens everyone from protest attendees to people seeking healthcare. If you want to understand the legal landscape around license plate readers — or support the people fighting back — the EFF is where to start.

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ACLU — Get the Flock Out

The ACLU’s “Get the Flock Out” campaign is one of the most active fights against ALPR surveillance in the country — and it’s working. Communities across the US are pushing back against Flock Safety and other ALPR companies, canceling contracts and passing legislation. The numbers are staggering: 80,000–100,000 Flock cameras are already installed nationwide, less than 1% of the cars they scan are connected to any crime, and 1 in 10 license plates are misread — yet they’re still being used to justify arrests, detentions, and worse.

The ACLU has been tracking this issue since 2013, filing amicus briefs, supporting model legislation, and helping communities organize locally. If you want to take action — not just read about the problem — this is the place to start.

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Beware

The following companies have decided that surveilling their own customers is worth it — for loss prevention, security theater, and yes, financial gain. Your license plate data is being collected, stored, and in many cases handed to law enforcement every time you shop. You’re the customer. You deserve to know. Buyers beware.

Costco

Automated License Plate Recognition Usage and Policy

When you pull into a Costco parking lot, gas station, or car wash, there’s a good chance a camera is reading your license plate. Costco uses Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology at select locations to support security, loss prevention, and traffic management — think catching shoplifters, investigating incidents, and keeping the gas pump line moving.

Access to the data is supposed to be limited to loss prevention staff and regional management, and employees with access receive privacy training. Costco also says it reviews its ALPR practices every two years as part of an internal privacy assessment.

Your plate data is kept for approximately 180 days^[6] before being deleted — unless Costco needs it longer for an ongoing investigation, a law enforcement request, or legal compliance. And yes, they can and do share ALPR data with law enforcement when asked.

The bottom line: next time you make a Costco run, your license plate is being logged, tracked, and potentially shared — all in the name of security and loss prevention.

Costco Privacy Policy

Home Depot

Home Depot uses ALPR cameras in their parking lots through Flock Safety — a company that operates a massive interconnected network of license plate readers. What makes this particularly troubling is that Home Depot has granted local and state law enforcement direct access to their ALPR data, meaning police can search your plate history simply because you drove to pick up paint or lumber.^[7]

Home Depot claims they do not share data with federal agencies — but “local and state only” is cold comfort when departments across the country have been caught querying each other’s data through Flock Safety’s shared network. In one jaw-dropping case, a single city’s ALPR database was searched 4.4 million times^[8] by outside agencies in just one year — including nearly 2,100 searches flagged as immigration-related. You drove to Home Depot. That data now lives in a database accessible to agencies you’ll never know about.

Home Depot Privacy Policy

Lowe’s

Lowe’s has deployed ALPR cameras in their parking lots and retains your license plate data for up to 90 days. Like Home Depot, Lowe’s stores have been documented providing local police departments with direct access to their ALPR systems — confirmed in stores across Ohio and beyond.^[7]

The real danger? This data doesn’t just sit in Lowe’s servers. Through the Flock Safety network, a routine trip to Lowe’s for mulch or a toilet seat can place your vehicle in a searchable law enforcement database. In Texas, this kind of cross-shared ALPR data was used to track down a woman suspected of self-administering an abortion.^[9] A trip to the hardware store shouldn’t put your movements into a system that can be weaponized against you — but here we are.

Lowe’s Privacy Policy

Target

Target uses ALPR technology in their parking lots and retains your license plate data for 30 days^[6] — the shortest retention window among major retailers, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s harmless. Thirty days is more than enough time for law enforcement to request access, for data to be shared across networks, or for a misidentification to ruin your life.

And misidentification is very real. In Fayetteville, police used ALPR data to confuse two similar vehicles and arrested the wrong person entirely. That wrongful arrest resulted in a $60,000 settlement^[10] — but no amount of money gives back what was taken from that person. Private retailers are not subject to the same public records laws as police, which means you have no right to know if your plate was scanned, who accessed it, or what they did with it. You’re just a shopper buying socks — but to their cameras, you’re a data point.

Target Privacy Policy

Wal-Mart

Walmart deploys ALPR cameras across their parking lots using Flock Safety’s network and retains your license plate data for 60 days^[11]. To their credit, Walmart is the only major retailer on this list that actually published a dedicated ALPR privacy notice — which tells you something about how much pressure they’ve been under to explain themselves. Read it carefully though, because the fine print reveals they will hand your data over to law enforcement when they decide it’s necessary, with no warrant required.

Walmart’s policy states they share ALPR data for “law-enforcement cooperation” and “protection of rights or property”^[11] — language broad enough to cover almost anything. And since private retailers aren’t subject to the same transparency laws as police departments, you have no way to request records, challenge access, or even find out whether your plate was scanned and searched. Every trip to Walmart for groceries, diapers, or motor oil is a trip that gets logged, timestamped, and potentially handed to whoever asks nicely enough.

Walmart Privacy Policy