GoKawiilAxon considers redesigning license plate cameras to avoid Flock-style vandalism
As communities destroy Flock's automatic license plate readers over privacy concerns, some police departments switching to Axon are worried its similar-looking cameras will become the next target. In a leaked webinar, Axon CEO Rick Smith confirmed the company is exploring shape changes to its ALPRs after customer requests, alongside plans to mount cameras on streetlights and add explanatory signage.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
This reveals surveillance vendors adapting not to reduce data collection, but to make the hardware less visually provocative, a cosmetic response to a substantive backlash over mass license-plate tracking. It also shows how public resistance to one company's technology can reshape product design across the entire industry, even as the underlying surveillance capability expands into drones and networked databases.
- Axon is exploring redesigning its license plate readers so they look less like Flock's, which have faced vandalism nationwide.
- CEO Rick Smith confirmed the shape change idea during a leaked webinar after customer requests.
- Both companies are pursuing additional strategies like streetlight-mounted cameras, explanatory signage, and drone surveillance.
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Published there as: “Police want Axon's cameras redesigned so they don't get mistaken for Flock's”
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