Show HN: Automated license plate reader coverage in the USA

Privacy, Scale, and “Mere Observation”

• Several commenters stress that ALPR impact changes with scale: isolated captures resemble casual observation, but dense, networked coverage becomes de facto long‑term tracking of movement patterns.
• Retention policies are seen as a key boundary: some suggest strict limits, warrants for long‑term storage, stiff penalties for warrantless retention, and independent audits.
• Some see 100% coverage as effectively inevitable given cheap cameras, cloud storage, and widespread home surveillance; others argue this is a political and legal choice, not fate.

Law, Rights, and Private vs Government Surveillance

• There’s debate over whether public filming rights imply corporate rights to mass surveillance.
• One side argues the Fourth Amendment only constrains government, making private ALPR “fair game” legally, even if troubling.
• Others counter that law could and should distinguish between individual recording and corporate, centralized data aggregation, especially when linked to law enforcement.
• Ring‑style systems are criticized because cloud-centralized footage can be quietly mined or handed to police, unlike isolated cameras with local storage.

Crime Control vs Traffic Safety

• Some hope ALPR will address reckless driving, but others note these systems are currently used for investigations (e.g., hit‑and‑runs, general “crime”), not for speed or red‑light enforcement.
• Multiple commenters argue the US traffic safety crisis stems more from distracted driving, road design, and car‑centric infrastructure than from lack of surveillance.
• Many advocate physical traffic calming, better driver training, and more conventional enforcement over mass tracking.
• Ideas like citizen “bounty” reporting or automated phone disabling spark pushback over practicality, abuse, and civil liberties.

Data Quality, Modeling, and Coverage Maps

• Several users find county counts wrong (extra counties, cross‑state mixing, non‑existent counties, incorrect state totals).
• The author attributes this largely to OpenStreetMap administrative boundaries and cross‑border calculations; some bugs are acknowledged.
• Commenters ask how driving behavior and routes are modeled, noting that coverage conclusions depend heavily on those assumptions.
• Some want raw camera-location maps more than coverage statistics; related projects (e.g., DeFlock) are cited for this.

Broader Surveillance Ecosystem

• Commenters note ALPR is just one vector among many: connected cars, infotainment systems, Bluetooth, tire-pressure sensors, and phones all enable tracking.
• A few mention using this site as a factor when choosing where to live, viewing it as one of the only ways to visualize the spread and concentration of this infrastructure.