Leonardo's SignalTrace pairs license plate cameras with Bluetooth sensors that catalog every device traveling with your car. The company insists it doesn't identify people. It doesn't need to. It only needs to notice who keeps showing up together.

The FBI's Intelligence Directorate has published an RFP for nationwide license plate reader access in near real time. It's a public document, filed on SAM.gov, which makes it one of the least secret surveillance programs in American history. Loki wonders whether a panopticon that discloses its bid process is better or just differently troubling.

Flock Safety promised to eliminate crime with 80,000 cameras and 20 billion vehicle scans a month. Then they left 67 cameras unlocked on the open internet, gave ICE secret access to all of them, and watched a police chief use the network to stalk private citizens. The plan is working. Just not the plan they pitched.