YouTuber Invents Device That Hides License Plates From Flock Cameras

Flock cameras take an unimaginably huge number of pictures of cars and license plates, creating a searchable database of times and locations that can be used to track your movements. If you don't care to participate, you can use apps like MapQuest to avoid these cameras, or FlockHopper to automatically route around them. Or you can do as YouTuber Studio Hotrods did, and design a system to make your license plate invisible, but only near a Flock camera.

While Flock collects more than just your license plate information, a license plate remains the easiest way to identify a particular car — at least, as long as Flock reads it correctly. Removing or obscuring your plate is a surefire way to avoid this, but it will also get you pulled over. This somewhat defeats the purpose of not being noticed by law enforcement, and often comes with a ticket and fine.

What Studio Hotrods came up with is a clever system that obscures your plate only when you're in view of a Flock camera. The video goes into detail, but basically, an Arduino computer controls a piece of smart glass that's clear when it receives power but turns opaque when the power shuts off. This smart glass goes over the license plate. 

The Arduino is also connected to a GPS antenna and module that tells it the vehicle's location, which it cross-references with an SD card containing a database of Flock camera locations, likely by the DeFlock mapping project. Under normal driving conditions, the smart glass receives power and remains clear, keeping the license plate visible as is legally required. When the vehicle passes a Flock camera, however, it briefly turns the smart glass opaque, just long enough to prevent the camera from scanning the plate. 

This seems like a pretty neat idea. Unless a cop is looking right at your license plate at the moment you pass a Flock camera, they're still going to see your plate, so there shouldn't be a problem, right? Unfortunately, it's not as simple as that.

According to Allowed Here, every state has some kind of restriction on license plate covers. They are illegal in eight states, including Illinois, where the car used for testing in this video is registered. States that haven't banned covers outright still require the plate to be legible, and they may not obscure the plate in any way. Depending on where you live, you could still get pulled over just for having a cover on your license plate, even if it's as clear as glass at the time.

States are already cracking down on license plate flippers, which obscure plates both from cops and automatic toll cameras. Studio Hotrods' "Flock-O-Matic" system recognizes these valid reasons, which is why it keeps the plate visible unless you're in direct view of a Flock camera. But the law doesn't care what your intentions are, only that the plate can't be obscured. Plus, it's easy to skip the Arduino and turn the smart glass clear and opaque manually, blocking your plate anytime you want. Cops don't generally like that.

While Studio Hotrods is designing, testing, and even working on a patent for this device, it's not selling it at this time. A hobbyist with some programming skill could probably figure out how to make something similar — for testing purposes only, of course. In many places, using it on the street is likely to get you the very attention you're trying to avoid.