New Tech Scans Cars, Spurring Privacy Debate
Cops are testing new tech that can scan moving vehicles to grab signals from stuff like phones and smartwatches. The creator, Leonardo, an Italian company, says it’s meant to help police keep tabs on suspects while they’re on the move. But privacy advocates are sounding the alarm because they say it could be used to track people without them knowing, basically figuring out a lot about them by checking their belongings.
Leonardo says this tech, called Elsag EOC Plus, can ID different kinds of devices, like iPhones and Bose headphones, inside cars. It sniffs out unique signals from things like pet chips, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth gadgets, fitness trackers, car entertainment systems, tire sensors, and even library books.
For the police, all this data can be linked to a car’s license plate, creating a unique “fingerprint.” As a person drives around, their fingerprint can be tracked by license plate scanners, even if they switch cars. Privacy folks worry this opens the door to abuse.
- Key Features:
- Detects various electronic devices in vehicles.
- Creates unique “fingerprints” from device data.
- Data linked to license plates for tracking purposes.
Leonardo’s brochure says the tech could be useful in spots like train stations and shopping centers. Some malls already use AI-powered car surveillance from a company called Flock Safety, which feeds data directly to the police to catch shoplifters.
The brochure, by Leonardo, promotes the new car surveillance technology.
Nate Maloney, a Leonardo spokesperson, said the company recently got a patent for the tech and is pushing to sell it worldwide. They don’t have any paying customers yet but are trialing the tech with at least one existing license plate detection customer. He wouldn’t say which police department in the U.S. is helping with the trials, but said it’s not currently being used to watch the public.
Matthew Guariglia from the Electronic Frontier Foundation questions why police would spend taxpayer money on this. He said the tech is “ripe for abuse” and could tell cops every electronic device someone has. This could mean cops decide what they can take when they stop and search someone, which is especially concerning for activists and journalists at a protest.
Maloney said Leonardo will work with police to make sure they stay within the law. For example, if a police agency needs a warrant to identify devices in a car, they can turn off certain features of the surveillance tool to prevent excessive data collection. He noted the tool won’t collect content from people’s devices.
Byron Tau, a reporter from NOTUS, revealed similar tech from a German company called Jenoptik had been tested by U.S. law enforcement in two Texas counties. Guariglia describes these new technologies as “Stingrays by another name.” Stingrays are surveillance tools that act like cell towers to collect information about phones in a specific area. Because they could get data from innocent folks, they are controversial.
The Leonardo tool, according to Guariglia, also “tricks your device into pinging against it” causing it to track you. Just because it’s pinging a different signal doesn’t make it any more harmless
