MapQuest has added license plate readers from Motorola Solutions' Vigilant, Axon, and Verkada to its map, joining the Flock Safety cameras it already displayed. The addition expands the navigation app's optional "Surveillance Layer," found under Map Options, which plots readers from 11 named vendors. License plate readers are cameras that automatically capture plate numbers as vehicles pass, so the layer shows drivers where those sightings are being recorded.

MapQuest announced the toggle on Bluesky on Oct. 15 with the line "The Roads Have Eyes!" in a post. Alongside Flock, Motorola, Axon, and Verkada, the post lists Genetec, Axis Communications, Leonardo's ELSAG, Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, and Ubicquia, plus unnamed outdoor camera systems. The lineup is a reminder that plate-reader hardware comes from a wide field of vendors, not just one company.

Eye icons and red cones mark cameras around Marina del Rey

The post includes a demo video in which eye icons swarm the streets of Los Angeles' Marina del Rey. Each icon carries a red cone that indicates which way its camera is facing.

MapQuest has not said where the camera locations come from. The layer can only display readers someone has already found, so any unlisted camera will not appear on the map. That makes it a guide to discovered cameras rather than a complete census of what is on the street. The feature is available in MapQuest's mobile app.

The Surveillance Layer marks the second recent wave of attention for the decades-old navigation brand. MapQuest refused last month to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America," and the app has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times since.

Lawmakers move to ban federal use of Flock's plate readers

Flock's readers compile what the company calls a "vehicle signature," combining make, model, color, bumper stickers, and decals. The company does not use facial recognition. Each scan also logs when and where a plate appears, which is what allows such systems to trace a vehicle's route across a network. Cryptopolitan reported that in August, Flock's network alone had over 120,000 readers across 49 states.

Across Flock and rival systems, more than 50 officers have faced accusations, charges, or convictions for watching former partners and love interests through plate. In one Kentucky case, Cryptopolitan reported, an officer searched the Flock system about 2,000 times to tail a former partner.

The Ban Flock Act was introduced earlier this month by lawmakers including Senator Bernie Sanders. The legislation would forbid federal agencies from using automated plate readers and pause federal grants to states and localities that have reader contracts. It follows Sanders' call in late August to "stop Flock and AI mass surveillance." Under the bill, Americans could also take Washington to court over reader use.

Last month, Sens. Raphael Warnock and Katie Britt asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to disclose how the Justice Department uses the readers. In late August, Texas Governor Greg Abbott cut off state agency money for Flock, and Republican Senator Josh Hawley opened a probe into how the company handles the data it collects. Abbott acted after a state agency was found to have funneled at least $30 million toward Flock's network. How the bill fares in Congress, and whether the Justice Department responds to the senators' request, are the next markers in that debate.

President Donald Trump lauded the company's cameras in mid-September. Flock said it supports legislation to add guardrails around the use of plate readers, a position that stops short of the ban now pending before Congress.

Cryptopolitan has also covered other pushback against camera networks this year: one Berlin artist created a shirt that AI cameras do not recognize as a human being, and Norway moved to tighten rules on smart glasses.