MapQuest adds Surveillance Layer for Flock cameras

Flock Safety builds automatic license plate readers and the software behind them. The company has drawn growing scrutiny from both parties: Republican Sen. Josh Hawley is investigating it, and the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism recently held a hearing dedicated to Flock and other ALPR systems.

Benn Jordan, a musician, YouTuber and researcher who testified at that hearing, told The Verge's Decoder podcast that he does not see Flock as the only problem. He points to competitors like Axon and Motorola quietly building similar networks, and argues the real issue is the relationship between private industry, government and law enforcement that favors secrecy over transparency.

Flock's CEO Garrett Langley has defended the company's partnerships with law enforcement and city governments, saying only a small number of bad actors have abused its technology. Flock partners have faced multiple accusations of using the system to stalk, harass and profile individuals.

MapQuest's Surveillance Layer is a US-focused feature, and there is no announcement about availability in Tunisia. Flock cameras have not been publicly deployed in Tunisia, so readers here will mainly see the tool as a signal of how the surveillance debate is evolving abroad.

For anyone who uses MapQuest while travelling in the United States, the layer offers a quick way to see how many plate readers sit along a route. Privacy advocates argue this kind of map is useful information for communities pushing back against camera networks; opponents say it makes enforcement work harder. Either way, the feature puts street-level surveillance data in front of ordinary users.