Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial 507-478-7579 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/smerconish *Paid Partnership*
Flock license-plate cameras are used by thousands of law-enforcement agencies across the United States. Police credit them with finding missing children, recovering stolen vehicles and tracking dangerous suspects.
But what happens when a crime-fighting tool can also create a searchable record of where ordinary Americans have been?
Michael Smerconish speaks with Will Freeman, the software engineer and privacy advocate behind DeFlock, a crowdsourced map tracking the spread of license-plate readers across the country.
Freeman argues that the problem isn’t only documented cases of misuse. It’s the architecture of the system itself: cameras must record everyone who drives past in order to identify the relatively small number of people police are actually looking for.
So is the public-safety benefit worth the surveillance—and are stronger guardrails enough?
Vote on today's poll and subscribe to the daily newsletter at smerconish.com
Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.
For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial 507-478-7579 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org/smerconish *Paid Partnership*
Flock license-plate cameras are used by thousands of law-enforcement agencies across the United States. Police credit them with finding missing children, recovering stolen vehicles and tracking dangerous suspects.
But what happens when a crime-fighting tool can also create a searchable record of where ordinary Americans have been?
Michael Smerconish speaks with Will Freeman, the software engineer and privacy advocate behind DeFlock, a crowdsourced map tracking the spread of license-plate readers across the country.
Freeman argues that the problem isn’t only documented cases of misuse. It’s the architecture of the system itself: cameras must record everyone who drives past in order to identify the relatively small number of people police are actually looking for.
So is the public-safety benefit worth the surveillance—and are stronger guardrails enough?
Vote on today's poll and subscribe to the daily newsletter at smerconish.com
Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.
