Surveillance Vendor Leonardo to Add Phone/AirPod Bluetooth Trackers to License Plate Readers

404 Media / Hacker News·medium signal

404 Media (June 8, 107 points on HN) reports Leonardo's 'SignalTrace' would bolt device sensors onto ALPR cameras, capturing identifiers from phones, Bluetooth wearables, and vehicle systems to build a trackable 'electronic fingerprint.' When devices consistently move with a vehicle, its algorithms link them to that plate and time-stamped location — persisting even if a plate is removed or swapped. It shifts ALPRs from tracking cars to tracking specific people, escalating civil-liberties concerns around AI-driven surveillance infrastructure.