Florida Retiree Defeats High-Tech License-Plate Camera With Advanced Piece of Cardboard

Automated license-plate readers can photograph passing vehicles, record plate numbers and feed the information into enormous searchable databases.

But apparently they still haven’t developed a defense against a 77-year-old man holding up a sign.

Every Saturday, Florida retiree Carl Gunn reportedly plants himself beneath an automated license-plate reader in St. Petersburg and raises a homemade sign on a pole directly in front of the camera.

That’s it. That’s the entire counter-surveillance system.

No hacking. No spray paint. No power tools. Just one senior citizen demonstrating that even sophisticated police technology occasionally meets its natural predator: a determined retiree with nowhere else he needs to be.

Gunn’s unusual protest is aimed at automated license-plate readers, commonly called ALPRs. The cameras capture images of passing vehicles and record identifying information such as plate numbers, locations and times.

Law-enforcement agencies say the technology can help locate stolen cars, identify wanted suspects and investigate crimes. Privacy advocates worry that widespread use of the cameras can also create detailed records of where ordinary drivers travel—even when those drivers are not suspected of doing anything illegal.

Gunn has chosen a particularly literal method of expressing that concern. Instead of damaging the equipment, he simply stands beneath it and blocks its view.

Police reportedly spoke with him during at least one demonstration before allowing him to continue. Published accounts do not indicate that he has been arrested, cited or told to stop.

Whether deliberately obstructing a camera in this manner is legal remains uncertain. Gunn is not vandalizing the equipment or physically interfering with its operation, but he is preventing it from performing the job for which it was installed.

In other words, the camera remains completely functional. It is simply spending Saturday photographing a sign.

The protest has frequently been associated with Flock Safety, one of the most recognizable manufacturers of license-plate-reading systems. Gunn’s objection, however, appears to be directed at the technology itself rather than any single company.

Flock is only one participant in a growing industry that also includes Rekor Systems, Axon, Motorola Solutions and Genetec. Police departments and local governments across North America use ALPR systems produced by several different companies.

Some cities have canceled agreements with Flock amid debates over privacy, data sharing and government surveillance. In several cases, however, communities that dropped Flock reportedly replaced it with another license-plate-camera provider—an impressive bureaucratic interpretation of changing the subject without changing the subject.

Public opposition to ALPR networks has occasionally included people damaging or disabling cameras. Gunn’s approach is different. His demonstrations are peaceful, visible and apparently designed to make a point without destroying anything.

It is a remarkably low-tech protest against a remarkably high-tech system.

The cameras may be connected to databases, police networks and powerful analytical software, but every Saturday in St. Petersburg, one of them reportedly encounters a stubborn compatibility problem named Carl.

And Carl brought a sign.