this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2026
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Defense contractor Leonardo is promoting a new technology called SignalTrace that will package plate cameras with sensors that can scrape unique identifiers tied to your smart devices and make that data available to law enforcement.

Police, border security, and other government agencies already comprise Leonardo’s customer base, and with this technology, those clients seek to correlate footage from these cameras to phones, tablets, wearables, AirTags, and, naturally, the electronics inside cars themselves.

If SignalTrace can pick up your Bluetooth headphones, you can be sure it’ll also be looking out for your vehicle’s 5G hotspot, infotainment system, and even its tire pressure monitoring sensors. The company includes pet microchips as a potential entry point to tracking.

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[–] Carmakazi@piefed.social 44 points 1 hour ago

How many criminals are taking along their microchipped pets to and from their crimes?

Rhetorical question I know. They simply do not want to allow dissidents and undesirables the freedom of movement.

Also, if you contribute to a project like this, you are a traitor and should be treated as such.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 39 minutes ago

License plate cameras will soon discover rapid unscheduled disassembly

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 16 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 59 minutes ago) (1 children)

... pet microchips are passive LF RFID tags, they have a readable range of maybe 15cm? Unless they've figured out some way to power them at distance (or they're sticking UHF tags in your dogs, which they arent) without frying the camera and giving everyone cancer, they're inert. What weird marketing hype.

[–] DrakeAlbrecht@lemmy.world 4 points 16 minutes ago

Industry researchers have managed to create directional antennas that read 125 kHz chips (the kind used in pets) from as far away as one meter. That's most or all of the width of a sidewalk, if the reader is placed at ground level.

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 10 points 47 minutes ago

If they track all that other stuff then they are not 'license plate cameras'.

[–] extremeboredom@lemmy.world 6 points 40 minutes ago (1 children)

Maybe time to start creating devices that spam various Bluetooth MACs and just leave them around... Raise the noise floor a bit

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 1 points 15 minutes ago

Nah, too easy to filter. Make them clone MACs they've seen, and simulate trips around the city.

[–] fleem@piefed.zeromedia.vip 9 points 58 minutes ago

ghost in the shell laughing man shit.

a couple years go by and they don't know how to track people regularly anymore.

so if we bypass these sensors and algorithms, we become invisible in plain sight

[–] wasabi_noir@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 minutes ago

I hope for a horrible end for whatever piece of shit decided to track pets. A curb stomping would be too kind for that kind of trash.

[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 12 minutes ago

Brb making RF insulated glove boxes.

[–] teft@piefed.social 5 points 1 hour ago

Jokes on you. I leave all my electronics at home. Fuck having a digital leash, especially one that can be tracked.

[–] Hackworth@piefed.ca 2 points 41 minutes ago