506
USA Today has published a database of license plates that have been searched with Flock
(data.usatoday.com)
HaveIBeenStalked
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
506 points (99.6% liked)
politics
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Glad to see my bicycle isn't on the list
Holy shit one officer in my town has 309 searches on one plate.
He(?) has the top number of searches in total, and (practically) the only person to search for the top four plates in my town. The rest have like 1-2 searches from other officers in the same or adjacent town.
Wtf is so special about these 4 plates?
We only have two cameras in my town (afaik), and they are on the highway on ramps.
Sounds like a question for the Mayor and city council.
I contacted the police oversight committee. They report to the Governor and AG.
He’s divorced and those are his Xwife, her new boyfriend, and his two kids.
Maybe. But rolling the dice, that’s my 7.
I wouldn't bet against you, that's for sure.
Ex gf or wife or a chick who turned him down. Or a trans woman he is obsessed with.
Or current wife who's he's paranoid is cheating with him. LOVEINT is fun.
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On the page, USA Today have a section saying if you see a plate that has a lot of searches they want to hear from you. Might be worth letting them know which plates/officer.
If they have the data, they have the ability to compile that data to find the top searched plates....... this sounds like a way of getting more interaction.
They mean if you're one of the plates being searched for a lot.
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Seems worthy of contacting the reporter's mentioned on the site:
What if I'm in these records?
If your plate has been searched frequently or you recognize an officer frequently searching the same plate, we want to hear from you.
Contact reporters Austin Fast and Kenny Jacoby.
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The site blocks VPNs, and searching a plate might associate it with your IP address. I advise proceeding with extreme caution. I know it sounds paranoid, but given the state of things in America as of late...
If you have Proton, Chicago Illinois #2 works.
Let's exchange plates and look up the other person's plate to confuse the system.
(I don't have a car and live in the EU)
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Oh kids.
A VPN is only really good for plausable deniability. That is there is no direct correlation between the activity coming from an ISP's IP address that is directly connected to your billing profile, home address, etc.
There are countless ways your identity can be gleaned from your digital exhaust. Fingerprinting just takes maybe four or five attributes your browser will hand over and from there, you can be reasonably identified with a high level of certainty.
For example, you might be using a Safari browser, your resolution is known (browser spills the beans to render pages), operating system, details about how your device performs a TLS (encryption) handshake, timing, any browser add-ons you might use etc.
See for yourself: https://demo.fingerprint.com/playground; there are countless pages that show you the same, this is just one.
If you think that a VPN is going to act as some sort of anonymizer, I'm afraid you've been misled. Even the act of setting up a machine/browser to be properly anonymous will generate signals which will make you stick out like a sore thumb.
VPNs are one small slice of the pie, they help but they don't solve the problem of being identified online. If you're going to do something that you REALLY don't want anyone to see, you're going to have to spend a lot of time learning--which is a signal also.
A vpn is used in combination to other tech.
Trust me, I know they can't fingerprint me because I'm constantly getting told I'm a bot or served 403 errors on half the web today
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I am honestly impressed with USA Today for the first time in my life. Flock is fucked if these milquetoast bitches are with us.
What next, Teen Vogue or Buzzfeed?
(No but seriously I love when these places do hard hitting shit out of the blue, although it hasn't ended well in both cases).
TMZ has been holding DC’s feet to the fire 100X more than any of the legacy media outlets this administration, too
Oh yeah, how could I forget TMZ. It's so fucking backwards in 2026.
Locally, one of the most insane ones is food blogger LA Taco getting into ICE reporting and interviewing. Obviously when legacy media fails, people still try to step up.
BuzzFeed has (had?) a really random hard hitting journalism arm
I wouldn't be surprised if this kinda thing happens because they lack oversight since they expect nothing
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These are all mostly red areas that are being stalked. Wild.
Completely predictable.
downloadable db anywhere?
Can’t tell. The city redacted all of the plates and usually leaves the reason blank. They have been getting called out for their willful disregard for accountability in other areas too, not that it does anything.
The county redacted 85% of the searches, which probably tracks with them doing legitimate work 20% of the time.
The goombas at the city airport spent the first year on it before suddenly realizing they could hide it. Looks like most of them were probably mostly professional and a couple were stalking.
Searching your plate adds it to the list. I bet.
It’s adds you to the “interested to know if law enforcement has any interest in them USA Today Honeypot 2026” database, which probably marks your file as antifa or something
USA Today isn't exactly top notch news but what would they have to gain from feeding search data to the government? People on both sides of the aisle are pissed right now, hence the searchable database to begin with. Lots of women checking to see if their exes have been stalking them. This wouldn't be any kind of useful correlation to want the data on.
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Man, searching for words like "crime", "theft", or "warrant" really helps paint a picture of how fucking stupid cops are in this country
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My county seems pretty chill, compared to most of these comments. That being said, I wish all flock cameras a very [redacted].
Frederick Co VA top user has their information "redacted." Must be targeting minors (16-17 yr olds)
Now you only need to find a few high profile GOP members going to see young women (or men, actually…) their wives never heard of, and Flock will be severely restricted within one week.
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