Privacy

In late 2025, Dallas City Council approved a contract with a company called City Detect to mount AI-powered cameras on sanitation trucks. The pitch was simple. Trucks already drive every residential street in the city on a regular schedule. Put two cameras on each one, let computer vision scan for illegal dumping, high weeds, and graffiti, and you get a monthly visual survey of every parcel in Dallas without hiring a single new inspector. ...

Every conversation I’ve had this week about license plate cameras eventually landed on the same question from someone in the comments: does this stuff monitor phones too? Up until a few weeks ago, my honest answer was no. That answer is now out of date. What SignalTrace actually is In June 2026, 404 Media broke the story on a product called SignalTrace, built by Leonardo, an Italian aerospace and defense conglomerate that already owns ELSAG, one of the established license plate reader brands competing directly with Flock and Axon in the American market. Leonardo isn’t a scrappy startup chasing a government contract. It’s a €17.8 billion company, roughly 30 percent owned by the Italian government itself, with 60,500 employees and subsidiaries spanning fighter jets, satellites, and missile systems. This is a serious, well-funded player, not a fringe vendor. ...