More from the article...

... At 8:22 am on December 4 last year, a car traveling down a small residential road in Alabama used its license-plate-reading cameras to take photos of vehicles it passed. One image, which does not contain a vehicle or a license plate, shows a bright red "Trump" campaign sign placed in front of someone's garage. In the background is a banner referencing Israel, a holly wreath, and a festive inflatable snowman.

Another image taken on a different day by a different vehicle shows a "Steelworkers for Harris-Walz" sign stuck in the lawn in front of someone's home. A construction worker, with his face unblurred, is pictured near another Harris sign. Other photos show Trump and Biden (including "F**k Biden") bumper stickers on the back of trucks and cars across America. One photo, taken in November 2023, shows a partially torn bumper sticker supporting the Obama-Biden lineup.

These images were generated by AI-powered cameras mounted on cars and trucks, initially designed to capture license plates, but which are now photographing political lawn signs outside private homes, individuals wearing T-shirts with text, and vehicles displaying pro-abortion bumper stickers -- all while recording the precise locations of these observations.

Newly obtained data reviewed by WIRED shows how a tool originally intended for traffic enforcement has evolved into a system capable of monitoring speech protected by the US Constitution. ...

@#4 ... If you chose to make your vehicle a rolling billboard ...

Not just vehicles.

If you read the article, there is info about the license plate readers being used to survey and document private homes.

For example, from #1...

... One image, which does not contain a vehicle or a license plate, shows a bright red "Trump" campaign sign placed in front of someone's garage. In the background is a banner referencing Israel, a holly wreath, and a festive inflatable snowman.

Another image taken on a different day by a different vehicle shows a "Steelworkers for Harris-Walz" sign stuck in the lawn in front of someone's home. A construction worker, with his face unblurred, is pictured near another Harris sign. Other photos show Trump and Biden (including "F**k Biden") bumper stickers on the back of trucks and cars across America. One photo, taken in November 2023, shows a partially torn bumper sticker supporting the Obama-Biden lineup.

These images were generated by AI-powered cameras mounted on cars and trucks, initially designed to capture license plates, but which are now photographing political lawn signs outside private homes, ...

Should fmr Pres Trump win the Oval Office, I have to wonder if he may use the databases created by these surveys to track down his political "enemies" so that he can go forward with his revenge presidency.

@#9 ... Things you say publicly - flags you fly, or signs you post, or stickers on your car - are public because you chose to display them publicly.

If you don't want those things exploited don't participate. ...

I agree about displaying them.

I disagree somewhat about the exploitation of them.

Having a database of all those who, say, had Harris/Walz banners in their front yard, searchable by the neighborhood Trump's revenge gang happens to be in, goes beyond exploiting.

@#12 ... That database is something you have completely made up in your head though. ...

More from the article...

... The detailed photographs all surfaced in search results produced by the systems of DRN Data, a license-plate-recognition (LPR) company owned by Motorola Solutions. The LPR system can be used by private investigators, repossession agents, and insurance companies; a related Motorola business, called Vigilant, gives cops access to the same LPR data.

However, files shared with WIRED by artist Julia Weist, who is documenting restricted datasets as part of her work, show how those with access to the LPR system can search for common phrases or names, such as those of politicians, and be served with photographs where the search term is present, even if it is not displayed on license plates. ...

"I searched for the word believe,' and that is all lawn signs. There's things just painted on planters on the side of the road, and then someone wearing a sweatshirt that says Believe.'" Weist says. "I did a search for the word lost,' and it found the flyers that people put up for lost dogs and cats."

Beyond highlighting the far-reaching nature of LPR technology, which has collected billions of images of license plates, the research also shows how people's personal political views and their homes can be recorded into vast databases that can be queried. ...

@#15 ... Where in that does it say roving Trump revenge gangs have access to that otherwise legitimate database? ...

Ah, so you went from the database being something I completely made up, to there being an actual database.

Who, in fmr Pres Trump's orbit, should he win the Oval Office, and what is done with that possible access is something that is not yet known.

Which is why, I worded my #6, "...I have to wonder if he may use the databases created by these surveys to track down his political "enemies" so that he can go forward with his revenge presidency...."

Would a revenge-oriented Pres Trump leave such a wealth of data sitting unused?

@#17 ... The DB from the article, which is restricted database made by a legit business ...

Yup.

... Your imaginary Trump revenge DB simply does not exist. ...

I did not say there was a separate database. :)

The fact that it is a legitimate database does not mean that a possible Trump admin would not be able to access it.

Whether they would or not, I will say is not yet known. But given the penchant for those in Trump's close circle to follow the rule of law ....