Could a Flock Add-On Be Used to Spy on Gun Owners?

Whether we like it or not (and I’m squarely in the “not” camp), the increase in license plate readers, Flock cameras, and even doorbell cameras has turned much of the United States into a surveillance state. There are ongoing questions and debates about the use of this technology and the guardrails that are needed to ensure our privacy, and with every new technological advance, the discussion becomes more important. 

Over at American Rifleman, Guy Sagi takes a look at a new software system called ELSAG SignalTrace that’s used in conjunction with Flock cameras, and shares his concern about how the tech could be misused to monitor gun owners. 

The SignalTrace webpage explains the system can detect cellphone manufacturer and make, audio system in the vehicle, smartwatches, wireless ear buds and more. Tire pressure monitors, laptops and iPads are also included as part of the “electronic fingerprint.” According to analysis by TechRepublic, this even includes those popular microchips used to reunite lost pets with their owner, along with RFID signals from tags used by many retailers for inventory convenience.

Enough FFLs use such RFID technology that the National Shooting Sports Foundation published a “Best Practices” bulletin five years before Leonardo’s introduction. The trade organization’s advice is straightforward.

“Our position can be summarized simply as ‘Turn It Off, Take It Off at the Checkout Counter.’” Failure to do so today could mean that, at the very least, that gun you’re taking home from the store could be identified and included in your “digital fingerprint.” Consider inspecting the firearm and all packaging after making a purchase and before ever leaving the store to be sure you’ve removed all possible identifying information.

Information collected by SignalTrace is transmitted into the cloud. There it undergoes AI analysis, and a digital fingerprint is assigned to that vehicle for law-enforcement use. If a license plate or other identifying features are captured by Flock—including bumper and window stickers, according to Deflock.org—they are noted.

Sagi notes that while law enforcement agencies around the country claim that Flock data is destroyed after 30 days, the company behind SignalTrace says that all of the data it collects “may be uploaded to the EOC server and archived for future queries and analysis.”

So how much of a concern is SignalTrace? Well, if you inadvertently leave your local gun shop with an active RFID tag attached to the packaging on your new firearm, then you may very well be providing the authorities with a tool to track you. 

Honestly, though, I’m pretty sure that even without SignalTrace, a government that wanted to keep tabs on gun owners could do so simply by using license plate readers and Flock cameras to follow your travels from your home to your local FFL. SignalTrace is just an add-on to what is already a pretty creepy system. 

As Sagi says, “[e]veryone wants law enforcement to catch criminals fast and, just as importantly, the justice system to issue appropriate sentences.” Most of us, though, want that within a system that recognizes our fundamental rights and adheres to the built-in limitations on government that are found in the Constitution. For that, we’re going to need to continue to use our First Amendment rights to share our concerns and organize in opposition to systems that could easily be abused and misused to surveil Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights as we go about our daily routines.  

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.