What Is DeFlock?

DeFlock is an open-source project, started by a software engineer, that maps automated license-plate readers across the United States using crowdsourced, open data. Ordinary people spot cameras, add them to the map, and slowly the public gets something the surveillance industry and many agencies won’t provide: an honest picture of how widespread this has become. Roughly 109,000 cameras have been mapped so far, here and around the world.

Why it works

It’s citizen science aimed at accountability. No single person could catalog a nationwide camera network — but thousands of neighbors, each adding what they see, can. That’s the same idea behind DeFlockILM: a local effort to shine that same light on Wilmington and New Hanover County, back it with public records, and turn awareness into action.

You’re part of it

Reading this makes you part of the movement. Learn to spot the cameras, add them to the map, and share what you find. The surveillance grid was built quietly. We’re mapping it loudly.

How big it’s gotten

DeFlock was founded in October 2024 by Will Freeman, a software engineer, and has grown fast: as of mid-2026 the project has mapped more than 107,000 ALPR cameras across the United States, according to reporting on the effort. Because it’s built on open data, that number isn’t a marketing claim — it’s a public dataset anyone can inspect, download, or add to.

More than a map

The national project also publishes guides to identify surveillance equipment, a walkthrough for filing your own public-records request, and a directory of independent local groups fighting ALPR expansion — the same model DeFlockILM follows here. We map our county, back it with the public records, and turn what we find into pressure on the officials who can end it. Here’s how to file a records request in North Carolina →