Customs & Border Patrol has in the past had access to data from at least three private sector vendors: Rekor (now Altumint), Vigilant Solutions (bought by Motorola) and Flock Safety.
Flashback to 2013 when courts heard legal challenges regarding the NSA scooping us massive information on phone records. A judge stated:
“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval. Surely, such a program infringes on ‘that degree of privacy’ that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. Indeed, I have little doubt that the author of our Constitution, James Madison… would be aghast.”Some people consider their car an extension of their house, while an increasing number have to live in their car.
It should be no surprise that the three private sector vendors (cited by the AP) in the mass road surveillance operation are private equity underwriter (PEU owned) or have PEU backgrounds.
Rekor sold its automated traffic safety enforcement division to Alumint, an affiliate of Capital Meridian Partners in December 2022. Capital Meridian is a D.C. based PEU that specializes in tapping government budgets.
Corsa Ventures and Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital sold Vigilant Solutions to Motorola.
Flock Safety recently held its "Series F" capital raise and TechGods once again poured into the round.
Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren. Increasingly, more are one. Together they are facilitating the decimation of U.S. citizens' constitutional rights, the social media harm of children and the deterioration of human intelligence and real relationships via garbage AI.
You too can have your rights violated by the same TechGods dangling an assortment of addictive digital ventures intended to sell ads or separate you from your hard earned money. Repeat the TechGod mantra after me, Code is law....Code is law....Code is law....
By the 10th recitation the Bill of Rights is gone, the 27th cancels all Constitutional Amendments...
This is what the government of the PEU/TechGod/CryptoBro, by the PEU/TechGod/CryptoBro and for the PEU/TechGod/Cryptobro has determined. They have all the power, money and rights.
Update: Time reported on a lawsuit against Meta (Facebook). The lawsuit states:
".... Meta was aware that millions of adult strangers were contacting minors on its sites; that its products exacerbated mental health issues in teens; and that content related to eating disorders, suicide, and child sexual abuse was frequently detected, yet rarely removed. According to the brief, the company failed to disclose these harms to the public or to Congress, and refused to implement safety fixes that could have protected young users."
The Guardian ran a story on AI workers telling their family and friends to stay away from AI.
"...after becoming aware of the way chatbots and image generators function and just how wrong their output can be, they have begun urging their friends and family not to use generative AI at all – or at least trying to educate their loved ones on using it cautiously. These trainers work on a range of AI models – Google’s Gemini, Elon Musk’s Grok, other popular models, and several smaller or lesser-known bots."
The article noted one rater:
"has forbidden her 10-year-old daughter from using chatbots. “She has to learn critical thinking skills first or she won’t be able to tell if the output is any good.”
AI's emphasis on speed over accuracy and quality is a random walk from the confines of earth (with water, food and oxygen) into the void of space. You'll be somewhere without the tools and resources needed for life.
“We joke that [chatbots] would be great if we could get them to stop lying.”
Made in the image of their TechGod masters...
Update 11-24-25: Rekor plans to create a new division that detects deepfake AI videos. The company will use its background in verifying traffice video to develop their new product.
Update 11-26-25: Naked Capitalism did a story on Flock surveillance camera vulnerabilities. It appears there are many.
Update 8-19-26: A Texas lawman removed Flock cameras from his county saying:
“These cameras were constantly scanning and recording regular folks just going about their day. That kind of permanent, warrantless tracking doesn’t belong in a free society. By unplugging and covering them, we’re making it clear: privacy isn’t optional, and mass surveillance isn’t how we do things here.Several Virginia towns have removed Flock equipment after it came to light that the local police department had approved them without going to City Council.