Fusion Centers Watch Anti-Flock Accounts, McDonald's Keeps 515 Pages (08/12/2026)

Yesterday we wrote about plate readers learning to fingerprint the devices in your car. Today the documents show agencies monitoring the social media accounts of people who object to those cameras. The two stories belong together, because the second one is what happens when the first becomes controversial and the response is to watch the objectors rather than answer them.

Top 5 Critical Privacy Alerts

1. Fusion Centers Are Watching the People Who Criticize Plate Readers

Documents from law enforcement intelligence centers show agencies warning police about what they describe as extensive and ongoing social media chatter discussing methods to physically damage Flock plate reader cameras. 404 Media

Operator Note: Advocating destruction of equipment is a real thing for police to track, and the line matters enormously. Monitoring accounts that criticize a surveillance program produces a list of critics, and a list of critics is a different artifact than a list of threats. Nothing in the collection distinguishes them.

2. A Reporter’s McDonald’s File Ran to 515 Pages

Reece Rogers signed up for the McDonald’s loyalty program for cheaper fries, then requested his data. The file came back at 515 pages and included behavioral predictions about his future purchasing. PogoWasRight

Operator Note: The trade people believe they are making is a discount for a purchase history. What comes back is inference: not what you bought, but what the model expects you to do next. Nobody agreed to be predicted, and the prediction is the part with commercial value.

3. Smart Glasses Are Being Used to Record Women Without Consent

A new study documents pickup artist influencers using Meta smart glasses to capture footage of women for content, and draws the connection between covert recording capability and the harm that follows it. 404 Media

Operator Note: The recording indicator on these devices is small, easy to obscure, and designed not to interrupt the wearer’s experience. A capability that removes the other person’s ability to notice they are being recorded has moved the consent question out of their hands entirely.

4. New Jersey’s Kids Code Act Carries a Private Right of Action

Governor Sherrill signed A 4015, the New Jersey Kids Code Act, on August 11, adopting an age-appropriate design code with a private right of action attached. PogoWasRight

Operator Note: The private right of action is the whole story. Illinois showed what happens when individuals can sue directly over a privacy statute, and every design code that lacks one has depended on an attorney general choosing to act. This one does not.

5. The FTC Pays Out $23.8 Million Over Grubhub

The Federal Trade Commission is distributing more than $23.8 million to drivers harmed by deceptive earnings claims and to diners harmed by misleading conduct, following the 2024 action brought with the Illinois attorney general. FTC

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