meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
CYBER

The Private Surveillance System Tracking Cars in America

CYBER

VICE

Tech News, News & Politics, Technology, News

4645 Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2019

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In just a few taps and clicks, the system, made by a private company, shows where a car has been seen throughout the U.S. Tipped by a private investigator source, Joseph Cox broke the news that a powerful system used by an industry including repossession agents and insurance companies tracks cars across the US. Armed with just a car's plate number, the tool—fed by a network of private cameras spread across the country—provides users a list of all the times that car has been spotted.


Follow Ben Makuch and Joseph Cox on Twitter.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Tann, it's got the code. It's going to launch.

0:10.8

It's a unit system. I know this. It's all the files of the whole park. It tells her everything.

0:19.1

Sir, he's uploading the virus.

0:21.8

Eagle one.

0:22.6

The package is being delivered.

0:25.1

If I told you the government could track your car from your doorstep, across the country,

0:29.8

or even while you pull up in a drive-thru to get some late-night burgers, you'd probably

0:33.8

believe me.

0:34.7

You might shrug and say NSA Snowden, am I right?

0:37.4

Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded, and the storage

0:42.1

capability of these systems increases every year consistently by orders of magnitude.

0:48.6

Well, what if Meat Motherboard got access to a pool that allowed us to do just this?

0:53.9

No secret bunker access or government spying, but a private industry network geared towards profit making that allowed us to surveil a car with frightening accuracy.

1:04.0

Thanks to Joseph Cox, our guest this episode, we now know this is a real thing in 2019. I'm Ben Maku, and this is Cyber.

1:16.9

Okay.

1:17.7

All right.

1:18.8

Let's do this.

1:21.3

Joseph, what the fuck, man?

1:22.8

This story is nuts.

1:26.0

It's a little bit unusual.

1:27.8

A private investigator source had access to this. is nuts. It's a little bit unusual, yeah.

1:34.7

A private investigator source had access to this nationwide surveillance network.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from VICE, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of VICE and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.