--- title: "Man Covers Car in Special Wrap That Breaks Flock Cameras’ Electronic Brains" description: "A researcher has come up with a special, computer-generated pattern wrap that can allow a car to evade detection from Flock's cameras." date: "2026-08-11" modified: "2026-08-11" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/man-covers-car-special-wrap-flock-cameras" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Cybersecurity" - "Ethics" - "Future Society" - "Hacking" --- # Man Covers Car in Special Wrap That Breaks Flock Cameras’ Electronic Brains ![A photo illustration of a car with camouflage.]() *Shutterstock / Futurism* In light of [plummeting public support]() for its widespread automatic license plate readers, surveillance company Flock has lost dozens of contracts with cities across the US. The company even [drew up plans to use the dashcams]() installed in Uber and Lyft drivers’ cars to spy on other vehicles, as *404 Media* [reported this week](). Citizens are increasingly disgusted by the company's presence on public streets, opting to [hack down the cameras](), [blind them](), or [sabotage]() them in other creative ways. https://twitter.com/christinayiotis/status/2086825905410682909 And according to cybersecurity researcher Bill Swearingen, there may be other creative ways to befuddle Flock's spy cams. He devised with a special computer-generated pattern which, once stretched out across the vehicle in the form of a wrap, will result it in not being flagged as a car by Flock's cameras. During this year's Def Con cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, Swearingen showed off a 2009 Toyota Yaris wrapped in vinyl featuring the logo of automotive publication Donut Media (which is owned by *Futurism*'s parent company Recurrent Ventures.) Despite the car looking a bit chaotic — albeit still very much like a small passenger vehicle to the human eye — "we proved it was effective," Swearingen [told *TechCrunch*](). The Yaris successfully defeated surveillance detection at Def Con during the pattern's first public test. "Privacy is a fundamental right," he added, aiming to give people a way to "opt out of being tracked." To come up with the pattern, he used a reinforcement learning model that trained itself on patterns that evade detection. The model got to the point of being able to confuse all 11 open source detection algorithms he tested, per *TechCrunch*, in addition to Flock's license plate readers and even Axon's body-worn cameras used by police departments. As part of his [noRecognition crowdsourcing campaign](), Swearingen has also come up with T-shirts and hoodies that feature algorithmic detection-busting patterns. He hopes to eventually put pattern-printed skins for entire cars on sale as well. The effort is part of a much broader trend of companies [offering up garments that incorporate "adversarial patterns]()," which can exploit weaknesses in computer vision systems. One thing is clear: as outrage over Flock's heavy presence across the country grows, people are looking for any way to foil the tech — especially if it looks cool. **More on Flock:** [*Flock’s Secret Surveillance Plan Will Make You Gasp*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()