Home Depot and Lowe's sued over license plate reader surveillance in parking lots
Home Depot and Lowe's reportedly deployed automated license plate reader systems in store parking lots to combat theft, but were sued in a class action lawsuit alleging covert surveillance and unauthorized sharing of vehicle data with law enforcement.
What happened
Home Depot and Lowe's deployed automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems in parking lots at locations across multiple states including California, Texas and Connecticut to combat retail theft. The cameras capture images of vehicles and license plates along with the date, time and general location of the store.
Home Depot was named in a class action lawsuit filed in California federal court alleging the company was running a covert surveillance system using license plate reader technology and feeding that information to a database accessed by law enforcement. Public records showed that a Texas sheriff's office had searchable access to data from hundreds of license plate reader cameras tied to Lowe's and Home Depot stores through surveillance firm Flock Safety.
Reported impact
Privacy advocates warned that the devices could track shoppers' movements and create searchable records showing where vehicles travel, when they arrive and how often they visit certain locations. The systems could allow data to be accessible to law enforcement, hackers, private investigators or misused internally.
Index analysis
The legal status of the surveillance remains contested. A constitutional historian noted that use of surveillance cameras on private property is 'probably legal,' but that constitutional issues become more complicated once companies share data with law enforcement.
Governance controls
Both Lowe's and Home Depot stated they do not sell or share information collected with license plate readers to third parties. Home Depot said it does not grant access to license plate readers to federal law enforcement and that cameras are used solely as a security measure to prevent theft and protect customer safety.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.