Draconian spy cameras that vigilantes are tearing down pop up in Americas most beautiful national park

Controversial new Flock cameras have been installed across Yosemite despite mass surveillance concerns.The devices, which read drivers’ license plates, were erected in six locations across the sprawling national park last month, online tool DeFlock.org revealed.It comes amid heightened scrutiny over the system, with vigilantes yanking them down in Monterey County and the LAPD suspending its contract with the company over privacy and data security fears.More than 117,000 automated license plate readers from Flock Safety are located across the country, including more than 16,000 in California alone, according to a DeFlock map.The cameras inside Yosemite are at the following locations:While locals are concerned about threats of mass surveillance, Yosemite National Park officials say the cameras are not designed to read license plates but to help control traffic –– which has previously forced drivers to sit in their cars for 90 minutes before getting into the park over weekends.“Gridlock.Cars everywhere.

People everywhere.No parking.

No space,” visitor Lorena Calvillo wrote on Yosemite National Park’s official Facebook page.Officials say they are placed to provide better information on park visitors about wait times within the park using an Integrated Visitor Information System, according to YourCentralValley.com.The national park had recently won a grant in innovation funding by the National Park Foundation to “design unified, park-wide system that integrates real-time data on traffic, parking, and road conditions into automated, multichannel visitor information.”The sophisticated high-tech system is expected to have smart cameras and sensors along the roads and parking lots that would count cars and track traffic as it happens.Marcus Bee, 40, from Pismo Beach in San Luis Obispo County was booked last month for destroying three Flock cameras in Monterey County.Sheriff Tina Nieto said at the time: “Whenever you take away what we call an ALPR s...