The proliferation of traffic surveillance cameras is inspiring a nationwide backlash. Many people see them as intrusive and antithetical to privacy and personal liberty.

So some are taking matters into their own hands using methods of varying effectiveness and legality.

A Facebook Reel of a woman driving and smiling has been watched nearly 2 million times because it targets the anxiety many have about our growing surveillance culture. A text overlay describes a hardware-store aerosol that some drivers spray on their license plates in the belief it makes it impossible for traffic cameras to read license plates after dark.

Kamilah Burke Asafa, a health and wellness coach who posts about events in her life and her business, posted the Reel.

"Imagine being the type of person that has such a lack of trust for the government that you would use Rust-Oleum 214944 reflective spray from Amazon on your license plates so the IR light, toll, or Flock cameras can't read it at night," the caption reads. "Society is really something."

She leaves open the question of whether she has actually done this herself. In the comments she wrote, "Tell me you know someone like this without telling me you know someone like this.” Her caption calls them "those people who are convinced there's more going on behind the scenes and are always looking for ways to 'opt out.'"

The Paint in Question

The product she names in the video is real and sells for $13.99 at outlets including Ace Hardware. It is not entirely clear, however, that it is effective.

Rust-Oleum's technical data sheet describes Specialty Reflective Spray as "a semi-transparent finish that reflects light for nighttime visibility and safety." Surfaces treated with it "appear bright when headlights illuminate it," and the company's suggested uses are mailboxes, gates, trash cans, light posts, bicycles and driveway rocks. It is sold to make objects easier to see in the dark, not harder.

The theory among drivers who try it is that the glare will overwhelm a camera. A commenter posting as Zane M Bowman pointed out that this may not keep the law off your back. "That works till a cop tries to read your plate by eye and can't see due to reflection from his headlights," he wrote.

Story subjects including Kamila did not respond to requests for comment.

Does The Paint Stymy Traffic Cameras?

Drivers who bought a dedicated commercial product based on the same idea did not get what they paid for. Jalopnik reported in 2025 on New York motorists who fitted anti-camera stickers sold by a company called Alite, including one Queens driver who spent $56 on two of them and was ticketed anyway after "police discovered the film from Alite on his plate."

Pressed by CBS, the seller conceded the limits of its own product, saying "some modern traffic cameras ... may still pick up plate details." Its explanation is the part that matters for anyone considering the spray paint. The strength of a camera's infrared flash, Alite said, "may not be sufficient to completely obscure the symbols," and nearby "headlights, streetlights, or sunlight ... could reduce the effectiveness of the reflection."

Commenters reached the same conclusion in blunter terms. "It doesn't work cupcake," wrote Chris Popp. "They take several pictures. Not all in IR." Several others posted detailed technical rebuttals under the video, and the phrase "it doesn't work" appears in the thread dozens of times.

Gallery: Speed cameras

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The Plate Is Not The Only Thing Being Read

Even a plate that could be hidden would leave the rest of the car in frame. Flock Safety's own product page says its cameras capture "license plates and key vehicle characteristics, such as make, color, and body type," and that its Vehicle Signature tool can "generate investigative leads from limited information" and "recognize thousands of unique vehicle characteristics."

Two commenters pointed to exactly this difficulty. "Flock cameras can also identify vehicles by bumper stickers and damage," wrote Dave Thomas. Aubry Breeze put the practical implication more neatly: "Better also have zero stickers and a really common car."

Kamilah is right about one thing: Flock camera surveillance is pervasive and thorough. The Electronic Frontier Foundation describes plate readers as capturing "all license plate numbers that come into view, along with the location, date, and time," with the resulting data, "which includes photographs of the vehicle and sometimes its driver and passengers," uploaded to a central server.

The Legal Problem

Obscuring a license plate is unambiguously illegal in most states, and at least one state wrote its statute with plate-reading machinery in mind. California Vehicle Code section 5201 requires plates to be "maintained in a condition so as to be clearly legible," then bans "a casing, shield, frame, border, shade, tint, product, or other device that obstructs or impairs the reading or recognition of a license plate by an electronic device operated by state or local law enforcement," or by a toll facility.

Commenters raised this issue repeatedly. "It's illegal to alter your license plate," wrote Kathy Lee. Thomas Pardue reported the consequence: "I just got pulled over in Texas for having one of those. They made me pull it off on the spot."

One viewer proposed a workaround, spraying a removable clear plate cover instead of the plate itself, which drew a response from Brittney Leigh: "Certain states don't allow plate covers anymore."

Robert J Welch recommended security through obscurity. "Those who go out of their way to not be noticed are the ones who draw the most attention," he wrote. "Best to stay hidden in plain sight."