Wardriving & Surveillance Device Detection

[dougborg]

Overview

This is a tracking issue for expanding DeFlock's surveillance detection capabilities beyond dedicated hardware — pulling from wardriving databases, using phone sensors directly, and leveraging street-level imagery to find and map a much broader range of surveillance devices.

The foundation is PR #37's scanner integration, which connects to FlockSquawk and flock-you hardware for BLE/WiFi-based camera detection. These features build on that architecture to support many more detection methods and data sources.

All of these issues are proposals and ideas — they're here to gather community feedback, spark discussion, and capture the vision. Nothing is set in stone. If you have thoughts, suggestions, alternative approaches, or concerns about any of these, please comment on the individual issues.

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Feature Issues

Foundation

• Curated surveillance device OUI + SSID watchlist #91 — Curated surveillance device OUI + SSID watchlist (Small — no dependencies)

Data Sources

• Wigle API integration — search for camera networks by region #92 — Wigle API integration — search for camera networks by region (Medium — depends on Curated surveillance device OUI + SSID watchlist #91)
• Import wardriving data (Wigle CSV, Kismet exports) #93 — Import wardriving data (Wigle CSV, Kismet exports) (Medium — depends on Curated surveillance device OUI + SSID watchlist #91)

Scanning

• Phone-native BLE/WiFi scanning for surveillance devices #94 — Phone-native BLE/WiFi scanning for surveillance devices (Medium — depends on Curated surveillance device OUI + SSID watchlist #91, PR Add FlockSquawk scanner integration (USB + BLE) #37)
• Kismet live REST API integration #96 — Kismet live REST API integration (Medium — depends on Curated surveillance device OUI + SSID watchlist #91, PR Add FlockSquawk scanner integration (USB + BLE) #37)

Visual Confirmation

• Street-level imagery viewer (Mapillary/Panoramax) for detection confirmation #95 — Street-level imagery viewer (Mapillary/Panoramax) for detection confirmation (Medium — independent)
• Dashcam/phone camera capture mode with detection tagging #97 — Dashcam/phone camera capture mode with detection tagging (Large — depends on PR Add FlockSquawk scanner integration (USB + BLE) #37)

Advanced / Longer-term

• AI-based camera detection from images/video #98 — AI-based camera detection from images/video (Large/XL — depends on Street-level imagery viewer (Mapillary/Panoramax) for detection confirmation #95 or Dashcam/phone camera capture mode with detection tagging #97)
• Community detection sharing (opt-in crowdsourced surveillance map) #99 — Community detection sharing (opt-in crowdsourced surveillance map) (XL — depends on many)

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Dependency Graph

                    ┌──────────┐
                    │ #91 OUI/ │
                    │  SSID    │
                    │ Watchlist│
                    └────┬─────┘
                         │
           ┌─────────┬───┴────┬──────────┐
           ▼         ▼        ▼          ▼
      ┌────────┐ ┌───────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌────────┐
      │ #92    │ │ #93   │ │ #94  │ │ #96    │
      │ Wigle  │ │Import │ │Phone │ │Kismet  │
      │ API    │ │Wardrive│ │Scan │ │ Live   │
      └────────┘ └───────┘ └──────┘ └────────┘

      ┌────────┐ ┌───────┐
      │ #95    │ │ #97   │
      │Imagery │ │Dashcam│
      │ Viewer │ │Capture│
      └───┬────┘ └───┬───┘
          │           │
          └─────┬─────┘
                ▼
          ┌──────────┐
          │ #98 AI   │
          │ Camera   │
          │ Detection│
          └──────────┘

          ┌──────────┐
          │ #99      │
          │Community │
          │ Sharing  │
          └──────────┘

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Related Existing Issues & PRs

• PR Add FlockSquawk scanner integration (USB + BLE) #37 — Add FlockSquawk scanner integration (USB + BLE) — the foundation all of this builds on
• Custom data providers (OSM/Overpass alternatives) #75 — Custom data providers (OSM/Overpass alternatives) — related architecture for pluggable data sources
• CoMaps Colab? (avoidance navigation) #26 — CoMaps Colab? (avoidance navigation) — surveillance-aware routing could use detection data from these features
• a new feature request: different icons for different manufacture types #30 — Different icons for different manufacture types — relates to the OUI watchlist (Curated surveillance device OUI + SSID watchlist #91) and displaying distinct device types from scanner/wardriving detections
• Android Auto / CarPlay support #72 — Android Auto / CarPlay support — proximity alerts and navigation during driving maps directly to wardriving use cases
• Generate alprwatch API client + centralized HTTP client factory #43 — Generate alprwatch API client + centralized HTTP client factory — relevant infrastructure for community sharing (Community detection sharing (opt-in crowdsourced surveillance map) #99) which proposes alprwatch.org as a backend, and for the Wigle API integration (Wigle API integration — search for camera networks by region #92)
• Add ability to downvote suspected locations that are outdated #60 — Downvote suspected locations that are outdated — the verification/confirmation workflow overlaps with detection confirmation via street-level imagery (Street-level imagery viewer (Mapillary/Panoramax) for detection confirmation #95) and community voting in (Community detection sharing (opt-in crowdsourced surveillance map) #99)

Cross-Cutting Research Notes

Deep technical research for #94 (phone-native scanning) uncovered cross-cutting findings relevant to this epic:

• iOS is significantly limited for phone-native scanning: Apple provides no API to enumerate nearby WiFi networks (the primary detection method for most surveillance cameras), and randomizes BLE MAC addresses (preventing OUI matching). iOS phone-native scanning is limited to BLE device name/manufacturer data matching — useful for Flock Safety and a few other BLE-advertising devices, but far less capable than Android. iOS users will benefit most from Wigle data (Wigle API integration — search for camera networks by region #92), wardriving imports (Import wardriving data (Wigle CSV, Kismet exports) #93), and FlockSquawk hardware.
• Radio conflicts with car integration (Android Auto / CarPlay support #72): Wireless Android Auto (5GHz WiFi Direct) degrades WiFi scanning. Wireless CarPlay (2.4GHz WiFi Direct) combined with iOS BLE throttling makes scanning severely limited. Wired car connections have zero radio conflicts. This needs design consideration when Phone-native BLE/WiFi scanning for surveillance devices #94 and Android Auto / CarPlay support #72 are implemented together.
• Recommended phasing for Phone-native BLE/WiFi scanning for surveillance devices #94: Android BLE + WiFi first → iOS BLE second → background/wardriving mode third → car integration conflict handling deferred.

See the Technical Research section in #94 and Radio Coexistence Notes in #72 for full details.

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Priority Suggestion

A reasonable order to tackle these (open for discussion):

1. Curated surveillance device OUI + SSID watchlist #91 OUI/SSID Watchlist — small effort, unlocks everything else
2. Wigle API integration — search for camera networks by region #92 Wigle API or Import wardriving data (Wigle CSV, Kismet exports) #93 Import — immediate value with no hardware required
3. Phone-native BLE/WiFi scanning for surveillance devices #94 Phone-native scanning — works on any phone, no extra hardware
4. Street-level imagery viewer (Mapillary/Panoramax) for detection confirmation #95 Street-level imagery — independent, high value for visual confirmation
5. Kismet live REST API integration #96 Kismet live — for power users with wardriving setups
6. Dashcam/phone camera capture mode with detection tagging #97 Dashcam capture — larger effort, ties into AI later
7. AI-based camera detection from images/video #98 AI detection — ambitious, builds on earlier features
8. Community detection sharing (opt-in crowdsourced surveillance map) #99 Community sharing — needs significant design discussion first

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This tracking issue will be updated as features progress. Feel free to comment with thoughts, priorities, or ideas we haven't considered.