PeekBack

A free and public crowdsourcing website for tracking Flock cameras and other mass surveillance devices.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or higher)
• npm or yarn

Installation

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Start the development server:

npm run dev

3. Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:5173

Building for Production

npm run build

The built files will be in the dist directory.

Tech Stack

• React - UI framework
• Vite - Build tool and dev server
• Tailwind CSS - Styling
• React Router - Client-side routing
• Firebase - Backend (Firestore, Authentication, Analytics)
• Leaflet - Interactive maps

Project Structure

src/
  components/     # Reusable components
  pages/          # Page components
  App.jsx         # Main app component with routing
  main.jsx        # Entry point
  index.css       # Global styles with Tailwind

Firebase Setup

Firestore Rules

The Firestore security rules are defined in firestore.rules. To deploy them:

1. Install Firebase CLI (if not already installed):

npm install -g firebase-tools

2. Login to Firebase:

firebase login

3. Deploy Firestore rules:

firebase deploy --only firestore:rules

Firestore Rules Overview

• Read access: Public (anyone can read device data)
• Create access: Authenticated users only (including anonymous)
• Update/Delete access: Users can only modify their own submissions
• Validation: Enforces required fields and data types for device submissions

Data Sharing & Integration

PeekBack supports data sharing with other surveillance tracking platforms:

Import from OpenStreetMap

DeFlock (https://github.com/FoggedLens/deflock) uses OpenStreetMap to store ALPR data. You can import their data into PeekBack:

1. Visit /data in the app
2. Set the geographic bounds for the region you want to import
3. Click "Import from OSM" to fetch and import ALPR devices from OpenStreetMap

Export PeekBack Data

Export PeekBack data in multiple formats for sharing:

• JSON: Full device data with metadata
• CSV: Spreadsheet-compatible format
• GeoJSON: Standard geographic data format for mapping tools

Visit /data to export data.

Data Format

PeekBack devices include:

• type: Device type (flock, license_plate_reader, traffic_camera, etc.)
• latitude / longitude: Geographic coordinates
• address: Optional address string
• description: Optional description
• thumbsUp: Community verification count
• inactiveReports: Reports of device being removed

Contributing

This is a public crowdsourcing project. Contributions are welcome!