Home Depot and Lowe's are running AI camera systems in their parking lots that log details about every car, which is bad news for anyone who cares about privacy.

• The cameras read license plates and note things like bumper stickers, dents, roof racks and aftermarket wheels to build a searchable profile of each vehicle.
• The stores call it theft prevention, but the profiles are detailed enough to identify a car even with the plate covered.
• Home Depot says it does not give federal agencies access, yet the local police it shares with can pass the data along anyway; Lowe's has reportedly shared its data across state lines.
• The bigger risk is commercial: this kind of data can be sold to advertisers who want to know what truck the average power-tool buyer drives.
• Broader worry is that a growing surveillance network gets aimed at people who criticize the government, not just shoplifters.

Outlook: Expect more pushback from privacy groups as these cameras spread to more retail parking lots.