Ulta Beauty, Lowe’s and Home Depot are facing scrutiny over license plate surveillance technology. Retailers say the cameras help prevent theft, but customers and privacy advocates want to know what happens to the information collected.

A customer pulls into a shopping center to pick up moisturizer, replace a broken kitchen faucet or buy supplies for a weekend project. Before they reach the entrance, a camera may have already recorded their license plate, the time they arrived and where the car was spotted. That record can become part of a searchable database used for security investigations. The customer may never know it happened, who can search it or how long it will be kept.

Major retailers including Ulta Beauty, Lowe’s and Home Depot are facing growing scrutiny over their use of automated license plate readers from Flock Safety, a surveillance company whose cameras operate across much of the United States. Flock markets the devices as tools to help businesses and police investigate theft, identify suspicious vehicles and respond to crimes. But as questions grow about the technology’s accuracy and who can access its data, retailers are being pulled into a national debate over surveillance, privacy and the limits of commercial security.