As Police Scan Millions Of License Plates, Civil Libertarians Question How Info Is Being Used

[Purveyor]

License plate scanner networks capture millions of vehicles' movements across the US

By TAMI ABDOLLAH and ELLIOT SPAGAT | Associated Press | 3 hours, 17 minutes ago in Technology, Politics

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A rapidly expanding digital network that uses cameras mounted to traffic signals and police cruisers captures the movements of millions of vehicles across the U.S., regardless of whether the drivers are being investigated by law enforcement.

The license plate scanning systems have multiplied across the U.S. over the last decade, funded largely by Homeland Security grants, and judges recently have upheld authorities' rights to keep details from hundreds of millions of scans a secret from the public.

Such decisions come as a patchwork of local laws and regulations govern the use of such technology and the distribution of the information they collect, inflaming civil liberties advocates who see this as the next battleground in the fight over high-tech surveillance.

"If I'm not being investigated for a crime, there shouldn't be a secret police file on me" that details "where I go, where I shop, where I visit," said Michael Robertson, a tech entrepreneur fighting in court for access to his own files. "That's crazy, Nazi police-type stuff."

A San Diego judge has tentatively ruled that a local government agency can deny Robertson's request for scans on his own vehicle under California's open records law because the information pertains to police investigations. Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal heard additional arguments in the case Friday and plans to issue a final decision soon. Robertson said he plans to appeal if the tentative decision stands.

more...

http://www.newser.com/article/e14dfdb43b474593ab6b4df68bce572d/as-police-scan-millions-of-license-plates-civil-libertarians-question-how-info-is-being-used.html

[DJ13]

1. KICK!

[NYC_SKP]

2. "That's crazy, Nazi police-type stuff."

Yep!

[woodsprite]

3. They're doing the same thing in Newark, DE

Going down Main St., it's the city doing it, but the County and State police can tap
into the database

[customerserviceguy]

4. I'm confident that 90% of it is about money

Especially busting people who owe big parking fines (NYC is state of the art in that category), but that final ten percent bothers me, especially as we move into the future, when better computers will be able to categorize and store information more efficiently.

Yeah, this needs to be severely questioned.

[billhicks76]

6. Maybe 20% Is

Most of it is dossier profiling to monitor people moving marijuana across the country down to individual smokers they can fleece in court.

[billhicks76]

5. These Nazis Can Go To Hell

They all deserve to put on trial. Maybe there should be a citizen group that monitors their every movement and follows them everywhere. Every place I go I hear people getting angrier and angrier about these transgressions and there is a tipping point coming...I can feel it in the air. Maybe we should just get rid of license plates altogether.

[ErikJ]

7. I got stopped all the time for just driving an old beat up cargo van.

. They'd stop me saying my back light blinker was burnt out which it wasnt and take a look inside and then let me go. So I got used to it. Now I drive a newer mini-van and havent been stopped yet. I wonder why.

[glowing]

8. The police regularly drive thru the hotel parking lot

where I work to run plates. There have been a few times they have found and out of state plate that is in the system for a warrant... And you know those bench warrants can be for an unpaid traffic ticket all the way up to a felony...
So, if busted out of state (and maybe unknowingly by the out of state traveller), they will take custody of the person and it becomes an expensive item for that person to then have to pay extra fees on all of it. And they do this in all sorts of parking lots all over the place

[americannightmare]

9. And to think, cars were supposed to be about freedom...

The decision to give up my car 4 years ago looks better all the time. I have never felt more free. I don't have to worry about that polluting thing being broken into, stolen, paying for insurance, maintenance and of course gas. If I really need a car I can get a zip car or rent. And the way most people drive in this country, I sure as hell don't want to see the elimination of license plates!

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. Sorry, Mr. Lincoln.

"and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." - Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

It's perished.

[alp227]

11. here's a local article detailing the robertson case

San Diego Union-Tribune: License plate database will stay a secret

[CaptainTruth]

12. At what point does tracking someone's movements become stalking?

And of course, if cops/govt can do this, then we the people can build our own database & track the movements of cops & govt officials ... right?

[Snarkoleptic]

13. The busiest intersection in my town has such cameras and separate red-light cams.

I've written to complain about both, especially the red-light cams, which are mounted on white painted metal posts that are rusting and unsightly. They are also a drain on the local economy as the out-of-state operator takes 80% of all fines paid.

The local police also have a vehicle mounted tag scanner, which can read up to 20,000 plates/hour. I believe this is a revenue generating scheme as they have a reputation for nabbing a large number of people who are passing through with outstanding warrants. I can't locate the article, but once read that the department that arrests someone on a warrant receives a bounty for doing so.