Your car, tracked: the rapid rise of license plate readers

[DainBramaged]

Largely unregulated, cameras now collect millions of travel records every day

Tiburon, a small but wealthy town just northeast of the Golden Gate Bridge, has an unusual distinction: it was one of the first towns in the country to mount automated license plate readers (LPRs) at its city borders—the only two roads going in and out of town. Effectively, that means the cops are keeping an eye on every car coming and going.

A contentious plan? Not in Tiburon, where the city council approved the cameras unanimously back in November 2009.

The scanners can read 60 license plates per second, then match observed plates against a "hot list" of wanted vehicles, stolen cars, or criminal suspects. LPRs have increasingly become a mainstay of law enforcement nationwide; many agencies tout them as a highly effective "force multiplier" for catching bad guys, most notably burglars, car thieves, child molesters, kidnappers, terrorists, and—potentially—undocumented immigrants.

Today, tens of thousands of LPRs are being used by law enforcement agencies all over the country—practically every week, local media around the country report on some LPR expansion. But the system's unchecked and largely unmonitored use raises significant privacy concerns. License plates, dates, times, and locations of all cars seen are kept in law enforcement databases for months or even years at a time. In the worst case, the New York State Police keeps all of its LPR data indefinitely. No universal standard governs how long data can or should be retained.

Not surprisingly, the expanded use of LPRs has drawn the ire of privacy watchdogs. In late July 2012, the American Civil Liberties Union and its affiliates sent requests to local police departments and state agencies across 38 states to request information on how LPRs are used.


http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/your-car-tracked-the-rapid-rise-of-license-plate-readers/


A large and detailed article. It's re-posting by Ars is interesting because a couple of days ago in front of our work the locals (using plate readers) stopped a car from Pennsylvania because of unpaid summonses. The car got towed and the driver got arrested. The passenger was LEFT on the side of the road. One of the people from work who lives out in Eastern PA (40 minute drive) took her home that night. Fucking horrible. The town Where I work they LOOK for people on cell phones and have mobile signs announcing they will ticket you for using while driving, and proudly display they have arrested 41 drunk drivers this year. They have a ONE MILE stretch of major highway to patrol and they have THREE Dodge Charger Hemi cruisers.


They protect no one they are simply a money generating machine for the town.

[Octafish]

1. Thanks to the USA PATRIOT Act, all the states share data.

Tried getting a new driver's license with an unpaid ticket from 1986 the other day...

[MineralMan]

45. Try it with unpaid child support. Same thing.

It's tough to be a scofflaw these days. And it's not going to get any easier, either.

[MindPilot]

2. one nation, under surveillance

Judges--not matter how much they want to--can't put the entire population in prison, so the next best thing is that we are all effectively under house arrest.

[lonestarnot]

5. Not the 1%. They built the pens.

[lunatica]

3. We best get used to it since this was bound to happen

I bet this is why public crime is down in the US rather than up because of the economy. It's the only thing that makes sense.

It really doesn't matter whether we're for it or against it. It's a fact of modern life now.

[Logical]

4. Driving in public, I have no issue with this. May catch people with...

Warrants or find missing cars, people, etc.

[MindPilot]

6. Do you believe we waive all our rights when we get into a motor vechicle,

or just most of them?

I can't believe anyone thinks this level of surveillance is OK, because it *might* catch someone with a warrant or find a stolen car.

[Lightbulb_on]

7. What do you think the difference between a LEO running plates on his own...

... and a camera doing it?

Speed of processing?

[GoneOffShore]

9. Speed of processing is one aspect.

Keeping the records is another and most worrying.

Bet you're a fan of the TSA gropers as well.

Anything to be safe?

You're forgetting your Ben Franklin epigram about security and freedom.

[Logical]

11. Stores keep video of you shopping for years. Big deal.

[GoneOffShore]

15. Yes, it's a BFD.

Stores neither need nor should have those kinds of records.

And the cops need more impediments to surveillance rather than fewer. Take a look at "The Lives of Others" for an insight into what it's like to live in a society that is constantly under watch.

As I said, I'm sure you're a big fan of the TSA.

[Logical]

17. I think you are paranoid. I can stand on the street and take photos of your house. Going to stop me?

[GoneOffShore]

22. You are not a LEO or an agent of the government.

And if you were and I saw you taking pictures, I'd ask you why you were and under what authority you were taking those pictures.

And I'd expect a really good answer or a look at the warrant.

In Europe it is considered an invasion of privacy to take pictures of strangers in the street. I'm very careful doing street photography when I'm there, always making sure that my subject is aware of what I'm doing.

And you didn't answer my earlier implied question: Are you a big fan of the TSA gropers?

And obviously you don't subscribe to what Benjamin Franklin said about freedom and security: Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.

[Logical]

23. This is not Europe. And TSA is a joke because it does not make us safer. But no one forces you...

to fly. And if you do you are scanned. Don't like it, do not fly.

I don't like being checked at NFL stadiums either but it is not illegal.

You are confusing things that annoy you with illegal things.

I am against DUI checkpoints. Because they are intrusive.

[GoneOffShore]

25. So are license plate scanners.

[Logical]

30. Not I know you are just joking.

[Mojorabbit]

40. It is attitudes like yours that ensures we will lose all our privacy rights as time goes on. nt

[Logical]

24. Also, I can take photos of your house from a public location and not have to answer TO ANYONE! You..

need to read more about freedom.

You sound like you would confront law abiding citizens for no legal reason. Like Zimmerman did.

[GoneOffShore]

26. I'd confront a LEO.

Don't move goal posts.

You're just annoying.

Peddle your bullshit elsewhere.

[Logical]

31. LOL, I get it. You have nothing. n-t

[GoneOffShore]

32. And you're annoying.

And as I said, I know exactly where you're from.

[Ikonoklast]

33. Nonsense, they do no such thing.

What other absurdities do you believe?

[Logical]

41. LOL, the microcenter store my son works at keeps it for 24 months! Feel stupid now?

[Ikonoklast]

44. LOL, I can make idiotic claims on teh intrawebs with zero proof too!

Tick, tock on the stupid.

[Logical]

10. Then don't drive a car. You are on a public road. You are driving a car licensed by the...

state. You license plate is visible to anyone while you drive.

They are not placing a GPS on your car, which I would NOT be OK with.

They are running your license plate. Nothing else.

If you have no warrants for your arrest then you are OK.

[MindPilot]

16. Then lets just put cameras in your house.

If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

There is little worse than an authoritarian pretending to be a liberal .

[Logical]

19. Wow, fail! So different. One is my property on private land. One is public land. Get it? I bet....

I know about 1000x more than you about civil liberties. And laws.

Being paranoid does not = logic.

I assume you are against people taping cops also? Interferes with the cops rights?

[LiberalFighter]

18. I guess probable cause is now out the window.

[Logical]

20. Not true at all....

they cannot stop you for no reason. Even though many asshole cops do.

The license plate scanner is not intrusive. Passive.

[GoneOffShore]

8. More surveillance from the folks who brought us the Patriot Act.

Perhaps these need to be treated in the same fashion that speed cameras are treated in England.

[hunter]

12. Poor gatsos...

http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm

[DainBramaged]

13. Ah the industrious anarchists, gods bless them....

[Comrade Grumpy]

27. Wow, that's a lot of destroyed surveillance cameras. I'm outraged.

[hunter]

39. Round up the usual suspects...

[Gormy Cuss]

14. The Golden Gate Bridge will soon eliminate all toll collectors and use plate readers to bill

the owners of any cars without a preloaded payment of some sort and they are promoting it like it's a great step forward to have databases logging every vehicle crossing the bridge.

70% of crossers currently are using FasTrak but that's not good enough so they've come up with other ways to pay, all shifting the cost to drivers who have to make an online transaction or stop at a pay station separate from the bridge as a penalty for not signing up for FasTrak.

Besides FasTrak and invoices, less-frequent bridge users are encouraged to use two "pay-by-plate" options. They can set up a license plate account, which deducts the toll after they cross the bridge and doesn't require a prepaid balance. Or, a one-time payment can be made before or after crossing the bridge. Both options can be paid online or with cash or credit card at cash payment locations to be established in retail stores around the Bay Area.

This quote from the spokesperson really ticked me off:

"We don't want to be in the business of issuing toll invoices," Currie said. "It's a great backup for the customer, and that's how we see it, but we don't want people to get lazy and rely on it."

Characterizing people who don't comply with their Rube Goldberg system as LAZY?

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/New-ways-to-pay-3875988.php

[hunter]

21. I think that might create a nice underground market for "smart glass" license plate blankers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_glass

[Comrade Grumpy]

28. Cool. I have actually day dreamed about something like that.

And a switchable ultra-high frequency sound emitter to keep drug dogs away.

[Gormy Cuss]

35. In tech savvy San Francisco, what are the chances that people will use those?

[DollarBillHines]

38. They really just want to get rid of the toll-takers.

They are paid around $50K/yr.

I think this whole thing will be pretty chaotic.

Just another reason for me to not go south of the bridge.

[Gormy Cuss]

42. Pretty obvious, isn't it?

I cross the GG bridge less than five times a year and think this sucks from a privacy aspect.

[DainBramaged]

43. First they came for the check out cashiers, now the toll takers

Should they retrain as bathroom attendants?

[Nye Bevan]

29. As this technology advances, more and more roads will have "smart tolls".

It makes sense that those who use roads the most should contribute the most towards their cost. And to do this, the system needs to know which vehicle is where, at what time. So we might as well get used to this. I think the advantages outweigh any privacy issues. Car theft will become almost impossible, and any crime requiring a vehicle will become very difficult to pull off.

[MindPilot]

34. Yeah what happens when that "crime"

is a black woman heading for the polls?

There is a huge potential for abuse here, and the lawmakers need to pay a lot more attention to make the laws--especially those which protect individual rights--keep pace with technology.

[Nye Bevan]

36. The technology can actually prevent this kind of abuse.

The cop car locations will also be tracked and recorded. It will be harder for cops to intimidate people and/or set them up.

[MindPilot]

37. I need that explained.

Sorry, but I fail to see the connection since most police departments have been able to keep track of their cars for several decades.