License-plate readers let police collect millions of records on drivers

[Recursion]

http://cironline.org/reports/license-plate-readers-let-police-collect-millions-records-drivers-4883

When the city of San Leandro, Calif., purchased a license-plate reader for its police department in 2008, computer security consultant Michael Katz-Lacabe asked the city for a record of every time the scanners had photographed his car.

The results shocked him.

The paperback-size device, installed on the outside of police cars, can log thousands of license plates in an eight-hour patrol shift. Katz-Lacabe said it had photographed his two cars on 112 occasions, including one image from 2009 that shows him and his daughters stepping out of his Toyota Prius in their driveway.

That photograph, Katz-Lacabe said, made him “frightened and concerned about the magnitude of police surveillance and data collection.” The single patrol car in San Leandro equipped with a plate reader had logged his car once a week on average, photographing his license plate and documenting the time and location.

[ohheckyeah]

1. Law enforcement

and the government are just completely out of control with this data collection stuff.

[Recursion]

2. This is the world we live in.

It's the same argument I say to conservatives a lot: you can't click your heels together and wish technology away.

You don't have an expectation of privacy about the fact that you are driving on a public road.

[ohheckyeah]

4. I knew that was coming.

"No expectation of privacy if you are driving on a public road."

Just because the technology exists, doesn't make it right to use it.

[Recursion]

5. And I knew that was coming

Just because the technology exists, doesn't make it right to use it.

Doesn't work that way. If it helps police, they will want it.

[ohheckyeah]

6. You're a good citizen...

congratulations.

bye

[snooper2]

7. You can sit at the entrance of a shopping mall

and take pictures and video of every single car coming and going if you wish-

[ohheckyeah]

8. So?

What's that got to do with the price of eggs in China?

I spent 4 semesters taking photography courses and NEVER did I photograph a stranger without permission. It's called respecting someone's privacy whether or not they have an expectation of privacy in public.

Of course, your username suggests you don't share my respect for privacy.

[srican69]

3. Good .. Public roads are not a private space ... we should not be guaranteed any privacy on

areas that we all share ..

I say - bring on the cameras and licence plate readers ... it will ultimately serve our common interest

[ohheckyeah]

9. And you, too, are a good little

citizen.

[NoOneMan]

10. "it will ultimately serve our common interest"

Maybe. Maybe it will rather be leveraged to maximize ROI for police, by identifying the most profitable people to quickly ticket/arrest while ignoring larger offenders that may result in lengthy chases or troublesome trials. Technology such as this can--If one wished--be used to instantly flag the poor who have expired tags, parking tickets, or other outstandings who cannot afford legal representation and who will not resist arrest. In doing so, it can greatly increase the revenue a department can generate on 8 hours of an officers time, as well as avoid risk to officers or liabilities to departments (those who can afford representation).

Its a large assumption to assume instantly that massive surveillance will always and forever serve the common interest. It will serve the variable interests of the people employing it, which will change over time.