EFF has an interesting post on Law Enforcement use of license plate readers. They note:
Over the last decade, a vast number of law enforcement agencies around the country have adopted a mass surveillance technology that uses cameras to track the vehicles of every driver on the road, with little thought or respect given to the ways this technology might be abused. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling, that technology may soon be turned against people seeking abortions, the people who support them, and the workers who provide reproductive healthcare. We're talking about automated license plate readers (ALPRs). These are camera systems that capture license plate numbers and upload the times, dates, and locations where the plates were seen to massive searchable databases. Sometimes these scans may also capture photos of the driver or passengers in a vehicle.
Now I have a counter example. I sold a car in July of this year to a person in West Virginia. I turned my NJ plates into the DMV in NJ and got a receipt. In September the new owner apparently went through an EZpass site without an EZpass. I then received a violation plus a fine. The plate recorded was the new owner but EZpass attributed the plate to me! I ended up paying just to avoid dealing with the grossly incompetent Government employees or their agents.
Now this is not really the problem. What if there were a crime involved. I would have dozens of FBI agents smashing down my door and taking me away hooded and in cuffs! After all that is what the FBI is trained to do today, like the Gestapo, remember.
I recall a case of a prisoner sentenced to death based upon faulty cell data locations. I testified against the government expert, who frankly apparently had no expertise, and we got the poor fellow off death row! So the process of license plate readers is grossly flawed and can result potentially in death row situations. EFF has a point but it goes well beyond their position. Beware the Feds, not too smart but they have more guns!
Posts
