Private database lets police skirt license plate data limits

[GURPS]

Private database lets police skirt license plate data limits


LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — For years, police nationwide have used patrol car-mounted scanners to automatically photograph and log the whereabouts of peoples’ cars, uploading the images into databases they’ve used to identify suspects in crimes from theft to murder.

Nowadays, they are also increasingly buying access to expansive databases run by private companies whose repo men and tow-truck drivers photograph license plates of vehicles every day.

Civil libertarians and lawmakers are raising concerns about the latest practice, arguing that there are few, if any, protections against abuse and that the private databases go back years at a time when agencies are limiting how long such information is stored.

WTF .... claiming a 1st amendment protection to photograph license plates

When state governments have tried to ban private license plate scan collection and use, for example in Utah, they’ve faced a lawsuit arguing that the law violated the First Amendment by preventing private companies from taking photos of publicly visible license plates.

 

[glhs837]

So, wanna get in on the ground floor of public facial recog cameras, GURPs? Think I'll put my first one next to the barbershop in millison plaza, the one next to the bookstore.

 

[GURPS]

So, wanna get in on the ground floor of public facial recog cameras, GURPs? Think I'll put my first one next to the barbershop in millison plaza, the one next to the bookstore.

Indeed ... its our 1st Amendment right to photograph folks in public

 

[glhs837]

You don't want your face in my database, well, don't walk around. And the organizations who are supposed to be protecting us from such invasions, well, it makes their job easier so that's okay with them.