tsai3904
07-17-2013, 11:24 AM
Police Documents on License Plate Scanners Reveal Mass Tracking
Automatic license plate readers are the most widespread location tracking technology you’ve probably never heard of. Mounted on patrol cars or stationary objects like bridges, they snap photos of every passing car, recording their plate numbers, times, and locations. At first the captured plate data was used just to check against lists of cars law enforcement hoped to locate for various reasons (to act on arrest warrants, find stolen cars, etc.). But increasingly, all of this data is being fed into massive databases that contain the location information of many millions of innocent Americans stretching back for months or even years.
This is what we have found after analyzing more than 26,000 pages of documents from police departments in cities and towns across the country, obtained through freedom of information requests by ACLU affiliates in 38 states and Washington, D.C. As it becomes increasingly clear that ours is an era of mass surveillance facilitated by ever cheaper and more powerful computing technology (think about the NSA's call logging program), it is critical we learn how this technology is being used. License plate readers are just one example of a disturbing phenomenon: the government is increasingly using new technology to collect information about all of us, all the time, and to store it forever – providing a complete record of our lives for it to access at will.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-national-security/police-documents-license-plate-scanners-reveal-mass
To see if you're city, town, county, etc, is using this technology, here's a map of public records request the ACLU has submitted:
http://www.aclu.org/maps/automatic-license-plate-reader-documents-interactive-map
If you don't see your local police agency there, you should consider submitting a public records request to find out more info.
Here's what I submitted to my local police department asking for what their policies are and what info they have on my car. I first sent an email asking if they use the technology to confirm they do before I sent this public records request:
I am requesting records related to the X Police Department's use of automatic license plate reader ("ALPR") technology.
I am specifically requesting any policies, guidelines, training manuals and/or instructions on the use of ALPR technology and the use and retention of ALPR data, including records on where the data is stored, how long it is stored, who has access to the data and how they access the data.
I am also requesting all ALPR data collected on my registered vehicle with license plate X between 12:01 AM on July 1, 2013 and 11:59 PM on June 30, 2013. This data should include, at a minimum, the date, time, location information and any images or photographs captured.
I request that any records maintained in electronic format be provided in that same format, to avoid copying costs. If you anticipate costs to search, review and duplicate any records to exceed $X (you may have to pay a fee), please contact me. If I can provide any clarification that will help focus this request, please contact me at X.
Automatic license plate readers are the most widespread location tracking technology you’ve probably never heard of. Mounted on patrol cars or stationary objects like bridges, they snap photos of every passing car, recording their plate numbers, times, and locations. At first the captured plate data was used just to check against lists of cars law enforcement hoped to locate for various reasons (to act on arrest warrants, find stolen cars, etc.). But increasingly, all of this data is being fed into massive databases that contain the location information of many millions of innocent Americans stretching back for months or even years.
This is what we have found after analyzing more than 26,000 pages of documents from police departments in cities and towns across the country, obtained through freedom of information requests by ACLU affiliates in 38 states and Washington, D.C. As it becomes increasingly clear that ours is an era of mass surveillance facilitated by ever cheaper and more powerful computing technology (think about the NSA's call logging program), it is critical we learn how this technology is being used. License plate readers are just one example of a disturbing phenomenon: the government is increasingly using new technology to collect information about all of us, all the time, and to store it forever – providing a complete record of our lives for it to access at will.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-national-security/police-documents-license-plate-scanners-reveal-mass
To see if you're city, town, county, etc, is using this technology, here's a map of public records request the ACLU has submitted:
http://www.aclu.org/maps/automatic-license-plate-reader-documents-interactive-map
If you don't see your local police agency there, you should consider submitting a public records request to find out more info.
Here's what I submitted to my local police department asking for what their policies are and what info they have on my car. I first sent an email asking if they use the technology to confirm they do before I sent this public records request:
I am requesting records related to the X Police Department's use of automatic license plate reader ("ALPR") technology.
I am specifically requesting any policies, guidelines, training manuals and/or instructions on the use of ALPR technology and the use and retention of ALPR data, including records on where the data is stored, how long it is stored, who has access to the data and how they access the data.
I am also requesting all ALPR data collected on my registered vehicle with license plate X between 12:01 AM on July 1, 2013 and 11:59 PM on June 30, 2013. This data should include, at a minimum, the date, time, location information and any images or photographs captured.
I request that any records maintained in electronic format be provided in that same format, to avoid copying costs. If you anticipate costs to search, review and duplicate any records to exceed $X (you may have to pay a fee), please contact me. If I can provide any clarification that will help focus this request, please contact me at X.