Good News On Licence Plate Readers In Massachusetts - ACLU's Kade Crockford Discusses

[matthewf]

[MADem]

1. This tech won't be eliminated but it is being constrained.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/14/boston-police-suspend-use-high-tech-licence-plate-readers-amid-privacy-concerns/B2hy9UIzC7KzebnGyQ0JNM/story.html

The Boston Police Department has indefinitely suspended its use of high-tech scanners that automatically check whether drivers have outstanding parking tickets, lapsed insurance or other violations after a Globe investigation raised serious privacy concerns.

The police inadvertently released to the Globe the license plate numbers of more than 68,000 vehicles that had tripped alarms on automated license plate readers over a six-month period. Many of the vehicles were scanned dozens of times in that period alone.

The accidental release triggered immediate doubts about whether the police could reliably protect the sensitive data. It also raised questions about whether police were following up on the scans, since numerous vehicles repeatedly triggered alarms for the same offenses. One motorcycle that had been reported stolen triggered scanner alerts 59 times over six months, while another plate with lapsed insurance was scanned a total of 97 times in the same span......

[Politicalboi]

2. Driving illegally should have NO rights

But they need to fix the system. I'm one of those who feels if you drive without insurance and get nailed at an intersection without fault being on you, you should still be held at fault because YOU never should have been on the street to begin with.

[pam4water]

3. Beware those whose first impulse is to punish.