http://www.dailytech.com/ACLU+Investigates+Whether+Raleigh+License+Plate+Scanning+Violates+Privacy+RIghts/article18016.htm'



(Raleigh police Officer John Maultsby says the new scanning system is safe and is working to catch crooks. (Source: Keith Baker/WRAL))

Quote :

"Raleigh, NC police system stores records of your license plates and location Would it bother you if there was a record of where you were at all times, stored in a public database? That's the concern that citizens in Raleigh, North Carolina have expressed. Raleigh area police have just adopted a new Automated License Plate Reader system that they say will make citizens in the region more secure. The system consists of four cameras mounted to police cruisers that automatically read license plates of nearby cars (the cost to outfit each cruiser can cost between $18,000 to $20,000). The results are sent back to the police headquarters, where they are scanned for matches in the national criminal database. The police say the system is working great. It has already help recover several stolen vehicles and locate at least one missing person. Describes Officer John Maultsby, "With this technology, it can read hundreds of plates in a couple of seconds if there are that many plates for it to see." The system, however, is stirring up controversy. Some take issue with the fact that your license plate information and location is stored both in the police cruiser and at the police headquarters, regardless of if you committed a crime. The police have not made it clear how long this information is stored. Such information could be dangerous if it was stolen. It could reveal many embarrassing, but perfectly legal behaviors. Given that government databases are routinely compromised by hackers, many worry about the possibility of privacy risks to law-abiding citizens. Raleigh is home to roughly 400,000 U.S. citizens. It is the state capital of North Carolina, and the state's second largest city. Numerous colleges, including North Carolina State University, Shaw University, Peace College, and St. Augustine's College, are located in Raleigh. The students at these schools are taking note of the debate, and many have strong opinions on it. States N.C. State student Ian Kilgore, "It’s just privacy. Even though I am not doing anything wrong, and I don’t have anything to hide, I still don’t want people to know where I am at any given time." The U.S. Constitution contains no specific mention of a "right to privacy", but the precedent set by the highest court in the U.S., the Supreme Court, interprets the 9th Amendment to offer privacy protections. Important cases that established this precedent include several contraception-related cases (the Griswold and Eisenstadt cases), an interracial marriage case (the Loving case), and the well-known abortion case, Roe v Wade. The 9th amendment states: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Other amendments in the Bill of Rights also been interpreted to provide privacy protections, such as the 3rd, the 4th's search and seizure limits, and the 5th's self-incrimination limit. The American Civil Liberties Union, a U.S. rights watchdog group, has not challenged the new system, but has expressed its concern. It has sent a letter to the Raleigh police asking for a copy of their policy concerning the use of the scanners. The policy would likely reveal information such as how long location information is stored and what kind of protections are in place to prevent its accidental release. Jennifer Rudinger with the ACLU of N.C. comments, "If an officer does not get a hit when scanning a plate, then there is no legitimate reason for law enforcement to keep it on file for any length of time." Concerns over similar systems have been raised nationwide in Washington D.C. and elsewhere."

4/1/2010 11:16:43 AM

blackdog makes an interesting thread!?

4/1/2010 11:18:43 AM

Hmm, I hadn't considered that. It could be used to track an individual's movements. Or rather, LOTS of individuals' movements.

Repo companies have been using these for years.

4/1/2010 11:18:50 AM

Quote :

"(the cost to outfit each cruiser can cost between $18,000 to $20,000)"

4/1/2010 11:19:53 AM

We're not laying off teachers for nothing, after all.

4/1/2010 11:24:46 AM

The camera must cost over half of that amount due to the rest of the equipment needed being available to the public for years.

Though they already have a free camera in the car, it's called eyes and a keyboard.



[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 11:28 AM. Reason : ,]

4/1/2010 11:26:08 AM

It's a good thing I just changed my license plate to "x';DROP TABLE licenseplates;".

4/1/2010 11:35:07 AM

My plate reads "THC N Car"

Orig link is fucked: http://www.dailytech.com/ACLU+Investigates+Whether+Raleigh+License+Plate+Scanning+Violates+Privacy+RIghts/article18016.htm



[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 11:57 AM. Reason : /]

4/1/2010 11:35:49 AM

hmm would be an odd 4/1 thing to post

4/1/2010 11:37:21 AM

4/1/2010 11:38:36 AM

DailyTech is a reputable tech news site and their source included WRAL. There is nothing April Fools about this.

4/1/2010 11:38:38 AM

k, sure

4/1/2010 11:39:17 AM

Quote :

"(the cost to outfit each cruiser can cost between $18,000 to $20,000)"

That's my only concern, really. That's a bit too expensive to justify something that may or may not be helpful in finding stolen vehicles.

4/1/2010 11:41:21 AM

They already can and do run plates manually anyway at stoplights, as I've been pulled over before when an officer ran the plate but mistyped a number and it came up as stolen. Thankfully she realized her mistake and apologized as soon as she walked over to the car, rather than thinking she was dealing with a criminal.

I suppose this can be seen as the same behavior on a larger scale, and I don't have a problem with the technology being used for those purposes. If they do keep the data for any length of time, I do think it's overstepping their authority.

What could make it thorny is governmental records-retention laws--they may be required by law to keep the data for a certain period of time, even if they have no reason to.

4/1/2010 11:42:10 AM

i am pretty sure i read about this on WRAL yesterday, which means it's no April Fools joke

4/1/2010 11:42:42 AM

After the stories on Govt Databases like the Treasury Dept being hacked how trust worthy can we be with Raleigh PD?

I for one hate the Raleigh PD and I would love to take them to court for any reason. So for all means keep this stupid ass database until it comes back to bite them in the ass.

4/1/2010 11:46:49 AM

Fuck this shit.

4/1/2010 11:47:40 AM

The first thing that came to my mind would be a woman taking her husband to divorce court for adultery and having these records pulled to see if he was where he said he was on the night in question

I watch too much crime drama TV.

4/1/2010 11:47:53 AM

they should be required to delete the data on the database after some amount of time. i have no problem with running my plate automatically, thats only making things more efficient, but i don't htink they should be allowed to keep my location in a database forever.

4/1/2010 11:49:03 AM

I find it hard to believe this 20k system can run on a 6 year old dell laptop. State Surplus FTW

4/1/2010 11:52:30 AM

Quote :

"locate at least one missing person"

Don't know why this bugs me, but is it one person or not? That is pretty cut and dry.

4/1/2010 11:56:59 AM

haha maybe they thought they found one and then lost them only to later find them another way.

4/1/2010 12:00:22 PM

I don't give a shit how effective it is.


NEWSFLASH!! A TOTAL POLICE STATE IS EFFECTIVE AT FIGHTING CRIME!!!! THEREFORE IT'S OKAY!!

4/1/2010 12:17:17 PM

they make it sound like it's only Raleigh plates, but last I checked you can't spot with your eye (or fancy camera) what City a plate is from.

4/1/2010 12:19:23 PM

NM BEATUP HAHA


[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 12:21 PM. Reason : .]

4/1/2010 12:21:06 PM

^ scroll down a few more posts, it was too late to edit when I noticed it

4/1/2010 12:22:00 PM

ok i can't find this on WRAL anywhere (even though i thought i read something like this yesterday)

and there's no way a nationally read technology website would have something about our glorious Capital City without WRAL having it on their homepage as well



i'm starting to not believe it

4/1/2010 12:27:15 PM

The cost of these cameras is most likely off set by grant money.

4/1/2010 12:27:33 PM

^^It was on WRAL yesterday. http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/7331240/

and ^ "Federal grants paid for the technology. The Governor’s Highway Safety Program and the Governor’s Crime Commission approved the grants, according to Raleigh police."

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 12:32 PM. Reason : ]

4/1/2010 12:32:06 PM

THERE IT IS

i knew i saw it but i was searching the site today and couldn't find it

ok once again, i'm a believer

4/1/2010 12:33:04 PM

I googled WRAL's site and couldn't find it either, but I didn't actually go to the site.

4/1/2010 12:33:11 PM

Here's a video too! Just have to search for "plates" and Wral. http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/7331915/

4/1/2010 12:35:09 PM

I got a lot of red light camera hits but not one related to this

4/1/2010 12:36:09 PM

Lol @ smc and spöokyjon

Quote :

"It's a good thing I just changed my license plate to "x';DROP TABLE licenseplates;"."

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 12:48 PM. Reason : I guarentee they don't sanitize their database inputs]

4/1/2010 12:47:47 PM

I think this system is great. Seems very efficient. However the information should be purged from the system almost immediately for people not involved with breaking the law.

4/1/2010 12:56:40 PM

you won't feel the same when a similar system is kept on IP addresses




[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 12:58 PM. Reason : a]

4/1/2010 12:58:19 PM

^well you're comparing apples to oranges there man. One involves driving on public roads. The other involves using my computer in private.

4/1/2010 1:01:12 PM

most people consider their home address as private and this directly correlates to your IP.

4/1/2010 1:04:31 PM

I hate the argument "If you don't have anything to hide, then it shouldn't matter."

4/1/2010 1:07:19 PM