Thursday, February 4, 2016
Question of the Week No. 4
There is a growing privacy concern with the
proliferation of automatic license plate readers primarily centering around the
creation of massive databases that could be used for surveillance purposes. ALPR devices are being used both by
government and private businesses and several states, including Utah, have
enacted laws regulating their use.
Should the U.S. Congress enact a federal law governing the use of ALPR
technology?
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Congress should absolutely pass a law governing ALPR use. A federal law would help standardize use across states and create more uniform regulation. The next question is how far that regulation will go. While I see the virtues of ALPR technology there are obviously many possibilities for abuse. The TED talk by Catherine Crump brought up relevant issues about privacy, such as tracking location through ALPR information. For example, addicts should be able to attend AA meetings without being tracked. I propose that legislation should be passed addressing the length of time data is stored and expressly giving the driver access to ALPR information taken about them in addition to limiting access to the driver and law enforcement agencies. It should not be given to third parties and there should be also be restrictions on whether or not that information can be used against the driver if they should find themselves in trouble with the law. Otherwise,we run the risk of treating innocent people as criminals. Maybe the information is only kept for a month and then deleted if no warrants are issued on that person. The government certainly doesn't need to know the movements of every citizen at all times. We do not want to live in a society where there is no place to find refuge and regulation ALPR use helps avoid creating that society.
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ReplyDeleteALPR devices are distinct from fingerprinting and other biometrics in that they are measuring a quantity that is necessarily unique. We should not trawl all fingerprint databases searching for a match because the probability of a false positive is reasonably high. This doesn't apply to ALPR devices, because state of the art readers are at least as good as a human. We should regulate them in the sense that they shouldn't be used for mass tracking purposes, but as a technology to enforce parking laws and speed limits, their deployment should be legal.
ReplyDeleteI think that there should be a federal law passed, to put restrictions on the use of APLR devices. I do believe that they are incredibly useful tools for law enforcement, allowing police to recover stolen property and catch those with outstanding warants, but I think that the action of storing all cars that pass a certain ALPR is a gross overreach. While I understand that connectivity is an issue, and some readers may not be able to reference against a database at the time of reading, I think that readers should only be able to store plate data for as long as it takes to reference against a database only containing stolen vehicles and those with warrants (and situations similar to this), after which point all data not associated with any wrongdoer is immediately discarded.
ReplyDeleteYes, Congress should pass a federal law governing ALPR use. While license plates are in plain view and it could be considered that those are public, ALPR use isn’t something that is expected. The argument could be made that this tracking could be akin to placing a GPS tracker on the car, especially in areas with large amounts of cameras. Another problem with using ALPR is that the license plate isn’t unique to one person. My car is registered to my parents, who live in WI, so if someone was trying to identify me from my car, they’d end up with my dad living in WI. I do agree that ALPR is a powerful tool, but since it is such a powerful tool, it should be regulated in order to prevent abuse.
ReplyDeleteCongress should definitely enact a federal law to govern the use of ALPR technology. Currently, the way the system exists leaves too much of a grey area. We have discussed the problems in class regarding the antiquated laws and how they relate to new technology in the internet age. I think this is another example of that. In my opinion, it is just too concerning to have inconsistent regulation on something like this. I understand the concern of first amendment rights being infringed on, but I still believe that there needs to be regulation. Specifically, I think that there needs to be regulation on the length of time that these records are held on to, what the information is used for, and who has access to the information. The article posted on canvas brings up the "government's warrantless use of GPS tracking devices." I don't think it would be crazy to consider that the government, or other entities could be doing the same thing with this information. They should have the right to use the technology, but not without regulation.
ReplyDeleteTo quote the immortal SpiderMan"with great power comes great responsibility." With the advent of new technology new laws need to be enacted to regulate that technology. I can see the appeal of this technology for use in law enforcement. This technology could be used to find and capture wanted criminals. I have no problem with the creation of a data base for the use of law enforcement. I would however, set the condition that an arrest warrant would need to be filed before the database could be accessed.
ReplyDeleteMy dad and I were actually talking about this the other day. He was telling me how certain businesses and people, like loan sharks, have obtained access to these cameras and are using them to find people that owe them money. Although it may benefit the loan shark, the person driving the car could have no idea they were being tracked through their plate.
ReplyDeleteI think that a federal law should be passed so there is a definite unity among states. With something like this, it should be a federally based law, because obviously people drive between multiple states, and it would be confusing if the law was changing and one was unaware.
Like many of the things we have talked about before, I think these license plate readers need strict guidelines on who can access the data, how long it is stored, if it can be used by a third party, and more.
I believe a federal law concerning ALPR technology should be enacted. The most important reason to take this stance is to ensure standardization across states for the use of such technology. The most dangerous thing would be if one were not to know how such technology and therefore the information it is gathering is being used. Transparency is a pivotal point for me when it comes to any issue with high potential for abuse. So individuals need to know when, where, and for what purposes ALPR technology is being used as an absolute minimum. A situation where it could be used liberally would be by police entities searching for those with an outstanding warrant for arrest. In most other situations, however, I would argue that use of ALPR needs to be strictly limited and supervised. All gathering of tracking information and the like should be prohibited to those outside law enforcement with a warrant.
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe that there should be a federal law passed to regulate the use of APLR. While doing a bit more research on this topic, I found reports of being being misidentified by the ALPR and then they were surrounded by cops with guns(https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140513/07404127218/another-bogus-hit-license-plate-reader-results-another-citizen-surrounded-cops-with-guns-out.shtml). There are also privacy implications of people being tracked with this technology and them being specifically targeted for a specific affiliation to a group. The possibility of being misidentified is what worries me the most. If you drive someone else's car and they were somehow a suspect in an investigation and the police are using this method to track them, you might be mistaken.
ReplyDeleteI do think that there is a need for a federal level regulation on ALRP technology use. I think the main reason why I feel this way is because the roads they are being used on are not always just state highways, but interstates. As an example, for my family to drive from our home in Massachusetts to my grandparents in Maine, we drive through New Hampshire for ten minutes. During those ten minutes we would portentially be protected or not protected from things we would be in the other two states. I think consistency is need, especially on interstate roads, so that drivers are aware of what kind of information is being tracked and for what purposes. On a personal note, I'm not sure that I really feel that ALRP should be used for anything outside of paying tolls or for tracking down an already suspected vehicle tied to an ongoing investigation.
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