The ACLU say's 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 light poles, or the entrance to your condo. They snap photos of every passing car, recording their plate numbers, times and locations. 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. After analyzing more than 26,000 pages of documents from police departments in cities and towns across the country, the ACLU has obtained through freedom of information requests this horrific violation of privacy. Because of the way the technology works these devices snap photos of every passing car, not just those registered to people suspected of crimes, virtually all of the data license plate readers gather is about people who are completely innocent. Data that we obtained through our records requests illustrates this point vividly. License plate reader information can be very revealing. While one snapshot at one point might not seem sensitive, as blankets of plate readers cover our streets, and as the government stores data for longer and longer, the technology quickly morphs into a powerful tracking tool. Police and the government now envision the future not just where there are a few license plate reader cameras in every town, but one in which there are multiple cameras on every block. What can location data reveal about people? Trips to places of worship, political protests, or gun ranges can be powerful indicators of people’s beliefs. Is it really the government’s business how often you go to the drug store or liquor store, what doctors you visit, and the identities of your friends? I’m sure all of us can remember something from our past that could embarrass us. If the government comes to suspect you of something in 2020, should it have access to databases stretching back years that could dig up facts about you that previously went unnoticed? The government doesn’t have a great track record of using this kind of information responsibly. As our report details, the data can be abused for official purposes, like spying on protesters merely because they are exercising their constitutionally protected right to petition the government, or unofficial ones, like tracking an ex-spouse. Prior to the rise of powerful surveillance technology, it simply wasn’t possible to watch all of the people all of the time. But as these natural limits erode and the impossible becomes possible, we have to make conscious choices about how technology should be used.
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